RescueRanger
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Safety and Preparedness
- Thread starter RescueRanger
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RescueRanger
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- Sep 20, 2008
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- #2
Personal Safety
Part 1 Situational Awareness:
This is one subject I am very passionate about so I would like to add my two cents if I may! Personal safety and security is down to common sense. It's all down to situational awareness, to begin with, followed by impact factors and your capacity and ability to respond to the threat.
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of areas left in our world where you are immune to threats to your personal safety. With increases in crime such as theft, rape, terrorism and assault, it is in our best interest to pay attention.
This post is not covering the entire subject of self-defense, it may give you some food for thought.
It is also important to mention that whilst however no one is totally immune from possibly becoming a victim of a crime, learning how to be more alert and aware of your surroundings and keeping an eye out for signs of trouble is a good start.
As any good self-defense trainer will tell you, the best self-defense is to avoid the situation entirely. So let's get started, first, we are going to look at how the mind of criminal works and then compare this to the thought process of the victim:
The mental process of a criminal are broken into three simple steps:
1. First, a target is selected
2. A plan is made
3. The crime is committed
A victim is at a disadvantage because they have to go through a four step process:
1. They have to be aware of their surroundings
2. They have to evaluate the situation
3. They have to think of a counter plan
4. Finally, take action on the plan.
As a potential victim goes through these four steps, they are running through the phases of the “personal safety spectrum”.
This system is a simplified version of the “Cooper Colour Code” which is named after the person who developed it, Colonel Jeff Cooper of the United States Marine Corps, the colour code was designed to teach US Marines about maintaining mental readiness and how to respond to threats based on severity and exposure.
The personal safety spectrum, which is what I am going to be talking about is a more simplified version designed for personal safety awareness:
Here is the list of the conditions “phases” of the personal safety spectrum:
1. Condition Grey: In a safe place such as your home, and are not concerned with your surroundings.
2. Condition Yellow: When you are outside driving or walking down the street, you should be in Yellow condition. You should be taking in information, assessing risks. The reason you upgrade from condition grey to yellow is because you have left the comfort of a controlled environment, such as your “home” and as such have a greater need to pay attention to the environment around you.
For example:
You are proceeding down a sidewalk, a person approaches and asks “what time is it”? At this point, most people will look at their watch, this is actually a common distraction technique used to cause inattention to your surroundings.
3. Condition Red: In this condition you should be ALERT, look at the person/threat and decide what you will do and your decision, the act upon that decision. Once you are ready to act, you upgrade to Condition Green.
4. Condition Green: When you see an individual approaching you and decide you don’t wish contact, change your direction by moving away from the individual.
5. Condition White: This is a state of panic and you don’t know what to do.
So you can see, that it pays to be alert and aware of your surroundings as you may never know what may be around the corner. For example, if somebody approaches you, there are four things you need to be thinking about:
1. Hands: Where are their hands and what are they doing with their hands. 55% of our communication is through body language, for example: if someone makes a fist, chances are they are going to hit someone with it. But if they don’t have anything in their hands, then you should start looking for the second thing which is weapons.
2. Weapons: Guns, Knives or anything within that person's reach that can be used against you. Also known as a weapon of opportunity.
3. Friends and Associates: Is the person alone or is he in a group? Remember that many crimes are committed in pairs.
4. Escape: Finally consider your options to escape, where are you going to run to, are you boxed in, are you blocking the exit of the suspect? Remember that cornered criminals are more likely to use violence, so keep this in mind when considering an escape route.
This video shows some examples of pre-contact queues:
Here is a fine example of what happens when you fail to pick up on pre-contact queues telling you to "fight or flight":
Guard your personal space, When approached by someone whom you do not trust always try to keep him/her outside of what is referred to as your “Intimate space”, simply put, keep strangers who approach you and you don’t trust at an arms length. There are three kinds of Spaces you need to be concerned with when it comes to personal safety:
1. Intimate space: 0-1.5 Feet (The only people you should allow into your intimate space are people you trust such as your friends and family).
2. Personal space: 1.5 Feet – 4 Feet (This is the ideal range to deal with strangers, it makes it difficult for someone to try and grab your clothing, or throw a punch. You should always try to maintain a distance out of “arms reach” when dealing with strangers you may feel are a threat. This space should allow you enough of a gap to quickly run through the four steps to be able to protect yourself.
3. Social space and public space: 4 Feet – 12 Feet ( This is the distance you should aim to keep from people in public, remember that even at 4 Feet, you are still maintaining the “Arms length” distance from a potential threat.
Observation:
This is a very important skill to learn and develop, not only will help keep you safe, it can also help when completing a FIR and if you notice anything out of the ordinary during your day to day activities such as a suspicious car or package, or even an unusual smell coming from something unexpected you can report it to the authorities.
https://www.samaa.tv/video/2017/02/cctv-footage-of-gun-attack-on-police-van/
Remember if it doesn't look right or if it doesn't sound or smell right, report it! When observing your surroundings, use the look, scent, listen method. Start from head and go to toes, clothing information such as shirts, pants, shoes, accessories, and then consider the physical characteristics of the individual such as:
1. Body shape
2. Skin colour/ Eye Colour
3. Hair [colour and length]
4. Height
5. Gender
6. Age
7. Distinguishing features including what weapon was used?,voice, accent, strange smells such as “Charred hands, or smelling like chemicals etc.”
8. Finally record the direction of travel: Which way were they going.
Part 2 Safety at work, home and in public spaces:
When you are out and about you need to remember three simple rules:
Safety in public places:
You are in a busy marketplace, there have been a number of operations against militant groups in Pakistan recently and the militants have vowed retribution, you notice something suspicious near a market.
Do you:
A) inspect it?
B) call for help?
If you chose option B, well DONE!
Remember that unlike the movies it takes lengthy training and use of correct PPE and tools such as x-ray, hook, and line etc to safely dispose of an IED. If you cannot identify something, you CANNOT handle it! Simple as that.
If you are being followed:
There are many methods to losing a tail, but that is too complex for this post just use common sense.
Okay so if you have the money to splash out, there are many options. You can pay a company like Wackenhut Pakistan and they will install and monitor the alarm for you, sending out an armed QRF if the alarm or Panic button is pressed, but of course this costs LOTS of money.
The cheaper alternative is, again if you have the cash to buy a CCTV system with DVR this should set you back about 20,000 PKR. Installation can be done yourself if you are reasonably technical. If not, the vendor will do the installation on average for an extra 5,000 plus 150 rupees for every meter of wiring used. When buying camera always opt for wide angle, Zero Lux cameras.
Home alarm systems that trigger an audio alarm if the window is broken or door is opened cost about 10,000 PKR on OLX.com and I have tested one, they work really well! Most alarms now have the ability to send an SMS or a call to up to three pre-stored numbers using an auto dialer and a pre-paid GSM sim. They even have a backup battery so should the UPS fail during a day of load shedding the alarm will run on backup battery for 24 hours.
