Emergency action principles are the guiding rules to be employed by the first person, or persons, on the scene of an emergency

Emergency

An emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or environment. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation, although in some situations, mitigation may not be possible and agencies may only be able to offer palliative...

. The nature of emergencies is such that it is impossible to prescribe a specific list of actions to be completed before the event happens, so principles form a framework on which to base forward actions.

The adherence to the principles by would be rescuers varies widely based on the training the people involved in emergency have received, the support available from emergency services (and the time it will take to arrive) and the emergency itself.

There are many overlaps between emergency action principles and principles of first aid

First aid

First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...

, firefighting and other emergency service activities.

The Key Emergency Principle

The key principle taught in almost all systems is that the rescuer, be they a lay person or a professional, should assess the situation for Danger.

The reason that an assessment for Danger is given such high priority is that it is core to emergency management that rescuers do not become secondary victims of any incident, as this creates a further emergency that must be dealt with.

A typical assessment for Danger would involve observation of the surroundings, starting with the cause of the accident (e.g. a falling object) and expanding outwards to include any situational hazards (e.g. fast moving traffic) and history or secondary information given by witnesses, bystanders or the emergency services (e.g. an attacker still waiting nearby).

Once a primary danger assessment has been complete, this should not end the system of checking for danger, but should inform all other parts of the process.

If at any time the risk from any hazard poses a significant danger (as a factor of likelihood and seriousness) to the rescuer, they should consider whether they should approach the scene (or leave the scene if appropriate).

Principles for assessing an emergency

Once a primary check for danger has been undertaken, a rescuer is then likely to follow a set of principles, which are largely common sense. These assessment principles are the types of information that the emergency services will ask when summoned.

This information usually includes number of Casualties, history of what has happened and at what time, location and access to the site and what emergency services are likely to be required, or that are already on scene. There are several mnemonic

Mnemonic

A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...

s which are used to help rescuers remember how to conduct this assessment, which include CHALET

CHALET

CHALET is a mnemonic indicating a protocol used by UK emergency services to report situations which they may be faced with, especially as it relates to major incidents....

(Casualties, Hazards, Access, Location, Emergency Services, Type of Incident) and ETHANE

ETHANE

ETHANE is a mnemonic indicating a protocol used by emergency services to report situations which they may be faced with, especially as it relates to major incidents, where is may be used as part of their emergency action principles....

(Exact Location, Type of Incident, Hazards, Access, Number of casualties, Emergency services required)

For small scale medical incidents (one or two casualties), the rescuer may also conduct a first aid assessment of the patient

Patient

A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....

(s) in order to gather more information. The most widely used system is the ABC system and its variations, where the rescuer checks the basics of life on the casualty (primarily their breathing in modern protocols).

In larger incidents, of any type, most protocols teach that casualty assessment should not start until emergency services have been summoned (as multiple casualties are expected).

Accurate reporting of this important information helps emergency services dispatch appropriate resources to the incident, in good time and to the right place.

Summoning Emergency Services

After undertaking a scene survey, the rescuer needs to decide what, if any, emergency services will be required. In many cases, an apparent emergency may turn out to be less serious than first thought, and may not require the intervention of the emergency services.

If emergency services are required, the lay person would normally call for help

Call for Help

Call for Help, also known as CFH, was a computer-themed television program that first aired exclusively on TechTV , a cable and satellite television network focused on technology, and then aired on G4techTV Canada and the HOW TO Channel in Australia...

 using their local emergency telephone number

Emergency telephone number

Many countries' public telephone networks have a single emergency telephone number, sometimes known as the universal emergency telephone number or occasionally the emergency services number, that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assistance. The emergency telephone number may...

, which can be used to summon professional assistance. The emergency dispatcher may well give instructions over the phone to the person on scene, with further advice on what actions to take.

Action whilst awaiting emergency services

The actions following the summoning of the emergency services are likely to depend on the response that the services are able to offer. In most cases, in a metropolitan area, help is likely to be forthcoming within minutes of a call, although in more outlying, rural areas, the time in which help is available increases.

Actions may include:

• First Aid
  First aid
  First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...
  
  for casualties on scene
• Obtaining further history on the incident to pass on the emergency services
• Checking for further, previously unnoticed, casualties

Or in instances where emergency assistance is delayed, actions may include:

• Moving any casualties away from danger
• Undertaking more advanced medical procedures dependent on training