Helping a casualty

First aid at a road accident: what do you do first?

Your own safety comes first. Park your car safely, switch on your hazard lights and stand behind the crash barrier. Watch out for moving traffic, smoke and fire. Only help others once you are safe.

1. Call 112 or have someone call. Put the phone on speaker and follow the instructions. Say where you are, what happened and how many people are injured.
2. Leave the casualty where they are. Tell them not to move: there may be injuries you cannot see.
3. Do not move the cars after a serious accident. Where they stand shows what happened.
4. Reassure the casualty and keep them warm.
5. Do not give food or drink. It can cause choking and make treatment harder.

When do you pull someone out of a car? The Rautek manoeuvre

Only when there is immediate danger, such as fire or smoke. Or when you cannot help them otherwise, for example to do CPR. Also do not help a casualty to stand up. If someone really must be moved, first aiders use the Rautek manoeuvre: you hold the casualty from behind under the armpits and carefully pull them backwards. You learn this grip on a first aid course.

Severe bleeding

Press directly and firmly on the wound, for example with a clean cloth or a piece of clothing. Keep pressing until the ambulance takes over. Do not pull out an object that is stuck in the wound. Do not let a badly injured casualty walk. See also Red Cross: bleeding.

Back or neck pain after a crash

Keep the casualty as still as possible, lying or sitting, and call 112. Being able to talk does not mean there are no internal injuries. Do not let them test whether they can walk.

When do you put someone in the recovery position?

When an unconscious casualty is vomiting or has blood in their mouth. Then you turn them onto their side, so they do not choke. Do this even if you suspect a neck injury: breathing comes first. Support the head and neck as well as you can.

Is an unconscious casualty breathing normally and not vomiting? Then after an accident you leave them on their back. Keep the airway open as the 112 operator explains, and keep checking that they still breathe normally. The Red Cross gives two more moments for the recovery position: when you have to leave the casualty alone, and for a pregnant woman. See Red Cross: unconscious but breathing.

Should you remove a motorcycle helmet after a crash?

No, leave the helmet on. There may be a neck injury. Do open the visor. Is the casualty vomiting, or do you need to do CPR? Then the helmet may come off, preferably with help from a second person. Follow the instructions from 112. See also Red Cross: head injuries.

CPR: the steps for an adult

Does someone not respond and not breathe normally? Start CPR straight away. Not sure about the breathing? Then start too.

1. Talk to the casualty and gently shake their shoulders.
2. Call 112 with the phone on speaker. Have someone fetch an AED.
3. Look, listen and feel for at most 10 seconds whether they breathe normally. Gasping now and then is not normal breathing.
4. Give 30 chest compressions: push the breastbone down 5 to 6 centimetres, 100 to 120 times per minute.
5. Then give 2 rescue breaths, if you can. If you cannot, the operator will help you with chest compressions only.
6. Keep going: 30 compressions, 2 breaths. Only stop when the ambulance crew says you may.

CPR with an AED

An AED is a device that can give the heart a shock. Switch it on and do what it says. Stick the pads on the bare chest. Do not touch the casualty during the analysis and the shock. Then go straight on with 30 chest compressions. Does the casualty come round and breathe normally? Then leave the pads on. Source: Red Cross: CPR.

Minor damage: what to do after a small collision?

Only minor damage and nobody hurt? Then do not sort it out on the carriageway or the hard shoulder. Can the cars still be driven safely? Then go together to a safe place, such as a car park or petrol station. Exchange your details there and fill in the accident report form together. How that works is under the accident report form.

Never just drive on after an accident. Do not leave others without help. With serious injuries you leave the cars where they are.

Car in water: what should you do?

Get out straight away, while the car is still floating. Do not wait until it sinks.

1. Undo your seat belt.
2. Open a side window straight away. An electric window may still work at first.
3. Climb out and help children and other passengers.
4. Call 112 as soon as you are safely out.

Do not try the door first. The water pressure makes it hard to open, and that costs precious time. See also ANWB: car in water.

Where do you break the window with a safety hammer?

In the corner of a side window. That is where it breaks most easily. You cannot break the windscreen: it is laminated. Some new side windows are laminated too. So check beforehand how this works in your car. At the bottom of the hammer there is a small blade to cut through a stuck seat belt. Fix the hammer where you can reach it with your seat belt on.