Example:
https://www.olx.com.pk/item/gsm-bas...plete-security-system-IDTMSVH.html#17212e15a1
Hired Guns:
Okay, so you have cash to spend and want to hire a security guard. Things to look out for when hiring a security guard.
1. ONLY hire from companies who are members of APSAA ( All Pakistan Security Agencies Association). www.apsaa.com.pk
2. Ask people in your office, workplace or neighborhood if they recommend a company.
3. Check the company website, and visit their office. Any decent company should have a file on each guard which should include the following:
A. CNIC
B. Character Certificate from Police and Special Branch
C. Copy of service book if ex-military
D. Training log: Most good companies keep one, in Islamabad and Punjab this training in mandatory.
E. License both for the company and the guard, company license is from IB and ISI in the shape of an NOC and from Home Department. The guard should have their own firearms license which should be up to date with full duty stamps.
F. The sign of professional security guard company is that they will refuse to give you 1 guard, they will offer a minimum of two on a rotation 12-hour shift basis with rest days in between.
G. Before the guard comes to your home, set some ground rules of do's and don't for your family/staff and him. H. If he is armed, ask him to demonstrate safe loading, unloading, and handling of a firearm. Most guard companies provide their guards with a 12 gauge shotgun, they should have a minimum of 12 shells for each guard on site.
Responding to an Attack or Robbery:
Robbery:
First, decide if you are being robbed or attacked If you are being robbed…do not resist, Give the robber what he or she wants Remember…your goal is to avoid injury Do not carry anything of value that you are not willing to lose.
Second, if you are being attacked…decide NOW how you are going to respond: Safety in these situations is a personal choice, because only you can decide how to respond, Points to Consider if Being Attacked:
Other good self-defense martial arts include Karate, Brazilian jiu-jitsu & Krav Maga, although I cannot vouch for the quality of trainers in Pakistan.
JUST REMEMBER WHATEVER YOU DO, YOUR GOAL HERE IS SURVIVAL
After an Attack or Robbery:
Part 4: Advanced situational awareness:
Do you sit facing the door at restaurants? Do you always back into parking spots? in this section of the thread, I’d like to share some situational awareness tips you can use when you’re out and about with your family, that will put you at another level when it comes to identifying your surroundings and being prepared for whatever comes your way.
There’s a saying that I use often when discussing home security, which is “know your neighbourhood.” The baseline is the standard by which anything out of the ordinary stands out against.
Meaning that if you know the cars that commonly park in and around a neighbour's house and one day you see an unfamiliar vehicle parked on the street, that’s out of the ordinary; outside the baseline.
Noticing this and other details like it, can help alert you to threats that might arise. The devil is in the details, as they say and all danger comes from this place. The goal is to recognise it ahead of time and have already prepared your response.
That’s what this article is all about today, doing the upfront work to have a plan in case something goes wrong. Just like your neighborhood, there’s advance work you can do on places you visit on a regular basis and even those you’ve never been before.
Maps are your friend:
Maps aren’t just good for navigating, they can help you learn the ingress and egress routes, points of interest and emergency resources of an area that you’re planning to visit. You don’t even need a physical map, (though one is good for backup) most of this area familiarization can be done using Google Maps or another online navigational resource in advance of your visit.
With all the advancements in technology today, there’s even a way to get a three-dimensional view of the area with online map views and Google’s Street View can be an invaluable resource to learn about terrain features in the immediate vicinity, sadly street view is not available in Pakistan, but it doesn't hurt to do a recce of an area prior to visiting it.
This is all about knowledge work. Knowledge is power and the more familiar you are with the places you visit, or even intend to visit, the more prepared you’ll be for responding to threats that could occur and where you should go during an emergency.
Sketching your own maps:
While doing proper advance work on an area is a skill-set that’s in use by many government agencies, Observation is a critical skill and you can develop your observational skills by starting to observe the important details inside and outside a building, later using that information to sketch your own maps.
This provides two benefits, one is having your own map of an establishment if you ever need it in the future and the most important reason is using the creation of maps to develop your observational skill-set through repetition.
The more you practice observing a location and then drawing a map of it based on what you remember, the more powerful your observation will become. The reason being is that you’ll no doubt miss important details you wish you’d remembered when later drawing a map.
That will force you to think about them and memorize them better the next time. This repetition will hone your skill to the point where this observational detail of places you go becomes second nature.
Your goal should be to draw so many maps after you’re out and about, that you get to the point where you no longer have to draw them and you’re instinctively noting the details you previously would have had to memorize to build a map off of.
As an example, how many times have you heard, or even seen information that you wanted to remember, but never wrote it down? More than likely, that information evaporated from your short term memory and left you kicking yourself for not writing it down.
That’s the same in this example, however you’re not only getting the practice of writing things down to remember them later, you’re getting the practice of being forced to observe important details, in order to be properly prepared for a response to potential threats.
Confused yet? Let’s look at what kind of details I’m referring to observing, by using the example of a restaurant you’ve just arrived at with a group of friends. At this point, if you weren’t already familiar with the area you’re traveling to, a proper map study would need to be done, as mentioned earlier.
What to note:
One last thing I want to go over is an easy to remember system for quickly identifying different sides of a building. This Colored Structure Reference can be good for a group of friends communicating internally, or for couples to use for identification.
While it’s always good to have a general ideal of the cardinal directions wherever you go, it’s not always intuitive to say “pick me up on the southwest side of the building.” Using the colors Green, Red, Black and White, label the front primary entrance White. Opposite of White, or the back of the building, becomes Black. While facing the building, the right side becomes Red. I remember this as “Red Right.” Opposite of that is Green, so the left side of the building becomes Green.
Closing:
I hope this has given you some information on ways that you can train your powers of observation and things to notice the next time you’re out and about. Again, the goal here is to develop your observational skill-set and notice threats before they happen, in addition to pre-planning a response and course of action should anything occur when you’re out.
--END--
Suspect items and Public places:
If you see a suspicious item, vehicle or person - think HOT!
Hidden - i.e. placed where they will not be readily seen or noticed as unusual
Obviously suspicious (e.g. by physical appearance, by placement, or because of the circumstances in which they have been discovered)
Not Typical of what you would normally expect to find in that environment
Items that have any of the following should be treated with extreme caution:
a. external wiring;
b. visible batteries;
c. switches;
d. timers;
e. circuit boards;
f. wire passing from one package to another;
g. items secured by plastic adhesive tape;
h. annotations (e.g., ‘ON’ or anything in reference to the time delay);
i. specially modified wooden or plastic boxes;
j. unidentified powders or other putty-like substances; or
k. carefully wrapped in plastic bags.
What you should DO:
An average suicide vest detonates and produces a number of effects chiefly being the blast overpressure "Shockwave" it is estimated that the average vest (depending on varying factors) can produce blast overpressure of anywhere between 50-150 PSI within the immediate area around the T.
According to the "Forensic Neuropathology, Third Edition" blast overpressure of 100-250 PSI is not survivable. Your best job as a civilian is to observe, report and evacuate or if it is a car or package, move as far as possible away from the object min distance between 300-400 meters.
