First Aid, Incident Response and Crash Scene Duties
This domain covers what you do in the first minutes after a crash or sudden illness on board: protect the scene, prioritise life, and meet your legal duties afterwards.
Scene safety and assessment
- Stop, switch off the engine, apply the handbrake and switch on hazard lights.
- Place warning triangles well behind the vehicle, further back on fast roads and bends, and wear a reflective jacket.
- Check for danger before approaching: traffic, fuel, fire, live wires. Do not become a second casualty.
- Use DRABC: Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Call the emergency services early.
First aid essentials
- Severe bleeding: apply firm direct pressure with a clean pad and do not remove a soaked pad; add another on top.
- Unconscious but breathing: place in the recovery position and monitor breathing.
- Not breathing: start CPR at 30 compressions to 2 breaths if trained.
- Burns: cool with clean running water for at least 10 minutes, cover loosely, and do not apply ointment or ice.
- Suspected spinal injury: do not move the casualty unless there is immediate danger.
Legal duties
Stop, give assistance, exchange particulars and report the crash to the police promptly. Inform the operator and insurer, and record witness details.
Worked example
A motorcyclist is unconscious but breathing after hitting the bus. The driver protects the scene, calls for help, checks breathing and places the casualty in the recovery position without removing the helmet. Removing the helmet could worsen a neck injury; the recovery position protects the airway while preserving spinal alignment as far as possible.
Traps that cost marks
Giving water to an unconscious casualty; moving someone with a suspected spinal injury; and leaving the scene before reporting.