Arb Aid Trauma kit

[felixthelogchopper]

I, as well as others I am very pleased to know, carry kit which I and they know how to use that is definitely outside the usual 1st Aid box contents. If any us are injured when working, given the kit which we as chainsaw users all employ, it is highly likely to need more than a plaster to deal with it. The kit we carry will give us a better chance of survival in the event of a serious accident so if I use it, sue me

[Andy Collins]

I wholeheartedly agree with your statement Felix, but the best kit is worthless without the relevent training and re-training. This has been my gripe from the very beginning. I went on "an industry specific appointed persons" course and my expectations were far higher than the reality. I came away with the same attitude that I had felt many years previously, and that is that the window of opportunity is wide open, but the necessary training is just not available. Yes, I will not deny that what I refreshed is essential 1st aid in many arenas and in itself is important, but equally I feel that preparation to deal with the gore of real life situations could be addressed too.

FTR I shall still carry the same kit as before, including Celox and other 'personal" additions to the standard kit, but all the training does go against this.

[combined tree services]

I did not realise that to tick all the boxes when it comes to training you actually need to be almost as qualified as a paramedic . Mind you this does spark the question as to weather or not we should be trained further to enable us to deal with the more serious trauma scenarios that we can end up having to deal with .

[Andy Collins]

IMHO its not just training to apply the correct 1st Aid but mental preparation for the unexpected. To sit in a warm training room, with a mug of coffee, discussing the correct type of hypo-allergenic plaster is hardly preparation for the site of gore as you go across to check on your colleague and find him holding his leg together (for example) in a pool of blood in the middle of nowhere. Its the whole mind-set of this training that perhaps could do with a shake-up.

[Xerxses]

I do First AID update at least once a year (at work or volunteer civil defence).

My brother is a doctor and has served in Afghanistan on several missions and pretty good at dealing with nasty wounds,

I will keep the Celox in my pocket..... (Brother approved)

 

Over the years I have done pretty hardcore training, real life type accidents -car chrashes etc... but I have done the odd bandaid thing too:blushing:

I find this really relaxing, I´m pretty confident that I can deal with most situations. I know that I´m not a paramedic, and no one expects me to be one. I just dont want the experience once again to watch someone dying and not knowing what to do, as I did when I was 13.

 

I have been involved at car crashes and other lifethreathening situations and probably saved someones life on several occasions. In our trade there should be a relevant training that teaches us to deal with our specific situations. We all know that if (when) we have accidents at our sites its gonna be nasty.... I´m not talking silkycuts here... Hang trauma, sudden ground impact situations, deep cuts, skull or bone fractures, severe bloodloss, major burns etc. We all should be prepered for this!

 

(I have access to 4 defibrillators (yes I am trained in using them) at work, placed at the diffrent departments spread around town and know of 4 more situated in the mall or in two big supermarkets in different locations. In an emergency I might be quicker then the Ambulance in getting one...)

Edited October 13, 2011 by Xerxses

[combined tree services]

so true , having been put in that situation and knowing that i had to deal with the situation of a fellow worker loosing blood from his hand and wrist at a rate of knotts was an eye opener to say the very least , when in the situatin of dealing with the injury , having to get emergency help and reassure your work mate is not as strait forward as it is made sound on the 1st aid courses . and after your work mate has been taken to hospitall it all comes home as to what just happened . I found myself clearing up the remanence of our first aid kit and realising i was covered in blood etc and now on my own .

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Well i have my arb aid kit now, and I love it, it certainly isnt over the top or OTT as they say, as far as I am concerned its got what I feel i am happy with having! Its a well organised box with decent sized dressing possibilities as apposed to the hundreds of next to usless little dressings you get in most kits!

 

I will never be without it, its in the boot of the car and will be going EVERYWHERE with me.

[ChunkyMike]

Finally a 1st Aid kit specifically for Arborists, with more than a few plasters and band aids! This has everything in it, in the event of an accident with a chainsaw. ROOTS TO SHOOTS Specialist Tree Surgeons - Think safe, be safe, keep safe! "Better to have the ARB AID Kit and not need it, than to need it and not have it"! When you think of the price we pay for chainsaw trousers, chainsaws, chippers, trucks, latest climbing gear, fuel & insurances to run our businesses etc.... what's £300.00 for a 1st aid kit that actually has specific gear in it that has been designed to help us first aiders keep our mates, a casualty & friend / co-worker stable & alive until specialist emergency services turn up.

 

I certainly agree with a 1st aid training shake up and am currently looking in to further realistic training specifically for our line of work and the potential injuries we could sustain in the event of a chainsaw impact wound. My attitude, has been and always will be, better to be safe than sorry, better to be prepared fully, than just to think it will never happen!

 

These sort of subjects always raise differing opinions, but as we are professional arborists, keeping up to date with working practices, kit and all that, I firmly believe having found out about the arbaid kit is a great thing and I will certainly feel more preparded having this kit on site.

 

If anyone else finds out about further, realistic 1st aid training relating to our kind of work please post with details. If and when I do, rest assured I will.

[Pete Mctree]

What your looking for is NOT first aid training. You are wanting above & beyond I.e. first responder which is more expensive & time consuming

[Mesterh]

A defib in the truck! Your bonkers.

 

I was made up to buy a new box of waterproof plasters from asda just last week for a pound.

 

Anyway you just need to press hard and fast on the sovereign,A A A A stayin alive......

 

Seriously though it is good to bring these things to light every now and then.