Look out for "Hostile Surveillance"
How to identify "Hostile Surveillance":
The first thing to remember is that attacks and other crimes don’t just appear out of a vacuum. They are the result of the attack cycle [fig 2], and those planning crimes are vulnerable to detection as they progress through these processes.
Figure 2: The Attack cycle
The activity that most exposes hostile actors to detection is surveillance, and every criminal act involves some degree of surveillance. Obviously, the amount of surveillance needed for a simple purse snatching is much less than that required for a complex kidnapping, but both nevertheless require surveillance.
Most criminals have poor surveillance tradecraft. Yet, the reason they are able to succeed in their crimes despite their ineptitude at this critical skill is that the majority of people simply aren’t looking for surveillance and therefore miss even awkward surveillance efforts.
Tradecraft is an espionage term that refers to operational techniques used in the field. The term implies that tradecraft is as much an art as a skill and that they require a degree of finesse to conduct them properly.
In many ways, tradecraft skills are like learning a musical instrument. One can listen to music, read books on music theory, and take lessons, but becoming a skilled musician requires a great deal of time and practice.
The same is true for the art of surveillance, as it takes time and practice on the street for one to become a skilled surveillance operative.
While there are some terrorist operatives and high-end criminals who have mastered the surveillance art, most hostile actors simply do not devote the time necessary to become adept. They display terrible technique, use sloppy procedures, and lack finesse during their surveillance. This makes them easy to pick out—but only if someone is looking for them.
youtu.be
TEDD stands for Time, Environment, Distance and Demeanour, and is also applicable to ordinary citizens trying to identify hostile criminal or terrorist surveillance.
If a person sees someone repeatedly over time—in different environments and at a distance from where they last saw them—or if they notice someone who displays poor surveillance demeanour, then that person can assume he or she is under surveillance.
For example, if you see someone on your morning commute to work, and then see the same person while shopping that evening at the mall in a different part of town, there is a good chance that person is following you.
For an individual, however, TEDD is only relevant in cases where you are being specifically being stalked or targeted for a complex attack such as a kidnapping or being stalked. In such cases, the individual will have the elements of time, environment, and distance to see the hostile actor planning a crime.
However, in mass casualty incidents such as a terrorist or workplace violence attack, it is often the location that is being targeted rather than a specific individual. An individual who just happens to be at the attack site will not have the ability to make time, environment, or distance correlations.
In such cases, a victim will only have a demeanour to key on. It is often a demeanour mistake that allows one to initially notice a person and then key in on them over the other TEDD factors of time, environment, and distance.
It is thus important to focus on the things that cannot be changed as easily as clothing or hair, such as a person’s facial features, build, mannerisms and gait. Additionally, while someone can change the license plate on a car, it is not as easy to alter other aspects of the vehicle such as scratches and dents in the body.
Such a critical place would include the front door of the surveillance target’s residence or office, or a choke point on a route frequently used by the target, and the places that provide an optimal view of them are referred to as perches in surveillance jargon.
Once identified, perches can then be monitored for tell-tale signs of hostile surveillance such as people who do not belong, people who are unnaturally lurking, or people making more subtle demeanour mistakes.
Practicing good demeanour is not intuitive. In fact, I believe many of the things one must do to maintain good demeanour while conducting surveillance are counter to human nature.
At its heart, surveillance is watching someone while attempting not to be caught doing so. As such, it is an unnatural activity, and a person doing it must deal with strong feelings of self-consciousness and of being out of place.
People inexperienced in the art of surveillance find it difficult to control this natural reaction.
Because of this, intelligence, law enforcement, and security professionals receive extensive surveillance training that includes many hours of heavily critiqued practical exercises, often followed by field training with a team of experienced surveillance professionals.
This training emphasizes and reinforces maintaining proper demeanour. Even experienced surveillance operatives must deal with the feeling of being burned.
The difference is that since they have received extensive professional training, they are better able to control their reaction and behave normally. They possess the ability to maintain a demeanour that appears normal even though their insides are screaming that the person they are watching has seen them.
Cover for status is a person’s purported identity—his costume. A person can pretend to be a student, a businessman, a repairman, etc. Cover for action explains why the person is doing what he or she is doing—i.e., sitting on that bench waiting for a bus.
Proper cover for status and cover for action makes the presence of the person conducting the surveillance look routine and normal in that specific environment at that particular time. When done right, the surveillance operative fits in with the mental snapshot subconsciously taken by the target as the target goes about his or her business.
An example of a bad cover for status would be someone dressed as a “businessman” walking in the woods or at the beach. An example of a bad cover for action is someone pretending to be sitting at a bus stop who remains at that bus stop even after several buses have passed.
For the most part, however, inexperienced operatives conducting surveillance practice little or no cover for status and cover for action. They just lurk and look totally out of place. There is no apparent reason for them to be where they are or doing what they are doing.
In addition to plain old lurking, other demeanour giveaways include a person moving when the target moves, communicating when the target moves, making sudden turns or stops, or even using hand signals to communicate with other members of a surveillance team or criminal gang.
Surveillants also can tip off the person they are watching by entering or leaving a building immediately after the person they are watching does so, or simply by running in street clothes.
The term we use for that gut feeling is “JDLR” or Just Doesn’t Look Right. Innocent bystanders do not exhibit behaviour that triggers such feelings. I encourage people to trust their gut when they encounter such a situation.
There is often little to lose by doing so, other than perhaps a little time and effort, and avoiding a potential problem is always the right thing to do.
Another important demeanour indicator is a person’s eyes. How a person looks at you—or doesn’t—can provide a good indicator of their intent.
Are they looking at you with a hostile, drop-dead look? Do they have a thousand-yard stare? Are they avoiding your gaze? It has been said that the eyes are the window to the soul, and I have found this to very often be true.
It takes intelligence officers months or years of training and practice to become highly proficient at detecting surveillance conducted by professional surveillance operatives, and there are many tricks of the trade.
However, almost anyone can learn to spot surveillance by poorly trained criminals or terrorists—it is not rocket science.
The keys to doing so are to first understand a bit about surveillance and demeanour as we have done in this article; and secondly, to make the effort to practice situational awareness to look for surveillance when appropriate.
Suspect Identification:
Emergency Numbers:
--END--
Part 1 Situational Awareness:
This is one subject I am very passionate about so I would like to add my two cents if I may! Personal safety and security is down to common sense. It's all down to situational awareness, to begin with, followed by impact factors and your capacity and ability to respond to the threat.
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of areas left in our world where you are immune to threats to your personal safety. With increases in crime such as theft, rape, terrorism and assault, it is in our best interest to pay attention.
This post is not covering the entire subject of self-defense, it may give you some food for thought.
It is also important to mention that whilst however no one is totally immune from possibly becoming a victim of a crime, learning how to be more alert and aware of your surroundings and keeping an eye out for signs of trouble is a good start.
