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Hot Water Scald Burn

andyb — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:15:08 +0000

Hot Water Scald Burn:

Children are the major concerns for scald or hot-water burns. Statistics show that burns are second in rank for the leading cause of death in children, age 0 to 5. This is due to the fact that children have not fully developed the thickness of their skin. Therefore, they burn faster than adults. Figures show that an average of 300 burn cases is reported for children due to high temperature water.

Due the thinner skin of children, it takes only 2 seconds to acquire a third-degree burn. For hot water at 140 degrees, it will only take 5 seconds and 30 seconds for 130 degree heated water.

Hot Water Scald Burn:
Causes

Half of the incidents reported of scald burns are due to the unattended hot water used on children. In most cases, children fill the tub with hot water and unknowingly jump into it without minding the temperature. Rest of the burn cases are from accidents where hot steam or water is accidentally spilled over children.

Hot Water Scald Burn:
Treatment

For minor burns, wash the burned area with running water for 10 minuets minimum. Don’t use ointments or butter. Make sure to cover the affected area with a burns dressing once the heat has gone. Do not attempt to remove blisters by yourself. Seek medical treatment if the burns are found on the genitals, face, hands, and feet.

In cases of severe burns, contact emergency medical assistance immediately. Do not apply any medical treatments on the burned areas or try to remove any clothing near the burned skin. Wait for the medical professionals handle these steps. Keep the victim stable in temperature, neither overheated nor chilled. If burns are on the limbs, raise the legs and arms to avoid swelling. Lastly do not give the victim any fluids to drink or solids to eat.

Hot Water Scald Burn:
Prevention

Most burn cases are preventable. For scald burns, it is important that you know the approximate temperature of the water. Test the heated water first before placing the infant in the bath.

Be sure to limit the access of hot liquids or any source of hot water available to children. Teach your children about the risks of acquiring heat or scald burns.

When serving food from microwaves, always stir or mix liquids so the temperature would be even before giving it to your children.

Chemical Burns to the Eye

andyb — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:00:56 +0000

For all chemical injuries, the first thing you should do is immediately irrigate the eye copiously. Ideally, specific eye irrigating solutions should be used for this, but if none are available regular tap water will do just fine.
Begin washing your eye before taking any other action and continue for at least 20 minutes. The longer a chemical is in your eye, the more damage will occur. Diluting the substance and washing away any particles that may have been in the chemical are extremely important.
Ideally, in a work setting, you would be placed in an emergency eyewash or shower station and your eye washed with sterile saline solution. If sterile saline is not available, use cold tap water.
If you are at home and do not have special eye wash, step into the shower with your clothes on to wash out your eye.
Even though it may be uncomfortable, open your eyelids as wide as possible as you rinse them out.
If an alkali or hydrofluoric acid burn has occurred, continue washing until a doctor arrives or you have been taken to a hospital.
When at work regularly reviewing your COSHH file and providing yearly First Aid skills update will maintain confidence in your staffs ability to treat a chemical burn to the eye.

