Arborist First Aid Supplies

[Jamie Jones]

Any suggestions of suppliers for proper Arborist First Aid Kits and for the Trauma Coagulant Sprinkles & Bandage?

Need to get a whole new first aid kit and my old one is now out of date and not really chainsaw friendly....

[jrose]

I've just redone my first aid kits in all the trucks, ended up making my own up as I couldn't find any that ticked the boxes for me.

 

For each truck kit, I brought a Mountain first aid kit from Go Outdoors as base, enough essentials to cover a team of 2-3. https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/lifesystems-mountain-leader-first-aid-kit-p115149

 

Then removed the Ibuprofen and Paracetamol as they're unlikely to be used in a emergency. The pouch in the kit is the perfect size for 5 saline eye wash pods, an essential that isn't included in this kit. Also added another triangular bandage, and a foil blanket into the bag.

 

That went into a hi vis orange dry bag, with 4x trauma dressings. That made the primary kit that we take to site, in addition to the personal kits we all carry.

 

Then a secondary kit mainy for minor wounds - another trauma dressing, triangular bandage, selection of dressings, plasters, more eyewash, wasp sting cream, paracetamol, ibuprofen, tick removal tool, tweezer & needle. This stays in the truck, in a seperate location from the main kit.

 

Total cost - roughly £100 per truck I guess? 

[westphalian]

do HSE stipulate what you need?

if not  military field dressings are cheap and effective.

I posted this last night but it disappeared alongside Haironyourchest's post giving some great suggestions and a homeopathic first aid kit as shown

[Paul in the woods]

I never know if I should reply to such threads as I'm not a trained arb but in this case I will.

 

My first question is are you trained in first aid and do you know how to use the items? For example, it seems common these days for kits to contain a tourniquet and I had no idea of the correct way to use one until I did a course. Sorry if that sounds rude but I would have thought a course would provide a list of items?

 

I'm not keen on clotting granules as I they can damage eyes so I prefer clotting dressings.

 

I buy single items from https://medtree.co.uk/ and I note many of the arb shops sell suitable kits.

[jrose]

I never know if I should reply to such threads as I'm not a trained arb but in this case I will.
 
My first question is are you trained in first aid and do you know how to use the items? For example, it seems common these days for kits to contain a tourniquet and I had no idea of the correct way to use one until I did a course. Sorry if that sounds rude but I would have thought a course would provide a list of items?
 
I'm not keen on clotting granules as I they can damage eyes so I prefer clotting dressings.
 
I buy single items from https://medtree.co.uk/ and I note many of the arb shops sell suitable kits.

In my experience, most arbs (especially those working on any form of commercial contract) have undertaken at the very least an EFAW +F course, the F is for forestry indicating an emphasis on the type of injury we're likely to come across - serious cuts, crushing, suspension trauma etc

Torniquets are a bit of a grey area as far as I'm aware. You're not really meant to use them without proper training, which is a bit outside the scope of a standard course. That being said, I do carry one just in case.

[jrose]

Also, courses do provide a basic list of items but it's your responsibility as an employer to ensure the kit is fit for purpose.

I have a foil blanket, glow sticks, fully charged torch & spare batteries, usb power bank & phone cable in each kit - a bit excessive for your average domestic job! But we do a lot of work in the middle of nowhere, often at night and in poor weather.

[peds]

I just have a quick suggestion for foil blankets: you can also get foil bags (in a variety of sizes I think, legs-only, full-body, 3/4...), which are wildly superior to a plain blanket in a lot of situations. You can leave your casualty wrapped up in them nice and snug, the wind doesn't grab them and flap around quite so badly, you can sleep comfortably-enough in them in a dire emergency...

Edited November 29, 2018 by peds

[westphalian]

For the lay rescuer, remember: always apply targeted, direct external pressure as the first line of care for bleeding. Only when this fails should a tourniquet be applied. Loss of life due to bleeding outweighs loss of limb due to complications with tourniquet use.

[john k]

Torniquets are a bit of a grey area as far as I'm aware. You're not really meant to use them without proper training, which is a bit outside the scope of a standard course. That being said, I do carry one just in case.

The last course I did was a couple of years ago and included tourniquets.

We were told that they are very much back in, mostly because experience from the military over the last decade has shown that they are the best way of dealing with potentially catastrophic bleeding.

Not much call for them in your average workplace, but I think they should be standard in forestry and arb first aid kits.

[Haironyourchest]

There are instructional videos on YouTube about the correct application of tourniquets. You can also apply to stop the bleeding (arterial) then address the bleed with other measures and then slacken off the tourniquet. They reckon 2 hours is safe, even up to 6 in some cases. The problems arise with homemade tourniquet's that are too thin, too tight, not properly positioned etc. As for my homoeopathic kit, it has saved me countless hours of pain from whacked shins, sprains etc. It won't stop an arterial bleed, but for dings it works, for me. And for others who have tried it.