As any good self-defense trainer will tell you, the best self-defense is to avoid the situation entirely. So let's get started, first, we are going to look at how the mind of criminal works and then compare this to the thought process of the victim:
The mental process of a criminal are broken into three simple steps:
1. First, a target is selected
2. A plan is made
3. The crime is committed
A victim is at a disadvantage because they have to go through a four step process:
1. They have to be aware of their surroundings
2. They have to evaluate the situation
3. They have to think of a counter plan
4. Finally, take action on the plan.
As a potential victim goes through these four steps, they are running through the phases of the “personal safety spectrum”.
This system is a simplified version of the “Cooper Colour Code” which is named after the person who developed it, Colonel Jeff Cooper of the United States Marine Corps, the colour code was designed to teach US Marines about maintaining mental readiness and how to respond to threats based on severity and exposure.
The personal safety spectrum, which is what I am going to be talking about is a more simplified version designed for personal safety awareness:
Here is the list of the conditions “phases” of the personal safety spectrum:
1. Condition Grey: In a safe place such as your home, and are not concerned with your surroundings.
2. Condition Yellow: When you are outside driving or walking down the street, you should be in Yellow condition. You should be taking in information, assessing risks. The reason you upgrade from condition grey to yellow is because you have left the comfort of a controlled environment, such as your “home” and as such have a greater need to pay attention to the environment around you.
For example:
You are proceeding down a sidewalk, a person approaches and asks “what time is it”? At this point, most people will look at their watch, this is actually a common distraction technique used to cause inattention to your surroundings.
3. Condition Red: In this condition you should be ALERT, look at the person/threat and decide what you will do and your decision, the act upon that decision. Once you are ready to act, you upgrade to Condition Green.
4. Condition Green: When you see an individual approaching you and decide you don’t wish contact, change your direction by moving away from the individual.
5. Condition White: This is a state of panic and you don’t know what to do.
So you can see, that it pays to be alert and aware of your surroundings as you may never know what may be around the corner. For example, if somebody approaches you, there are four things you need to be thinking about:
1. Hands: Where are their hands and what are they doing with their hands. 55% of our communication is through body language, for example: if someone makes a fist, chances are they are going to hit someone with it. But if they don’t have anything in their hands, then you should start looking for the second thing which is weapons.
2. Weapons: Guns, Knives or anything within that person's reach that can be used against you. Also known as a weapon of opportunity.
3. Friends and Associates: Is the person alone or is he in a group? Remember that many crimes are committed in pairs.
4. Escape: Finally consider your options to escape, where are you going to run to, are you boxed in, are you blocking the exit of the suspect? Remember that cornered criminals are more likely to use violence, so keep this in mind when considering an escape route.
This video shows some examples of pre-contact queues:
Here is a fine example of what happens when you fail to pick up on pre-contact queues telling you to "fight or flight":
Guard your personal space, When approached by someone whom you do not trust always try to keep him/her outside of what is referred to as your “Intimate space”, simply put, keep strangers who approach you and you don’t trust at an arms length. There are three kinds of Spaces you need to be concerned with when it comes to personal safety:
1. Intimate space: 0-1.5 Feet (The only people you should allow into your intimate space are people you trust such as your friends and family).
2. Personal space: 1.5 Feet – 4 Feet (This is the ideal range to deal with strangers, it makes it difficult for someone to try and grab your clothing, or throw a punch. You should always try to maintain a distance out of “arms reach” when dealing with strangers you may feel are a threat. This space should allow you enough of a gap to quickly run through the four steps to be able to protect yourself.
3. Social space and public space: 4 Feet – 12 Feet ( This is the distance you should aim to keep from people in public, remember that even at 4 Feet, you are still maintaining the “Arms length” distance from a potential threat.
Observation:
This is a very important skill to learn and develop, not only will help keep you safe, it can also help when completing a FIR and if you notice anything out of the ordinary during your day to day activities such as a suspicious car or package, or even an unusual smell coming from something unexpected you can report it to the authorities.
https://www.samaa.tv/video/2017/02/cctv-footage-of-gun-attack-on-police-van/
Remember if it doesn't look right or if it doesn't sound or smell right, report it! When observing your surroundings, use the look, scent, listen method. Start from head and go to toes, clothing information such as shirts, pants, shoes, accessories, and then consider the physical characteristics of the individual such as:
1. Body shape
2. Skin colour/ Eye Colour
3. Hair [colour and length]
4. Height
5. Gender
6. Age
7. Distinguishing features including what weapon was used?,voice, accent, strange smells such as “Charred hands, or smelling like chemicals etc.”
8. Finally record the direction of travel: Which way were they going.
Part 2 Safety at work, home and in public spaces:
When you are out and about you need to remember three simple rules:
- Stay Alert: Referred to as Situational Awareness
- Avoid Risky Situations: No need to be a Hero
- Trust Your Instincts: If it does not feel right…avoid it
- Keep your work area organized and secure
- Lock pocketbooks in desk drawer or locker
- When entering or exiting the building look for suspicious activity
- Always travel in groups
- Report all suspicious vehicles and people
- Know the location of the nearest exit
Safety in public places:
- Go in groups
- Walk in well-lighted areas
- Be alert to suspicious activity
- Never carry more items than necessary
- Provide route to friend or family member
- Carry pocketbooks and briefcases securely
- Always carry identification
- Never carry more money than you are willing to lose
- Carry money, credit cards, and ID in trouser pocket…separate from pocketbook
- Stay alert at ATM machines
- Carry a fully-charged cell phone
- Avoid uncomfortable situations (remember the three rules)
You are in a busy marketplace, there have been a number of operations against militant groups in Pakistan recently and the militants have vowed retribution, you notice something suspicious near a market.
Do you:
A) inspect it?
B) call for help?
If you chose option B, well DONE!
Remember that unlike the movies it takes lengthy training and use of correct PPE and tools such as x-ray, hook, and line etc to safely dispose of an IED. If you cannot identify something, you CANNOT handle it! Simple as that.
- Vacate the area and inform security/police
- Do Not use cell phones or CB radios in close proximity to the device
- Evacuate the area minimum 200 meters, try to get behind a solid building away from any glass or falling hazards and do not return until the police have made the area safe. Terrorists are known to use primary explosions to stage an assault or gather a crowd before detonating a secondary IED.
- Keep doors locked at all times
- Park in well-lighted area or potential for light
- Do not park between two full-size vehicles
- Scan the area before exiting the vehicle
- Remember where you parked
- Place valuables in trunk or take with you
- Park near the front of the business
- Scan parking lot before returning to vehicle
- Walk with others
- Have your keys out as you approach
- Look for signs of forced entry
- Scan interior of vehicle before you enter
- Quickly enter your vehicle and lock the doors
- Do not exit your vehicle for strangers
- Have your cell phone ready for use
- Look to see that you are not being followed, check your mirrors. To test if you have a tail, make a note of the vehicle and if you are on a highway reduce your speed gradually, as you do this other car will overtake you, the tail will try to match your speed. If you are off the highway in a commercial or residential area you can go around a few familiar busy streets a couple of times, if the same car is behind you, then you have a tail
- My favourite method is to use roundabouts if you are lucky enough to be near a roundabout, don't take the exit, go round the roundabout two or even three times, if, by the third time the car is still behind you, you have a tail on your backside.
