First Aid, Health, Hygiene and Field Craft / Camp Craft
This domain mixes life-saving procedure with camp routine. Examiners look for the correct order of actions - a first aider who does the right thing in the wrong sequence loses the mark.
First aid priorities
DRABC - Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Only then treat bleeding and fractures.
- Adult CPR: 30 compressions to 2 rescue breaths, about 100–120 compressions a minute, 5–6 cm deep, on a hard surface.
- Severe bleeding: direct pressure with a clean pad, elevate, and use a tourniquet only as a last resort.
- Burns: cool with clean running water for 10–20 minutes; never ice, ghee or toothpaste.
- Snake bite: keep the casualty still and lying down, immobilise the limb, remove rings, and get to hospital; do not cut, suck or apply a tight band.
- Fracture: immobilise the joint above and below; never attempt to straighten a deformed limb.
Health and hygiene
Clean drinking water, safe disposal of waste, hand washing before meals, personal cleanliness, and prompt reporting of illness in camp. A latrine is sited well away from and downhill of the water point (roughly 100 m).
Field and camp craft
Camouflage and concealment, field signals, section formations; tent pitching with a ridge line, pegs at 45°, and the entrance away from the prevailing wind; site the camp on high, well-drained ground, clear of dead trees and dry river beds.
Worked example
A cadet collapses in camp and does not respond. Check danger first (traffic, live wire), then tap and shout for response, open the airway with a head tilt and chin lift, look-listen-feel for breathing for 10 seconds. Not breathing → send for an ambulance, start 30:2 CPR. He must not first run for water or lift the casualty upright.
Traps
Starting CPR before checking the airway; giving an unconscious person water; pulling out an embedded object; a tourniquet as the first step for bleeding.