Hands Only CPR

andyb — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:59:38 +0000

The British Heart Foundation is urging people to forget “mouth-to-mouth” and to concentrate on chest compressions when performing CPR. ”Hands-only CPR” has previously been supported by the Resuscitation Council (UK). But it is now being promoted in a new advertising campaign featuring footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones. New polling by the BHF suggests many feel worried about the idea of giving the “kiss of life”.
The official position of the BHF is now that anyone who does not have CPR training should ignore the kiss of life in favour of hard and fast compressions in the centre of the chest. A new poll conducted across the UK and involving 2,000 respondents showed nearly half were put off from performing CPR because of a lack of knowledge.
A fifth worried specifically about the thought of the kiss of life or about contracting an infectious disease. Four in 10 people were worried about being sued if they did something wrong, even though the BHF argues no such case has ever succeeded in Britain. The kiss of life can often be daunting for untrained bystanders who want to help when someone has collapsed with a cardiac arrest.
Providing rescue breaths remains the “gold standard” of CPR, but if a person has not had training the best option would be to just do chest compressions.
Bee Gees hit – The BHF is also suggesting people hum to the Bee Gees hit Stayin’ Alive, to get the tempo of chest compressions right, although others have in recent months questioned whether this is appropriate, suggesting it may lead to compressions which are too shallow. The new BHF advert features Vinnie Jones in his traditional hardman guise, administering chest compressions to a Bee Gees backbeat after being thrown an unconscious body by his henchmen.
Commenting on the new campaign, he said: “There really shouldn’t be any messing about when it comes to CPR. If you’re worried about the kiss of life just forget it and push hard and fast in the centre of the chest.
Hands-only CPR should give confidence to step in and help when somebody is in cardiac
Thirty thousand people have a cardiac arrest in the UK every single year and half of those are witnessed, but in most cases no-one acts, no-one knows what to do, people panic.
Remember good quality First Aid Training is better than any Video that might be misleading, or not to the point; i.e. as a child said to me the other day in a school my dads medallion is a lot lower than my mums cross, where should I push Andrew!!!

First Aid kit for a Nursery and Childminding Environment

andyb — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:08:05 +0000

The following first aid kit is based on a combination of advice from the Health and Safety Executive, the National Child Minding Association, the Pre – School Learning Alliance. The list is not mandatory, so equivalent or similar items can be used:

First Aid kit for Nursery and Childminding Environment

1 leaflet giving general guidance on first aid.
1 protective face shield for performing CPR.
20 individually wrapped sterile adhesive plasters of assorted size. Only use “hypo – allergenic” plasters for children and blue coloured plasters for food handlers.
2 sterile eye pads.
4 triangular bandages, individually wrapped and preferably sterile.
6 medium wound dressings (approx. 12cm*12cm), individually wrapped and sterile. These have bandages attached.
2 Large wound dressings (approx. 18cm* 18cm), individually wrapped and sterile. These have bandages attached.
5 “low-adherent” dressings (approx.5cm*5cm). These have a perforated plastic surface which reduces the likelihood of it sticking to the clotting blood. (A popular brand is “Melolin”)
5 “low-adherent” dressings, (approx. 10cm*10cm) These have a perforated plastic surface which reduces the likelihood of it sticking to the clotting blood. (A popular brand is “Melolin”)
1 roll of hypo-allergenic tape. (Used to hold a dressing in place or fasten a bandage; not to go on the skin).
3 pairs of disposable gloves.
1 pair of scissors, with rounded ends.
10 “packs of 5″ sterile gauze swabs, approx. 5cm*5cm for cleaning a wound.
1 finger bandage and applicator.

Note
The quantity of items is suggested as the minimum you should have in your kit at any one time, so you may need to increase this for the number of children in your care.

Heart Attack

andyb — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:30:14 +0000

The heart is a powerful pump responsible for delivering blood to all vital organs through a complex network of arteries and veins. It is essential that your heart, veins and arteries stay in good condition. Arteries have different names depending on what part of the body they supply; those supplying the heart itself are called coronary arteries. When these arteries are affected the result is coronary heart disease.

Coronary heart disease results from the coronary arteries becoming narrowed with fatty deposits on the inside wall. This narrowing reduces flow of blood to the heart and increases the chances of blood clots blocking the artery which could result in a heart attack.

How can I look after my heart

You can help to look after your heart by:

1- Having your cholesterol level checked regularly, as people with high cholesterol are in danger of having a heart attack.
2- Giving up smoking.
3. Stopping smoking is one of the most important things you can do to help yourself.
4. Try to relax – take some time out to relax and have some quiet time to yourself. You might want to try using self-help books on meditation and relaxation or try some alternative therapies.
5- Have your blood pressure checked regularly. Having high blood pressure can be a major risk factor in coronary heart disease.
6- Take regular exercise – which will help you to lose weight, lower your blood pressure and improve your cholesterol levels.
7- Making lifestyle changes- to help you to manage your condition.

