Emergency response

[Yvette Lloyd <YLloyd@radiance.net>]

Hello Radsafers-

I know that there has recently been some discussion regarding emergency
responders, so I felt compelled to write.

At my previous company, I was part of the volunteer Emergency Response Team.
As past of our training, we are taught, that we are considered PRIMARY
responders, which means we have the basic CPR/FPR/1st aid and Haz-Mat
skills. In the event that a situation was beyond our area of expertise we
were instructed by company policy and the local emergency crews to call for
help from the secondary responders (i.e.. Fire/ambulance crews, Haz-Mat
teams, etc...).

While I realize it is difficult to come to a Haz-Mat situation and find a
concomitant medical situation, the primary responder must realize that their
safety is the PRIMARY concern; if the area in which a spill occurs is deemed
unsafe to enter, but there is a concomitant medical situation, then it is
the responsibility of the PRIMARY responder to seal access to the area, and
to defer rescue of the individual to secondary responders. This means even
if the person has a life-threatening issue, the primary responder may only
rescue/treat the individual if the area is safe to enter, or can be safely
entered with the aid of protective gear. (We can all agree that it is better
to have 1 person down rather than 1 person and 1 responder down!)
Additionally, most secondary response crews adopt this paradigm as well; if
the situation is deemed to unsafe to enter, the professional crews don't
enter. I also remember being taught that the local ambulance crews would not
take contaminated victims, so if a successful rescue was accomplished, the
person would be decontaminated before being taken to the hospital.

What I think we all need to realize is that unless we are PAID to rescue
people, and deal with Haz-Mat situations, emergency response teams are
mostly volunteer groups made up from people in the organization. When a
situation arises, it is difficult to play both responder/fellow employee
because the primary responder would feel biased towards making a heroic
rescue, even if it meant losing their own life. We can all agree that there
would be tremendous guilt associated with having to 'walk away' from a
situation and defer it to a secondary response crew. 

Anyway, that's my soapbox for the morning. I welcome further discussion via
Rad-Safe.

Yvette Lloyd
Regulatory Affairs Analyst
Radiance Medical Systems, Inc.
phone 949-595-7334
fax 949-595-7335

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html