Managing customer emergencies

Purpose

This procedure describes the actions to be taken by a Careline Officer encountering an emergency situation in a customer’s home.

Responsibility

All staff

Process

Externally visible emergency

• An externally visible emergency is one that staff can clearly ascertain and unambiguously understand to be an emergency while outside the customer’s premises. Such circumstances that is likely to include fire, the partial demolition of the customer’s home by impact and physical assault on the customer or their property.
• Where staff have firm grounds for believing that an emergency situation exists, they should call the relevant emergency service by calling 999 and subsequently confirm this with the contact centre.
• Where staff know that the customer is in the building and they feel that it is safe for them to enter the building to support and/or get the customer out both officers should discuss between themselves and agree that it is an appropriate action.

NB: The only people that can make this decision to enter or not are those staff members who are onsite.

• If they intend to enter a damaged or burning building, they should ensure that someone at the scene is aware and they should also contact the contact centre to notify them of their intended action.
• In all circumstances where staff enter the customer’s home, other than in the event of a fire or major structural damage, they should seek to activate any alarm that is installed to record their arrival onsite.

Staff already in customer’s home

• Where staff are already in the customer’s home and an emergency situation occurs, where an alarm is installed, they should activate the alarm immediately. Where no alarm is installed, they should call for any emergency service required on the customer’s phone in the first instance.
• In the case of fire, they should get themselves and the customer (if it is safe to do so) out of the building without further delay.

In the case of sudden structural damage to the building:

• Where it is safe to attend the customer and the customer is not severely injured (i.e. no back or neck injuries) staff should assist the customer in leaving the building without undue delay.

NB: In all circumstances, staff should ensure their own safety first then provide support and first aid to the customer until the emergency services arrives.

Customer taken ill

In the case of the customer being taken ill, staff should use their first aid training to identify whether the customer:

• Needs emergency medical treatment.
• Can await a GP attendance.
• Can self-manage the situation.

Water leak

In the case of a water leak / burst pipe, staff should seek to turn off the water at the main stop cock.

Electrocution

In the case of electrocution, staff should:

• Break the contact between the customer and the electrical supply by switching off the power to the faulty equipment at the power socket and unplugging the equipment, ensuring that there is no risk to staff in carrying out this action.
• If this is not possible, use a non-conducting item, e.g. a dry wooden broomstick, to push the faulty electrical item with which the customer is in contact away from the customer.
• If this is not possible and the location of the fuse board / main breaker is easy to ascertain, switch off power at this location.
• Only once the customer is no longer in contact with a live power source, check for breathing and other signs of life in the customer.
• If there are no signs of life, call for ambulance attendance and use their first aid training to provide resuscitation.
• If there are signs of life (both pulse and breathing) and the customer is unconscious, place the customer into the recovery position (if safe so to do) and call for ambulance attendance.