Heart Attacks and Heart Disease
A heart attack, or myocardial infarction (MI), is permanent damage to the heart muscle. “Myo” means muscle, “cardial” refers to the heart, and “infarction” means death of tissue due to lack of blood supply.

What Happens During a Heart Attack?

The heart muscle requires a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to nourish it. The coronary arteries provide the heart with this critical blood supply. If you have coronary artery disease, those arteries become narrow and blood cannot flow as well as they should. Fatty matter, calcium, proteins, and inflammatory cells build up within the arteries to form plaques of different sizes. The plaque deposits are hard on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside.

When the plaque is hard, the outer shell cracks (plaque rupture), platelets (disc-shaped particles in the blood that aid clotting) come to the area, and blood clots form around the plaque. If a blood clot totally blocks the artery, the heart muscle becomes “starved” for oxygen. Within a short time, death of heart muscle cells occurs, causing permanent damage. This is a heart attack.

While it is unusual, a heart attack can also be caused by a spasm of a coronary artery. During a coronary spasm, the coronary arteries restrict or spasm on and off, reducing blood supply to the heart muscle (ischemia). It may occur at rest and can even occur in people without significant coronary artery disease.

Each coronary artery supplies blood to a region of heart muscle. The amount of damage to the heart muscle depends on the size of the area supplied by the blocked artery and the time between injury and treatment.

Healing of the heart muscle begins soon after a heart attack and takes about eight weeks. Just like a skin wound, the heart’s wound heals and a scar will form in the damaged area. But, the new scar tissue does not contract. So, the heart’s pumping ability is lessened after a heart attack. The amount of lost pumping ability depends on the size and location of the scar.

Symptoms of a heart attack include:

Discomfort, pressure, heaviness, or pain in the chest, arm, or below the breastbone.
Discomfort radiating to the back, jaw, throat, or arm.
Fullness, indigestion, or choking feeling (may feel like heartburn)
Sweating, nausea, vomiting, or dizziness
Extreme weakness, anxiety, or shortness of breath
Rapid or irregular heartbeats
During a heart attack, symptoms last 30 minutes or longer and are not relieved by rest or nitroglycerin under the tongue.

Some people have a heart attack without having any symptoms (a “silent” myocardial infarction). A silent MI can occur in any person, though it is more common among diabetics.

A good quality First Aid course might be the difference between life and death for both the work place and home. For more info click on www.actiontraining.co.uk

Clearing snow and ice from pavements yourself

andyb — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:50:41 +0000

Clearing snow and ice from pavements yourself

Anyone can clear snow and ice from the pavement outside their home or public spaces to prevent slips and falls.

Follow the snow code to clear snow and ice safely.

Don’t be put off clearing paths because you’re afraid someone will get injured. Remember, people walking on snow and ice have a responsibility to be careful themselves.

Follow the pointers below to make sure you clear the pathway safely and effectively; and don’t believe the myths – it’s unlikely you’ll be sued or held legally responsible for any injuries if you have cleared the path carefully. Clear the snow and ice early in the day; It’s easier to move fresh, loose snow rather than hard snow that has packed together from people walking on it. So if possible, start removing the snow and ice in the morning. If you remove the top layer of snow in the morning, any sunshine during the day will help melt any ice beneath. You can then cover the path with salt before nightfall to stop it refreezing overnight.

Preventing slips; Pay extra attention to clearing snow and ice from steps and steep pathways – you might need to use more salt on these areas.
Use salt or sand – not water; Don’t make the pathways more dangerous by causing them to refreeze. If you use water to melt the snow, it may refreeze and turn to black ice. Black ice increases the risk of injuries as it is invisible and very slippery.
You can melt snow or prevent black ice by spreading some salt on the area you have cleared. You can use ordinary table or dishwasher salt – a tablespoon for each square metre you clear should work. Don’t use the salt found in salting bins – this will be needed to keep the roads clear.
Be careful not to spread salt on plants or grass as it may damage them.
If you don’t have enough salt, you can also use sand or ash. These won’t stop the path icing over as effectively as salt, but will provide good grip underfoot.

