Big Jim

Heres some footage from Derbyshire Bat Group of a box me and a colleague made by boring a chunk of timber out with a chainsaw. A few years later Leislers bats took up residence. The box was sited somewhere on the Calke Abbey Estate in the south of the county.

That's OK, so long as I can get some advice when my saws are acting up in return ?. Still need to give my 044 a good thrashing to bed the new meteor piston in I installed a few days back and see how it goes, then get it retuned and compression tested. As regards tourniquets - Id agree, leave them on and let the ambulance/helimed or hospital staff decide when to release them. Hopefully you shouldn't wait too long for an amputation or serious haemorrhage for a medical resource to arrive on scene. Remember to emphasise if your location is remote so hopefully helimed will be dispatched. They may even send a Doctor who responds in their own vehicle to assist, and many MR teams have Doctors/Paras on the team, as well as highly trained voluntary medics who will have tourniquets, trauma dressings etc as well as decent pain relief. Most tourniquets usually have a space on them where you can quickly write the time on that it was applied, if not then just take note of it yourself and remember to tell the medics when they arrive. Yep, CPR is knackering if youre doing it properly. Get your weight over the casualty and lock your arms straight. You will feel ribs 'popping' and maybe even crunching/grinding but don't let that bother you. Its inevitable. Id definitely agree too Paul that 'industry specific' first aid courses are better, especially in arb type jobs. I used to work for local authority as a ranger and suggested we should have this, but instead we got the same old St Johns First Aid at Work course every 3 years which didn't cover the scenarios we could come up against out in the middle of nowhere, using saws, brushcutters, chippers etc. I also asked for tourniquets and celox dressing in our first aid kits, again we were denied this. Likewise they wouldn't pay for Hep B jabs, despite fact we often worked in area where we found syringes/needles..... So, its good that you or youre employer is doing the right thing and getting you the appropriate training. And lets face it, even a Silky can do you some quite serious damage if your attention lapses...…. Stay safe Jim

Billhook Its very common that people get Heart Attack and Cardiac Arrest muddled up (and indeed heart attack and stroke, strokes being something that affects the brain). A heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI) is an occlusion of the coronary arteries which are vessels that supply the heart muscle tissue with its own blood supply. This loss of blood to a part of the heart causes death of the muscles tissue in part of the heart affected. The person having an MI will usually be alert, breathing and have a pulse, but they will have chest pain, often described as crushing or heavy, which may radiate to the neck, jaw or arm(s). They will usually look grey and clammy. This is a 999 call immediately job and if there is a community defib nearby, send someone to get it as they could go into Cardiac Arrest at any moment and having the defib there before this happens could make a difference. A cardiac arrest is basically no or insufficient output from the heart. It aint pumping properly and could be in one of several rhythms (eg Asytole, PEA, VF or VT). They will be unconscious, not breathing and have no pulse and look very pale. 999 and get on that chest asap once you establish they are not breathing. Don't worry about getting it wrong - if they aren't in cardiac arrest, the minute you get on their chest, they'll soon come round albeit with a few broken ribs, but better that than do nothing. If you have a 999 call handler on the phone, they will stay on the phone and talk you through CPR so have phone on speaker if you can, or just think Nelly the Elephant. And if theres more than one of you.... swap over chest compressions every 2 mins between you (if the others are trained or feel happy to do so). Doing cpr right is knackering and the longer you do it, the less effective your compressions will be, no matter how big and hard you think you are. Swap every two mins (5 cycles of 30 compressions). Your instructor was right about it not being like on TV where people rush in with two big paddles, shock them and they sit up. Out of hospital arrests have a very low success rate, less than1 in 10, though that will include many where you wouldn't expect to get them back like 80 year olds. Good cpr can make big difference though with younger people who usually will have a healthier heart and more likely to make a good recovery. This very much depends on the reason for the arrest in the first place though..... J