If you are being followed:
There are many methods to losing a tail, but that is too complex for this post just use common sense.
- Keep moving in a busy area, stay on main roads.
- Change direction and return to the business
- Drive to a busy convenience store
- Call 15 or your local police helpline number from you cell phone - Apps are available which will send an alert SMS with your map location to your contacts at the push of the home button three times.
- Avoid driving to the police department after business hours, most stations close to the public in Pakistan after 23:00 HRS.
- DO NOT GO HOME
- Slow down
- Avoid any brusque movements in the car, and keep your hands clearly up and visible.
- Stop the car a few yards from a barrier, but always keep the engine running unless ordered otherwise.
- If there is more than one vehicle, the next one keeps a certain distance
- Take off sunglasses so that people can see your face and eyes
- Put the window down; just about 2/3” enough for you to pass your id badge if needed.
- After dark, avoid using High-Beam headlights when approaching check posts
- After dark turn on the light inside the car cabin so that all passengers are clearly visible
- Be polite and comply with the officer's questions. No need to get offended and be rude.
- Try to avoid becoming boxed-in, always try to keep 1 chevron/car length between you and the car ahead. ( Impossible in Lahore and Karachi, I have tested. Damn bikers and Rickshaw wala's).
- Avoid isolated areas, this is very IMPORTANT!
- If bumped from behind…remain in your vehicle
- Open car window on 1-2 inches
- Dial 15 to report the accident
- Do not exit your vehicle - some gangs will do a bumper hug as a tactic for you to get out so they can a)mug you or b) rob your car!
- Get the License Plate number of the other vehicle, if it leaves the scene
- Get a description of the driver, if possible
- Remain where you are until police arrive
- Do not resist an armed car-jacking. Remember that an average acceleration of a .32 is 335m/s, that's faster than your hands can react! The moment the enemy has a weapon against you and you are unarmed, you have lost the tactical advantage!
- Keep bushes and shrubbery trimmed to no more than 3 feet high
- Keep the lowest limb on trees to no lower than 6 ft from the ground
- Keep window and doors locked at all times
- If you have a dog, good they are the best friends you will have. If you don't like dogs too bad.
- Install auxiliary locks on your windows if the current locks are not sufficient
- Use solid core exterior doors [ Sold wood doors instead of hollow core doors]
- Use motion sensor lights on the exterior of your home or CCTV cameras, which can be purchased for as little as Rs. 4000
- If you are going away out of town for a vacation or the house will be unoccupied for a long period of time, either cancel or have neighbors or family/friends collect mail or newspapers when you are away.
- When leaving the house alone, keep some lights on and leave a radio or television on to give the appearance of an occupied home.
- Set up a neighborhood watch scheme in your area this is very active in Karachi.
- Keep Jewellery/money/valuables in no conspicuous location…in other words…not in the master bedroom
- Do not provide personal information over the phone unless you initiated the conversation
- If you list our phone number…use only your initials, not your full name
- Remove the nameplate from the front of your house! especially if yours says Brig (R), Gen(R), Adv IHC, CEO Blah, Blah, you get the picture!
- If you have staff in the house such as drivers, cooks, cleaners, drivers, chowkidars etc make sure you keep a copy of their CNIC, get it verified by SMS. Get the CNIC of the person and send the CNIC number (with or without dashes) to 8008. If the number is Genuine you should get a text back with all his family as well along with their CNIC numbers.
- Make sure you only hire staff that you can get references for, or they are happy to provide an up to date police character certificate and new biometric CNIC which you can verify! Never trust your children with the staff!
- Use Caller-ID to screen your calls
- Report Harassing Phone calls to PTCL or the correct telco
- Report threatening phone calls to the police and FIA
- Report threatening or Harassing social media posts to the FIA
- Avoid storing your home location in your phone navigation
- Avoid enabling geolocation for your camera on your smartphone
Okay so if you have the money to splash out, there are many options. You can pay a company like Wackenhut Pakistan and they will install and monitor the alarm for you, sending out an armed QRF if the alarm or Panic button is pressed, but of course this costs LOTS of money.
The cheaper alternative is, again if you have the cash to buy a CCTV system with DVR this should set you back about 20,000 PKR. Installation can be done yourself if you are reasonably technical. If not, the vendor will do the installation on average for an extra 5,000 plus 150 rupees for every meter of wiring used. When buying camera always opt for wide angle, Zero Lux cameras.
Home alarm systems that trigger an audio alarm if the window is broken or door is opened cost about 10,000 PKR on OLX.com and I have tested one, they work really well! Most alarms now have the ability to send an SMS or a call to up to three pre-stored numbers using an auto dialer and a pre-paid GSM sim. They even have a backup battery so should the UPS fail during a day of load shedding the alarm will run on backup battery for 24 hours.
Example:
https://www.olx.com.pk/item/gsm-bas...plete-security-system-IDTMSVH.html#17212e15a1
Hired Guns:
Okay, so you have cash to spend and want to hire a security guard. Things to look out for when hiring a security guard.
1. ONLY hire from companies who are members of APSAA ( All Pakistan Security Agencies Association). www.apsaa.com.pk
2. Ask people in your office, workplace or neighborhood if they recommend a company.
3. Check the company website, and visit their office. Any decent company should have a file on each guard which should include the following:
A. CNIC
B. Character Certificate from Police and Special Branch
C. Copy of service book if ex-military
D. Training log: Most good companies keep one, in Islamabad and Punjab this training in mandatory.
E. License both for the company and the guard, company license is from IB and ISI in the shape of an NOC and from Home Department. The guard should have their own firearms license which should be up to date with full duty stamps.
F. The sign of professional security guard company is that they will refuse to give you 1 guard, they will offer a minimum of two on a rotation 12-hour shift basis with rest days in between.
G. Before the guard comes to your home, set some ground rules of do's and don't for your family/staff and him. H. If he is armed, ask him to demonstrate safe loading, unloading, and handling of a firearm. Most guard companies provide their guards with a 12 gauge shotgun, they should have a minimum of 12 shells for each guard on site.
Responding to an Attack or Robbery:
Robbery:
First, decide if you are being robbed or attacked If you are being robbed…do not resist, Give the robber what he or she wants Remember…your goal is to avoid injury Do not carry anything of value that you are not willing to lose.
Second, if you are being attacked…decide NOW how you are going to respond: Safety in these situations is a personal choice, because only you can decide how to respond, Points to Consider if Being Attacked:
- What is the intent of the suspect?
- Determine if a weapon is involved
- Is there one suspect or two?
- How do you normally respond to threats?
- What is your physical ability?
- Where is the suspect trying to take you?
- Do you really want to "fight"?
Other good self-defense martial arts include Karate, Brazilian jiu-jitsu & Krav Maga, although I cannot vouch for the quality of trainers in Pakistan.