Take care where you move the snow; When you’re shovelling snow, take care where you put it so it doesn’t block people’s paths or drains. Make sure you make a path down the middle of the area to be cleared first, so you have a clear surface to walk on. Then shovel the snow from the centre of the path to the sides.
Offer to clear your neighbours’ paths, If your neighbour has difficulty getting in and out of their home, offer to clear snow and ice around their property as well. Check that any elderly or disabled neighbours are alright in the cold weather. If you’re worried about them, try contacting their relatives or friends, or if necessary the local council. Watch out for signs of Hypothermia; www.actiontraining.co.uk

History of Resuscitation

andyb — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:19:34 +0000

First attempts at resuscitation in the 18th Century

The first city to teach and promote resuscitation was Amsterdam, located in the heart of europe a city of canals—a city with many drownings. Death from cardiac disease was still not known and sudden deaths were mostly from accidents.
In August 1767 a few wealthy and civic-minded citizens in Amsterdam gathered to form the Society for Recovery of Drowned Persons. This society was the first organised effort to respond to sudden death.
Within 4 years of its founding, the society in Amsterdam claimed that 150 persons were saved by their recommendations. Their techniques involved a range of methods to stimulate the body. The members of the society recommended,Warming the victim,Removing swallowed or aspirated water by positioning the victim’s head lower than feet, Applying manual pressure to the abdomen
Respirations in to the victim’s mouth, either using a bellows or with a mouth-to-mouth method (mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-nostril respiration is described including the advice that “a cloth or handkerchief may be used) Tickling the victim’s throat; ‘Stimulating’ the victim by such means as rectal and oral fumigation with tobacco smoke. This may seem very unusual in modern times, however it may have been that the nicotine was enough of a stimulant to engender a response in the “almost” dead. Bloodletting, The first four of these techniques (or variations of them) are still in use today, whereas the last three are now out of line with modern medical thinking. However, regardless of the scientific merit of these techniques, it started a collective belief that resuscitation was possible, and the suddenly dead could be revived.
Following successes of this first society, rescue societies soon sprang up in most European capitals, all with the goal to find a way of successful resuscitating victims of sudden death. This theory proved so popular that Hamburg, Germany passed an ordinance in 1769 providing notices to be read in churches describing assistance for drowned, strangled, and frozen persons and those overcome by noxious gases, probably the first example of mass medical training. The Royal Humane Society in London (no connection to the animal welfare organization in the United States), founded in 1774, served as the model for societies in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. These rescue societies of the 18th century were the precursors of today’s emergency medical services.[citation needed]
For the next 150 years, scientists advocated literally hundreds of resuscitation techniques. Some were even partly effective especially for respiratory emergencies. For example, the back pressure-arm lift method (“out goes the bad air, in goes the good air”) taught to countless thousands of Boy Scouts until the late 1950s could occasionally have saved a drowning victim,as in drowning, the initial problem is a cessation of respirations and for the first 5–10 minutes the heart is still beating and if the victim can be extracted from the water and be induced to breathe the outcome may be good, but the technique was of no benefit for cardiac arrest as it did nothing for circulation, which it is now known, is the key factor to address in these victims.