Oh, even if you have no phone signal, still dial 999 as emergency calls will be made on any network available, not just your own, so you may get through on another network. Also you can send for help by text, again this is in case you have not enough phone signal to make calls, but you need to register your phone for this service to work. See http://www.scottishambulance.com/UserFiles/file/TheService/About sending a text to 999 tracked changes 031013.pdf

The article describes a man with AF (Atrial Fibrillation) which is quite a common heart arrhythmia (especially in older people) where rogues cells within the Atria take over as the heart natural pacemaker, rather than the usual cluster of cells known as the Sinoatrial node (at the top of the right atrium). Some people have AF permanently and drugs are used to control the rate/rhythm of the heart. Some people have occasional bouts of AF - often due to stress, illness, excessive alcohol consumption etc and may experience palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath etc. It looks like the guy in the news article has had a bout of AF or maybe another arrhythmia and used the electric fence to 'cardio-vert' his heart. He was not in cardiac arrest, which is what an automated defibrillator is used for, which is used when people in cardiac arrest are in VF (ventricular fibrillation) or VT (Ventricular Tachycardia), the defib delivers a set rate of Joules of charge across the heart to momentarily stop the heart in the hope the hope it will restart itself in a more normal rhythm. People in cardiac arrest wont always be in VF or VT, in which case shocking does nothing. The best thing to do is concentrate on calling 999 immediately and starting good quality CPR ie chest compressions asap and make sure you advise the 999 call handler how remote your location is and any access problems so they can send appropriate resource. Id advise against touching electric fences as a self treatment - I recall going to a young lad who had taken a jolt from a fence whilst dog walking and then felt 'weird' for the rest of the day. When we did an ECG, he had extra heart beats (ectopics) all over the place. That said, the instructor belittling you for asking the question..... no need. He could have just explained why its probably not advisable. Perhaps he was just a first aid trainer and not a qualified medic a some are. Early recognition that the person has arrested, good quality chest compressions and that rapid 999 call are the things to concentrate on. Choose a different first aid training company next time. If you're anywhere near Derbyshire, I can recommend a very good one. Jim

Something else to consider in remote areas is that whilst an ambulance may eventually be able to get near (as far as the road or track allows, they probably wont know the area (some ambo crews are right townies that never stray into the countryside) and will have a bugger of a job finding you. If you call 999, really stress the remoteness of you location and hopefully they've dispatch a helimed and/or MR team. If anyone wants first aid training in the Derbyshire/Notts area that's more appropriate to Arbs (or even farmers, rangers etc )than the usual First Aid at Work course, id recommend a company called Paramedical https://paramedicalfirstaidtraining.co.uk/about-us/ . Its run by serving and very experienced Paramedics, one is ex Helimed. Chris and Tony are happy to discuss requirements and tailor courses to suit your work environment, likely injuries etc , and all courses are certified. They can also supply kit including Defibs (and provide training in their use) at really good rates. (and no I'm not on commission, I just work with them and know what they are like as clinicians).

It was just coincidence Mark that Skyland happened to be about the cheapest - it was after I ordered that I noticed your profile and put 2 and 2 together. ?️‍♂️ I've used both Stihl and Husky levers before in my ranger days and usually reached for the Husky first (unlike saws when it was the reverse). That was when I didn't have to pay for the kit myself though.... hence wondering what the cheap ebay jobs were like. I guess now though Ive got a bit of kit that will last..... unless I lose the bugger.

Decided to give the cheapies a miss and ordered a Husky one from Skyland. Cheers for all the comments.

Think I might as well shell out and get a decent one then.... seeing as I cant weld. Think Ive seen a Husky one for about 46 quid somewhere...….. back to google...….

Cheers Dan. Theyre still 42 quid, which is similar to Oregon ones. I wont use one that often so don't wanna shell out too much.

Anyone bought/used one of the cheap (under 20 quid) felling levers from ebay? Just wondered if they were any good for the money or should I just shell out 50 quid for a husky/stihl one. Cheers