JUST REMEMBER WHATEVER YOU DO, YOUR GOAL HERE IS SURVIVAL
After an Attack or Robbery:
- Do not feel guilty or embarrassed
- Go to a safe place to report the crime
- Preserve all physical evidence
- Call the police IMMEDIATELY
- Remember…you can do everything right and still become the victim of a crime
Part 4: Advanced situational awareness:
Do you sit facing the door at restaurants? Do you always back into parking spots? in this section of the thread, I’d like to share some situational awareness tips you can use when you’re out and about with your family, that will put you at another level when it comes to identifying your surroundings and being prepared for whatever comes your way.
There’s a saying that I use often when discussing home security, which is “know your neighbourhood.” The baseline is the standard by which anything out of the ordinary stands out against.
Meaning that if you know the cars that commonly park in and around a neighbour's house and one day you see an unfamiliar vehicle parked on the street, that’s out of the ordinary; outside the baseline.
Noticing this and other details like it, can help alert you to threats that might arise. The devil is in the details, as they say and all danger comes from this place. The goal is to recognise it ahead of time and have already prepared your response.
That’s what this article is all about today, doing the upfront work to have a plan in case something goes wrong. Just like your neighborhood, there’s advance work you can do on places you visit on a regular basis and even those you’ve never been before.
Maps are your friend:
Maps aren’t just good for navigating, they can help you learn the ingress and egress routes, points of interest and emergency resources of an area that you’re planning to visit. You don’t even need a physical map, (though one is good for backup) most of this area familiarization can be done using Google Maps or another online navigational resource in advance of your visit.
With all the advancements in technology today, there’s even a way to get a three-dimensional view of the area with online map views and Google’s Street View can be an invaluable resource to learn about terrain features in the immediate vicinity, sadly street view is not available in Pakistan, but it doesn't hurt to do a recce of an area prior to visiting it.
This is all about knowledge work. Knowledge is power and the more familiar you are with the places you visit, or even intend to visit, the more prepared you’ll be for responding to threats that could occur and where you should go during an emergency.
Sketching your own maps:
While doing proper advance work on an area is a skill-set that’s in use by many government agencies, Observation is a critical skill and you can develop your observational skills by starting to observe the important details inside and outside a building, later using that information to sketch your own maps.
This provides two benefits, one is having your own map of an establishment if you ever need it in the future and the most important reason is using the creation of maps to develop your observational skill-set through repetition.
The more you practice observing a location and then drawing a map of it based on what you remember, the more powerful your observation will become. The reason being is that you’ll no doubt miss important details you wish you’d remembered when later drawing a map.
That will force you to think about them and memorize them better the next time. This repetition will hone your skill to the point where this observational detail of places you go becomes second nature.
Your goal should be to draw so many maps after you’re out and about, that you get to the point where you no longer have to draw them and you’re instinctively noting the details you previously would have had to memorize to build a map off of.
As an example, how many times have you heard, or even seen information that you wanted to remember, but never wrote it down? More than likely, that information evaporated from your short term memory and left you kicking yourself for not writing it down.
That’s the same in this example, however you’re not only getting the practice of writing things down to remember them later, you’re getting the practice of being forced to observe important details, in order to be properly prepared for a response to potential threats.
Confused yet? Let’s look at what kind of details I’m referring to observing, by using the example of a restaurant you’ve just arrived at with a group of friends. At this point, if you weren’t already familiar with the area you’re traveling to, a proper map study would need to be done, as mentioned earlier.
What to note:
- Where should you park? Can you maneuver your vehicle out of the spot, even if someone double parked in front of you? Is your parking spot in an optimal position in relation to the egress points of the parking lot, or is that not something you have to worry about, due to having a lifted suspension to negotiate curbs and sidewalks if you had to?
- If you’ll be leaving the building at night, what does the parking lot lighting look like? Will there be dark areas you’ll be crossing to get back to your vehicle? If so, consider parking elsewhere in a well-lit area. There’s always the health benefit of more walking by parking further out, but realize that you’ll need to cover more ground if you have to get back to your vehicle in an emergency.
- Back in to the parking spot for easier egress when you leave and take the time to observe after you put the car in park. What’s the baseline? Is anything out of the ordinary with the vehicles you’re parked amongst? Do the people walking around, or coming in and out of the establishments, look to belong?
- Note the location you parked and burn it into your memory, you don’t want to be running around trying to remember where you parked in an emergency. Ensure that anyone who could be responsible for driving if you were incapacitated, knows this info as well.
- As you approach your destination, note the building layout. What direction is the front door / front side of the building facing? Is the front of the building all glass? What’s the composition of the exterior walls? Are they made out of concrete, stucco? This is important to note for not only the purpose of cover, but also for how wide your field of view will be from the inside as you’re looking out towards the front entrance.
- As you step inside, note the table layout, where’s your optimum seat at? Can you put your back to the wall and still see the entrances? If the restaurant isn’t self-seating, ask the host or hostess for a specific location. Don’t be afraid to speak up and let it be known where you’d prefer to sit.
- Start looking around for additional entrances and exit doors, emergency or otherwise. There’s usually always an exit in a restaurant kitchen that leads outside for easy disposal of trash into a dumpster. It might be impossible to confirm this, but put that into your memory bank.
- Does the restaurant have cameras? How many are there and where are they pointed? Being recorded isn’t always a bad thing, it can often prove your location if it was ever called into question.
- Where’s the hard cover? Meaning if bullets started flying, where would you move to for cover? FYI, a flipped over restaurant table is not the answer. Kitchens are usually a great spot, not only because of the heavy cooking equipment and thicker walls designed to mask the noise coming from inside, but because there’s also probably that exit door we talked about.
- Size up everyone in the restaurant, even if eye contact makes you uncomfortable. Get a read on people and notice if the way they’re acting looks out of the ordinary for the baseline of the establishment. Is it just a quarrel amongst a couple, or something that could turn violent at any moment? Anything that piques your interest should be followed up with noticing distinguishing details about said person. Not just what they’re wearing, but any identifying marks or features.
- Keep your head on a swivel and keep observing. This shouldn’t be to the extreme of detracting from your enjoyment of having a meal with friends, but look at the entrance every once in awhile and scan the restaurant. If you think of this in terms of the Col. Cooper Color Code, you’re still in the Yellow here.
- Your departure from the establishment is no different than your entrance, continue observing the environment all the way back to your vehicle. Once there and everyone is back inside the vehicle, get in the habit of immediately locking the doors if they don’t do so automatically when you turn the key. It’s better to habitually lock them anyway, to avoid a surprise of someone intent on doing you harm from opening the door while you were distracted and hadn’t turned the key yet.
One last thing I want to go over is an easy to remember system for quickly identifying different sides of a building. This Colored Structure Reference can be good for a group of friends communicating internally, or for couples to use for identification.
While it’s always good to have a general ideal of the cardinal directions wherever you go, it’s not always intuitive to say “pick me up on the southwest side of the building.” Using the colors Green, Red, Black and White, label the front primary entrance White. Opposite of White, or the back of the building, becomes Black. While facing the building, the right side becomes Red. I remember this as “Red Right.” Opposite of that is Green, so the left side of the building becomes Green.
