Selection Day at 38 °C: Two Candidates, Two Different Decisions
A constable selection day is held on 10 July in a southern wilaya. It is 38 °C at 15:00 and the programme is already three hours late. There is one water point at the finish line and no shade anywhere on the 1,000 m course. At about 700 m, candidate A, aged 22, slows down, stumbles, and answers incoherently when the steward speaks to him; his skin is hot and dry and he has stopped sweating. Candidate B, aged 24, twisted his ankle during the warm-up, can bear weight with a limp, and insists on running because 'a real candidate does not give up'. The medical cover consists of one nurse stationed at the finish, 400 m from the furthest point of the course. Two hundred candidates are still waiting, and the supervisor asks the steward - a stagiaire - what to do with A and B, and what must change before the next group starts.
1. Decide what is happening to candidate A and set out, in order, what the steward does in the next ten minutes.
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The picture - hot dry skin, sweating stopped, confusion, incoordination at effort in high heat - points to heat stroke, not simple fatigue or heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion produces heavy sweating, weakness and dizziness but a lucid candidate; the loss of sweating together with confusion is the danger sign, and it is a medical emergency in which delay can be fatal.
Order of action:
- Stop him and keep him stopped - no argument, no 'finish the lap'.
- Move him to shade, remove excess clothing, and start active cooling at once with water, wet cloths and fanning.
- Send for the nurse and for medical evacuation immediately; do not wait for the nurse to arrive before beginning cooling, and do not walk him 400 m.
- Do not give drinks by mouth while he is confused - the airway is not safe.
- Stay with him, monitor breathing and consciousness, and hand over to the medical team with the times recorded.
- Write an incident report the same day: time, symptoms observed, actions, who was informed.
His result takes second place to his survival, and the steward's authority overrides the candidate's own ambition.
2. Candidate B wants to run on a limping ankle. How do you decide, and what do you tell him?
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The steward does not decide fitness, but he does decide whether a candidate starts. A limp on weight-bearing after an inversion injury is enough to stop him pending medical assessment: running 1,000 m on it risks turning a sprain into something worse, and a candidate who collapses mid-course creates a second emergency on a course with one nurse.
The decision is deferral, not elimination. Say it plainly: the medical officer examines him; if the injury is confirmed, the run is postponed to the rescheduled session provided for by the official notice, and the deferral is recorded in writing with the reason. That protects his rights - a candidate must not lose his chance because of an injury sustained on the organisation's own warm-up - and protects the organiser from a later challenge.
Do not be moved by the argument that 'a real candidate does not give up'. Courage is not a medical criterion, and a steward who lets an injured man run to prove something has confused firmness with negligence. Explain the reason, record it, and let the doctor speak.
3. What must change before the next group of 200 candidates starts? Give the changes in priority order with the reason for each.
Read the worked answer
The organisation, not the candidates, is the main risk here.
- Timing. Move the tests to the early morning. 38 °C at 15:00 on an unshaded course is the root cause; scheduling is cheaper to change than anything else.
- Water. One point at the finish is not enough: water every 200–250 m, and allow candidates to drink before the start.
- Medical cover. One nurse 400 m from the furthest point gives an evacuation time that is unacceptable in heat. A first-aid point with cooling equipment must be sited on the course, with a vehicle and a named evacuation route.
- Shade and recovery. A shaded waiting and recovery area; candidates must not stand in the sun for three hours before their turn.
- Briefing. Tell candidates the warning signs - dizziness, headache, stopping sweating, confusion - and tell them they may stop without penalty. A candidate who is afraid of losing his chance will hide symptoms until he collapses.
- Recording. Log every incident and every deferral, so that decisions taken under pressure can be justified afterwards.
If these cannot be in place, the session should be suspended and rescheduled - that decision belongs to the supervisor, and the steward should put it to him in writing.