How to conduct yourself during an emergency

Rescuers retrieve bodies at a Scene of a fatal road accident at Sachangwan on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway on October 28, 2016. When going to the aid of an accident victim, an experienced doctor’s maxim is “walk, don’t run.” The few seconds of difference in the time it takes to reach the victim will make no difference. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • Other than the incident itself, the greatest danger of collateral damage or obstruction to rescue services is wild disorder – people either rushing blindly to get away or crowding-in to ogle. Both are mindless responses.
  • That’s not an easy process, even for the battle-hardened. But you are more likely to think clearly if you take a few seconds to be calm, and you are more likely to act swiftly, smoothly and correctly if you have at least thought through some of the process before you make a major move. 
  • Okay, presuming you are not in your car at the moment (driving and reading a newspaper is not a good combination) start with something really basic: can you tell, exactly, from memory, where the warning flasher button on your car is? 

Just what should you do if the road ahead goes crazy – a broken bridge, a flood, an horrendous accident or something in the nature of a carjacking, a gunfight over a cash-in-transit van, or the fall-out from a terrorist bombing?

Perhaps first and above all, the deal in any of these situations is that an emergency does not give you licence or positive reason to behave hysterically. It becomes even more important to be rational and obey the rules.  

In any training code for emergencies, whether it is escaping a fire or attending an accident scene or responding to a snake bite, the first instruction is to stay calm.  Don’t add panic to the problem. 

The time it takes to let the first seizure of surprise settle, to take a deep breath, to get a grip on your gut and your head so you can take rational action, is time well spent.   Obviously it is not possible to give a tick-list of actions to cover all these different situations and more; but there are some general principles. 

WALK, DON'T RUN

Other than the incident itself, the greatest danger of collateral damage or obstruction to rescue services is wild disorder – people either rushing blindly to get away or crowding-in to ogle. Both are mindless responses. The fastest way for everybody to get clear of danger, to avoid further risk, or for rescuers to get to an area of damage, is in an orderly way; and for those who are not specifically involved to keep their distance and stay out of the way of those who may be better-equipped to help.

And in the first moments after a crisis, before anyone arrives to direct proceedings, the only force for order is the normal law that everybody already knows. In the case of traffic, the Highway Code.  That’s not an easy process, even for the battle-hardened. But you are more likely to think clearly if you take a few seconds to be calm, and you are more likely to act swiftly, smoothly and correctly if you have at least thought through some of the process before you make a major move. 

When going to the aid of an accident victim, an experienced doctor’s maxim is “walk, don’t run.” The few seconds of difference in the time it takes to reach the victim will make no difference; the difference between arriving flustered and out of breath, or in calm control, might make all the difference. And those seconds need not be wasted; they can be spent assessing the overall situation and deciding priorities.  So give some time, in idle moments when there is no crisis, to the idea of “what would I do if…” 

Okay, presuming you are not in your car at the moment (driving and reading a newspaper is not a good combination) start with something really basic: can you tell, exactly, from memory, where the warning flasher button on your car is?  Could you find it, quickly, without looking down, in the dark? Try that. And take your forward thinking from there. There’s lots of time right now. There will be less and there might be none when the emergency occurs.