Closing:
I hope this has given you some information on ways that you can train your powers of observation and things to notice the next time you’re out and about. Again, the goal here is to develop your observational skill-set and notice threats before they happen, in addition to pre-planning a response and course of action should anything occur when you’re out.
--END--
Suspect items and Public places:
If you see a suspicious item, vehicle or person - think HOT!
Hidden - i.e. placed where they will not be readily seen or noticed as unusual
Obviously suspicious (e.g. by physical appearance, by placement, or because of the circumstances in which they have been discovered)
Not Typical of what you would normally expect to find in that environment
Items that have any of the following should be treated with extreme caution:
a. external wiring;
b. visible batteries;
c. switches;
d. timers;
e. circuit boards;
f. wire passing from one package to another;
g. items secured by plastic adhesive tape;
h. annotations (e.g., ‘ON’ or anything in reference to the time delay);
i. specially modified wooden or plastic boxes;
j. unidentified powders or other putty-like substances; or
k. carefully wrapped in plastic bags.
What you should DO:
- DO NOT TOUCH IT OR HANDLE IT
- Vacate the area and inform security/police
- Do Not use cell phones or CB radios in close proximity to the device
- Evacuate the area minimum 200 meters, try to get behind a solid building away from any glass or falling hazards and do not return until the police have made the area safe. Terrorists are known to use primary explosions to stage an assault or gather a crowd before detonating a secondary IED, try not to return to the area until the all-clear has been given.
An average suicide vest detonates and produces a number of effects chiefly being the blast overpressure "Shockwave" it is estimated that the average vest (depending on varying factors) can produce blast overpressure of anywhere between 50-150 PSI within the immediate area around the T.
According to the "Forensic Neuropathology, Third Edition" blast overpressure of 100-250 PSI is not survivable. Your best job as a civilian is to observe, report and evacuate or if it is a car or package, move as far as possible away from the object min distance between 300-400 meters.
Look out for "Hostile Surveillance"
How to identify "Hostile Surveillance":
The first thing to remember is that attacks and other crimes don’t just appear out of a vacuum. They are the result of the attack cycle [fig 2], and those planning crimes are vulnerable to detection as they progress through these processes.
Figure 2: The Attack cycle
The activity that most exposes hostile actors to detection is surveillance, and every criminal act involves some degree of surveillance. Obviously, the amount of surveillance needed for a simple purse snatching is much less than that required for a complex kidnapping, but both nevertheless require surveillance.
Most criminals have poor surveillance tradecraft. Yet, the reason they are able to succeed in their crimes despite their ineptitude at this critical skill is that the majority of people simply aren’t looking for surveillance and therefore miss even awkward surveillance efforts.
Tradecraft is an espionage term that refers to operational techniques used in the field. The term implies that tradecraft is as much an art as a skill and that they require a degree of finesse to conduct them properly.
In many ways, tradecraft skills are like learning a musical instrument. One can listen to music, read books on music theory, and take lessons, but becoming a skilled musician requires a great deal of time and practice.
The same is true for the art of surveillance, as it takes time and practice on the street for one to become a skilled surveillance operative.
While there are some terrorist operatives and high-end criminals who have mastered the surveillance art, most hostile actors simply do not devote the time necessary to become adept. They display terrible technique, use sloppy procedures, and lack finesse during their surveillance. This makes them easy to pick out—but only if someone is looking for them.
Remember: TEDD
Life Has No Rewind Button (2020) | Action Counters Terrorism
Unfortunately, life has no rewind button. If it doesn't feel right, ACT. If you have any information about suspicious activity or behaviour, you can report i...
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TEDD stands for Time, Environment, Distance and Demeanour, and is also applicable to ordinary citizens trying to identify hostile criminal or terrorist surveillance.
If a person sees someone repeatedly over time—in different environments and at a distance from where they last saw them—or if they notice someone who displays poor surveillance demeanour, then that person can assume he or she is under surveillance.
For example, if you see someone on your morning commute to work, and then see the same person while shopping that evening at the mall in a different part of town, there is a good chance that person is following you.
For an individual, however, TEDD is only relevant in cases where you are being specifically being stalked or targeted for a complex attack such as a kidnapping or being stalked. In such cases, the individual will have the elements of time, environment, and distance to see the hostile actor planning a crime.
However, in mass casualty incidents such as a terrorist or workplace violence attack, it is often the location that is being targeted rather than a specific individual. An individual who just happens to be at the attack site will not have the ability to make time, environment, or distance correlations.
In such cases, a victim will only have a demeanour to key on. It is often a demeanour mistake that allows one to initially notice a person and then key in on them over the other TEDD factors of time, environment, and distance.
Changing Appearance
Skilled hostile actors conducting surveillance over an extended period may cloak their actions by changing their clothing, wearing wigs, or other light disguises. They may also use different vehicles or license plates, and thus watching for mistakes in demeanour is critical for detecting hostile surveillance.It is thus important to focus on the things that cannot be changed as easily as clothing or hair, such as a person’s facial features, build, mannerisms and gait. Additionally, while someone can change the license plate on a car, it is not as easy to alter other aspects of the vehicle such as scratches and dents in the body.
Critical Places
One technique that can be helpful in detecting hostile surveillance is to identify critical places that provide optimal visibility of a critical place someone doing surveillance would want to watch.Such a critical place would include the front door of the surveillance target’s residence or office, or a choke point on a route frequently used by the target, and the places that provide an optimal view of them are referred to as perches in surveillance jargon.
Once identified, perches can then be monitored for tell-tale signs of hostile surveillance such as people who do not belong, people who are unnaturally lurking, or people making more subtle demeanour mistakes.
Keying in on Demeanour
Demeanour is the outward behaviour a person displays to those watching him or her. The key to good surveillance tradecraft is mastering the ability to display appropriate demeanour for the environment one is in.Practicing good demeanour is not intuitive. In fact, I believe many of the things one must do to maintain good demeanour while conducting surveillance are counter to human nature.
At its heart, surveillance is watching someone while attempting not to be caught doing so. As such, it is an unnatural activity, and a person doing it must deal with strong feelings of self-consciousness and of being out of place.
Burn Syndrome
People conducting surveillance frequently suffer from what is called “burn syndrome,” the belief that the people they are watching have spotted them. Feeling “burned” will cause untrained surveillance operatives to do unnatural things, such as hiding their faces or suddenly ducking into a doorway or turning around abruptly when they unexpectedly come face to face with the target.People inexperienced in the art of surveillance find it difficult to control this natural reaction.
Because of this, intelligence, law enforcement, and security professionals receive extensive surveillance training that includes many hours of heavily critiqued practical exercises, often followed by field training with a team of experienced surveillance professionals.
This training emphasizes and reinforces maintaining proper demeanour. Even experienced surveillance operatives must deal with the feeling of being burned.
The difference is that since they have received extensive professional training, they are better able to control their reaction and behave normally. They possess the ability to maintain a demeanour that appears normal even though their insides are screaming that the person they are watching has seen them.
