Customer seriously injured

Purpose

This procedure describes the actions to be taken by a Careline Officer when encountering a customer who is seriously injured.

Responsibility

All staff

Process

Where staff arrive at the premises and only the customer is present, they should:

• Use their first aid knowledge and training to assess the customer’s condition and injuries.
• If the customer is not conscious, call for ambulance attendance.
• If the customer is conscious, ask them to describe the injuries and the circumstances leading up to the injury.
• Where they are competent and confident to do so, use their knowledge and training in first aid to provide treatment to the customer.
• Where the customer’s injuries are beyond simple first aid or the staff member’s first aid knowledge and/or competence is insufficient to provide complete care of the customer’s injuries, call for ambulance assistance.
• In the event of profuse and rapid bleeding from the customer, seek to stem that bleeding by using dressings (towels, sheets, clothing, etc.) to apply pressure to the wound and to reduce blood supply to the wound.
• Only move the customer following assessment of injuries and in line with accepted first aid practice, training and procedures for moving and handling and any instruction from the emergency services controller.

NOTE: The customer may move themselves if able and comfortable to do so.

Make a quick assessment of whether there are signs that would suggest that the customer’s injuries might not be accidental, for example:

• Signs of violence or a forced entry.
• If the customer appears to have been attacked or there are indications to suggest that the injuries might have been non-accidental or as a result of the actions of another party, request police attendance.

Where police attendance has been requested:

• Take care not to disturb anything in the dwelling.
• Provide a hand-over to the police.

Where staff arrives at the premises and someone else is present with the customer, they should:

• Politely ascertain the name and relationship of the person present to the customer.
• Ascertain how long the person has been on the premises.
• How the customer came to be injured.
• If the person could have been on the premises at the time that the alarm was operated, ascertain what type of assistance was being requested when the alarm was operated and by whom.

NOTE:  Someone has operated the alarm and the assumption must be that this was a deliberate request for assistance.

For this reason, staff should ensure emergency service attendance to record and clarify matters. They should also:

• Use their first aid knowledge and training to assess the customer’s condition and injuries.
• If the customer is not conscious, call for ambulance attendance.
• If the customer is conscious, ask them to describe their injuries and the circumstances leading up to the injury.
• Where they are competent and confident to do so, use their knowledge and training in first aid to provide treatment to the customer.
• Where the customer’s injuries are beyond simple first aid or the staff member’s first aid knowledge and/or competence is insufficient to provide complete care of the customer’s injuries, call for ambulance assistance.
• In the event of profuse and rapid bleeding from the customer, seek to stem that bleeding by using dressings (towels, sheets, clothing, etc.) to apply pressure to the wound and to reduce blood supply to the wound.
• Only move the customer following assessment of injuries and in line with accepted first aid practice, training and procedures for moving and handling and any instruction from the emergency services controller.
• Staff should update the contact centre on or before departure.