First Aid

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First Aid

• By Jo Pauling

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What is first aid?

• First aid is the first treatment given to a
  person for any injury, before the arrival of a
  qualified expert. In giving this treatment your
  responsibility is to help recovery and prevent
  the condition from becoming more serious. You may
  be the first at the scene of the accident,

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Common injuries in the lab!

• Heat burns and scalds
• Chemical burns
• Injury from breathing in fumes or swallowing
  chemicals
• Electric shock
• Cuts and damage to the eyes from particles or
  chemicals

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Heat burns and scalds!

• Flood the injured part with cold water for 10
  minutes to stop the burning and relieve the pain.
• Gently remove any jewellery, watches, belts, or
  constricting clothing from the injured area
  before it begins to swell.
• cover the area with a sterile dressing, or any
  clean, non-fluffy material, and bandage loosely
  in place.

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Chemical burns!

• First make sure that the area is safe. Ventilate
  the area and, if possible, seal the chemical
  container. Remove the casualty from the area if
  necessary.
• Flood the affected area with water to disperse
  the chemical and to stop the burning. Do this for
  at least 20 minutes.
• Gently remove any contaminated clothing while
  flooding the injury.
• Take or send the casualty to hospital watch
  their airway and breathing closely. Note and pass
  on any details about the chemical to medical
  personnel.

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Injury from breathing in fumes or swallowing
chemicals!

• Anyone suffering from the effects of gas or toxic
  fumes needs air, therefore the area should be
  well ventilated and medical assistance requested.
• In cases where chemicals have been swallowed, it
  is important that the substance is identified if
  possible and medical help requested. You should
  never give anything by mouth unless specifically
  instructed to do so by a medical officer in
  authority.

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Electric shock!

• Make sure the person is no longer in contact
  with the source of electric and that the electric
  mains it turned off before treating.
• If it burns the skin, treat as already described.
  If unconscious or suffering from shock, in all
  such cases further medical help should be sought.

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Cuts and damage to the eyes from particles or
chemicals!

• If an object is embedded into the eye, you should
  not remove the object.
• Cover both eyes with sterile dressings to
  immobilize them.
• DO NOT rub or apply pressure or ice to the eye
  unless its a black eye, but do not place
  directly on the eye.

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Why its useful to have a first aid qualification!

• It is important that everyone has some idea about
  first aid, because if an accident happens, the
  people near by need to know what to do.
• In school there are trained first-eiders, just in
  case an accident should happen, however, if your
  at home you may be put into a situation where you
  have to treat an injured person.
• You should never do first aid if you are not sure
  what your doing.

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Where you can get training and how!

• Three voluntary organisations all run first aid
  courses. Here are the names and address for them

St John Ambulance National headquarters 27 St
Johns Lane London EC1M 4BU
The British red cross society 9 Grosvenor
crescent London SW1X FEF
St Andrews Ambulance Association St Andrews
House Milton Street Glasgow G40HR
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Information taken from

• Applied science GCSE Double Award. Editor
  Stewart Ghenery
• First aid manual, Dorling Kindersley. ISBN
  0-7513-0707-6