Fire Triangle

andyb — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:55:04 +0000

FIRE TRIANGLE
The fire triangle or combustion triangle is a simple model for understanding the ingredients necessary for most fires.
The triangle illustrates a fire requires three elements: heat, fuel, and an oxidizing agent (usually oxygen). The fire is prevented or extinguished by removing any one of them. A fire naturally occurs when the elements are combined in the right mixture.
Without sufficient heat, a fire cannot begin, and it cannot continue. Heat can be removed by the application of a substance which reduces the amount of heat available to the fire reaction. This is often water, which requires heat for phase change from water to steam. Introducing sufficient quantities and types of powder or gas in the flame reduces the amount of heat available for the fire reaction in the same manner. Scraping embers from a burning structure also removes the heat source. Turning off the electricity in an electrical fire removes the ignition source.
Without fuel, a fire will stop. Fuel can be removed naturally, as where the fire has consumed all the burnable fuel, or manually, by mechanically or chemically removing the fuel from the fire. Fuel separation is an important factor in wildland fire suppression, and is the basis for most major tactics, such as controlled burns. The fire stops because a lower concentration of fuel vapor in the flame leads to a decrease in energy release and a lower temperature. Removing the fuel thereby decreases the heat.
Without sufficient oxygen, a fire cannot begin, and it cannot continue. With a decreased oxygen concentration, the combustion process slows. In most cases, there is plenty of air left when the fire goes out so this is commonly not a major factor.

FIRE TETRAHEDRON
The fire tetrahedron is an addition to the fire triangle. It adds the requirement for the presence of the chemical reaction which is the process of fire. For example, the suppression effect of Halon is due to its interference in the fire chemical inhibition.
Combustion is the chemical reaction that feeds a fire more heat and allows it to continue. When the fire involves burning metals like lithium, magnesium, titanium,etc. (known as a class-D fire), it becomes even more important to consider the energy release. The metals react faster with water than with oxygen and thereby more energy is released. Putting water on such a fire results in the fire getting hotter or even exploding because the metals react with water in an exothermic reaction. Carbon dioxide extinguishers are ineffective against certain metals such as titanium. Therefore, inert agents (e.g. dry sand) must be used to break the chain reaction of metallic combustion. In the same way, as soon as we remove one out of the 3 elements of the triangle, combustion stops.

Christmas First Aid Tips!

andyb — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:19:56 +0000

Christmas First Aid Tips!
Christmas can be an accident – filled time of the year; granny chokes on sprouts, electric shocks from tree lights because your daughter has been biting them, or burning your arm taking the turkey out the oven.

Be prepared with our simple handy first aid guide!

If someone is choking, you need to give
5 slaps in the upper middle part of the back
5 abdominal thrusts
Standing behind the person (who should also be standing and leaning slightly forward) and encircle your arms around them, underneath their arms. Hold your hands together at the top of their stomach underneath their breastbone, and give up to 5 sharp squeezes inwards and upwards.
This should cause the object to come out. If it doesn’t, you should call 999.

If you burn your arm getting the turkey out of the oven immediately put your arm under cool running water. You should do this for at least 20 minutes. You shouldn’t use ice or freezing cold water as this may worsen any skin damage.

If dad gets an electric shock changing light bulbs on the tree, the most important thing to do is turn off the lights to remove the source of electricity straight away. You shouldn’t touch him – if he is unconscious, call 999 immediately.

What Saves Lives?

andyb — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:38:08 +0000

So, what is it that really saves lives? Well, it certainly isn’t a perfectly equipped first – aid kit, although a good kit always helps. It is YOU that will save a life – using whatever resources are at hand, your first – aid knowledge and a large dose of practical common sense. In fact, first aid is largely about common sense: putting pressure on a nasty wound to stop it bleeding, making sure a casualty’s airway is clear, keeping them warm…….
Common sense comes in handy in preventing accidents too. We can’t cocoon ourselves against all danger, and life would be dull without adventure, but it is worth recalling the mountain – hiker who suffered from hypothermia because ” the guide book said it never rains in the mountains in Africa” . The value of being aware of danger and taking sensible safety precautions cannot be underestimated – remember that most accidents take place in our homes, where we like to think we are safest.
I must stress that nothing replaces a really good practical first aid course, which should give you the confidence and skills to deal with most situations.