Health, Safety and First Aid (Υγεία, Ασφάλεια και Πρώτες Βοήθειες)
What is tested
The first-aid sequence, CPR and AED use, and the safety discipline expected of a uniformed responder at a fire, a collision or a workplace incident.
First aid sequence
- DR ABC: Danger (scene safe, gloves on, no traffic, no smoke), Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation.
- Unresponsive and not breathing normally: call 112, then CPR - 30 compressions to 2 rescue breaths for adults, rate 100–120 per minute, depth 5–6 cm, full chest recoil, minimal interruptions. Attach an AED as soon as it arrives and follow its prompts.
- Recovery position for an unresponsive casualty who is breathing normally.
- Choking: 5 firm back blows, then 5 abdominal thrusts; if the casualty becomes unresponsive, start CPR.
- Severe bleeding: direct pressure with a dressing; a tourniquet only for life-threatening limb bleeding, and note the time applied.
- Burns: cool with running water for at least 20 minutes, remove jewellery, cover with cling film; no ice, butter or toothpaste.
Safety at the scene
- Fire tetrahedron: fuel, oxygen, heat, chain reaction. Fire classes A solids, B flammable liquids, C gases, D metals, F cooking oils; isolate power for electrical fires.
- Extinguishers: PASS - pull, aim, squeeze, sweep. Never use water on live electrical equipment or on a chip pan.
- Wear SCBA in smoke; smoke is toxic (carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide) and hotter than the air below.
- Hierarchy of controls: eliminate, substitute, engineering, administrative controls, then PPE - PPE is the last line of defence, not the first.
Worked example
'A colleague collapses during a drill: no response, no normal breathing. What next?' Reasoning: D comes first - is the area safe? Then check response, open the airway, check breathing. Absent normal breathing means cardiac arrest: send for the AED, call 112, begin 30:2. Do not give water, do not delay compressions to hunt for a pulse you cannot reliably detect, and do not stop after five cycles. The AED's spoken prompts override your assumptions about who can be shocked.
Traps that cost marks
- Using 15:2 for an adult; that is a two-rescuer paediatric ratio in many protocols.
- Mistaking agonal gasping for normal breathing.
- Pulling an impaled object out of a wound.
- Using water on electrical or cooking-oil fires.
- Putting anything on a burn before cooling it.