It's taken me a while to be convinced that I am the right chap to have First Aid training, but teaching in the local swimming pool has made it kind of inevitable. So I now know a bit about CPR and rescue breathing and how to stop bleeding, and I have successfully rescued a water-filled plastic dummy from the pool's deep end.
However, knowing about rescue breathing doesn't seem to be much help if one comes across an injured motorcyclist wearing a full-face helmet. I don't feel it's a good idea to try and rive the helmet off in case the biker has a neck or spine injury. What do you do if the injured party has stopped breathing; get the helmet off to get some air into them and risk turning them into a paraplegic or do CPR only? My course tutor was extremely knowledgeable about swimming-related injuries but had no idea about the bigger picture. Anyone any idea?
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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I have an opinion though would not dare present it here in case someone were to do the wrong thing based on what I say. I would however also be interseted in hearing from an expert on this.
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Very difficult one to answer hawkeye. Without going into loads of details I am very used to this scenario and there is a technique for removing the helmet. It is not easy to give a qualified answer on a forum because the risks involved if you get it wrong are very high indeed.
My advice would be look at your first aid manual. If you didn't get one when you did the course then I would strongly urge you to sign up for a full First Aid course with the local St John or St Andrew ambulance assosciation where you live.
I'd like to be of more help but it really is beyond the scope of this forum.
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My wife is a trained First Aider. On her last refresher course she was told of an accident where a motorcyclist was laying injured and he was having difficulty breathing. No-one would remove his crash helmet until the ambulance had arrived. He was dead by the time it got there. He had choked to death. He didn't have a spinal injury and removing his helmet could very likely have saved his life.
My view is that doctors and paramedics are trained and paid to make those decisions. A passer by, even if a qualified First Aider, isn't and runs the risk of making the wrong decision with all the fallout that could entail.
Chris M
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I am a first aider at work and have asked this question before, not only wrt crash helmets but also other scenarios. The answer Ive always been given is that if there is no air going in they WILL die. Removing a helmet may cause problems with unseen spinal damage but if you dont they will die, so its the lesser of two evils.
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That's one of the reasons I prefer a flip up helmet. The other being claustrophobia.
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I agree with PR. If you are sure the person is not breathing then they WILL die if you don't do CPR. So removing the helmet is necessary to attempt to save their life, spinal/neck injuries notwithstanding.
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I recently did a full days "bikesafe" course which was a couple of hours classroom and the rest on the road. Part of it was given by a bike paramedic - not first aid as such, but what to do as 'first on scene'. I don't remember the details and ambulance chasing semi-legals can kill more people by fightening other people from taking action - but.... ISTR he said removing a full face helmet ought to be a two person job and they should know what they are doing, one using both hands to steady the neck and the other to remove the helmet. I know with mine it takes quite a bit of effort to remove it normally.
He did say he once cam across someone tugging at someones helmet traying to get it off, but neglected to undo the chinstrap!
Apparantly many American racers use a commercial sort of air-bladder thing inside the top of the hemet and this can be inflated and thus pushes the helmet off the driver/riders head rather than needing pulling. www.hatsoff.info/motorcycletrader.html
safety & accident info at (near the bottom) www.motorcycle-training.f2s.com/safety.html
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Thanks all for your replies.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Wsan't there a programme on the BBC a few years back about First Aid that actually covered this scenario? As I remember, the advice was that the probability of harm is far lower in removing the helmet, than by leaving the casualty without oxygen until a paramedic arrives. No oxygen = dead, damaged spine = maybe paralysis.
The risk in moving the spine should be mitigated if possible perhaps by wrapping something (a newspaper I think was the best option) around the neck as a collar to minimise movement.
God forbid I ever need to remember properly.
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