Proper Cover
In addition to doing something unnatural or stupid when feeling burned, another common mistake made by amateurs when conducting surveillance is the failure to use proper cover for action and cover for status.Cover for status is a person’s purported identity—his costume. A person can pretend to be a student, a businessman, a repairman, etc. Cover for action explains why the person is doing what he or she is doing—i.e., sitting on that bench waiting for a bus.
Proper cover for status and cover for action makes the presence of the person conducting the surveillance look routine and normal in that specific environment at that particular time. When done right, the surveillance operative fits in with the mental snapshot subconsciously taken by the target as the target goes about his or her business.
An example of a bad cover for status would be someone dressed as a “businessman” walking in the woods or at the beach. An example of a bad cover for action is someone pretending to be sitting at a bus stop who remains at that bus stop even after several buses have passed.
For the most part, however, inexperienced operatives conducting surveillance practice little or no cover for status and cover for action. They just lurk and look totally out of place. There is no apparent reason for them to be where they are or doing what they are doing.
In addition to plain old lurking, other demeanour giveaways include a person moving when the target moves, communicating when the target moves, making sudden turns or stops, or even using hand signals to communicate with other members of a surveillance team or criminal gang.
Surveillants also can tip off the person they are watching by entering or leaving a building immediately after the person they are watching does so, or simply by running in street clothes.
Just Doesn’t Look Right
Sometimes, people who are experiencing the burn syndrome exhibit almost imperceptible behaviours that the target can sense more than observe. It may not be something that can be articulated, but the target just has a gut reaction gets the gut feeling that there is something wrong or creepy about the way a certain person is behaving.The term we use for that gut feeling is “JDLR” or Just Doesn’t Look Right. Innocent bystanders do not exhibit behaviour that triggers such feelings. I encourage people to trust their gut when they encounter such a situation.
There is often little to lose by doing so, other than perhaps a little time and effort, and avoiding a potential problem is always the right thing to do.
Another important demeanour indicator is a person’s eyes. How a person looks at you—or doesn’t—can provide a good indicator of their intent.
Are they looking at you with a hostile, drop-dead look? Do they have a thousand-yard stare? Are they avoiding your gaze? It has been said that the eyes are the window to the soul, and I have found this to very often be true.
It takes intelligence officers months or years of training and practice to become highly proficient at detecting surveillance conducted by professional surveillance operatives, and there are many tricks of the trade.
However, almost anyone can learn to spot surveillance by poorly trained criminals or terrorists—it is not rocket science.
The keys to doing so are to first understand a bit about surveillance and demeanour as we have done in this article; and secondly, to make the effort to practice situational awareness to look for surveillance when appropriate.
Suspect Identification:
Emergency Numbers:
--END--
RescueRanger
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First Aid:
This is a real life skill and I hope you never have to use it, but it's one skill that you should rather have and NOT use it, then NOT have when you need to USE it!
Why is First Aid so Important?
Every day in Pakistan thousands of people get injured on roads, in their homes, in schools and workplaces. According to International Journal of Medicine Trauma is the leading cause of death for adults under 44 years age.
Road traffic accidents are the second highest cause of deaths in Pakistan.
Statistics published reports by the WHO 30,000 people in Pakistan die every year due to road traffic accidents, fires claim 16,500 deaths annually whilst sudden cardiac arrest accounted for more than 80,000 deaths per year – that’s more than 200 deaths every day.
Ambulances are in short supply in large and densely populated cities. For example, Rawalpindi a city with a population of 2.1 Million has only 14 fully equipped emergency ambulances (note: this number doesn't include motorcycle fast response service).
The professional pre-hospital care provided by Rescue1122 is testament to the hard work of its staff, however it is worth considering that the volume of emergency calls has risen from 90 calls a day in 2007, to over 230 a day, in a country with a population of over 212 million those few well equipped Ambulances staffed with professional EMTs will not be able to answer every call.
Hoax calls make up the bulk of incoming calls to the emergency helpline, in 2019 Rescue 1122 received 1.18 million calls deemed to be hoax, fake, nuicense or malicious.
Therefore, teaching communities first aid is vital, especially considering in a study into pre-hospital care by five major hospitals in Karachi showed that out of 187 patients admitted during a study, none received bystander CPR or first aid. The report concluded that “Patients who received life-support interventions survived for longer time, though not clinically significant, as compared to those who did not”.
This behaviour of “bystander effect” - the more people there are at the scene of an accident, the less likely anyone is to help as they all expect someone else to take charge and it is driven in part by the shared psychology of communities.
In an article published by the Association for Psychological Science in 2015 it was stated that “children as young as 5 years old are less likely to help a person in need when other children are present and available to help”.
First Aid: What is First Aid?
A brief history:
St. John Ambulance was the first to use the concept of first aid in the United Kingdom in 1879. Princess Christian – the daughter of Queen Victoria translated from German into English five ambulance lectures given by Prof. Esmarch in 1882, which were published under the title “First Aid to the Injured” by Smith Elder and his partners.
In 1882, St. Andrew established the First Aid Organization in Scotland in order “to alleviate the pains of the injured and patients in wartime and peacetime and to take measures required for their care”. The regulation of this organization, written by Sir George Beatson, was issued in 1891. In1908, St. John's and St. Andrew's organizations reached an agreement on merging their activities carried out in various regions of Scotland and the United Kingdom in order to manage them under a single roof (1). Esmarch (1823-1908) laid the foundations of civil first aid institutions. He became a physician in 1848, and then received education on surgery. In 1854, he specialized in surgery and ophthalmology. His main fields of interest were military surgery and first aid. He was one of the most important emergency surgeons of the 19th century. [1]
Simply put: First aid means Initial help given to a person who is sick or injured.
The Basics: Anatomy & Physiology
To be able to give basic first aid, it is not necessary to know how the body works, but if you read the information, you will understand the reasons for the first aid which should be given. The basic functions of the human body can be simply described as follows. It processes food, water and oxygen to produce the energy necessary for living and disposes of the waste that arises. We should think of the body as a series of separate systems for doing these things.
Examples of these systems are the integumentary system (Our skin, hair, nails, external glands), skeletal system (our bones), digestive system, the respiratory or breathing system, the circulatory system and the nervous system. If any of these are badly damaged, it will affect the others.
The principal parts of theses systems are the lungs, the heart and the brain. Theses organs are protected by the skeleton. The body also has an envelope of skin to act as a barrier against infection.
If the skeleton is damaged, as it is when a bone is broken, then the part of the body that is being protected and supported may also become damaged by the broken bone ends of the bone. If the skin is pierced , or cut - infection may be admitted and this can be more dangerous than the actual injury.
In this brief explanation, we will consider only three of the body's systems - Breathing, Circulation and the Nervous system. In emergency aid you are mainly concerned with these when a life is in danger.
Respiratory System
Its purpose is to extract oxygen from the air, the oxygen is then absorbed by the blood. The lungs act as bellows, drawing air in, extracting some of the oxygen and then pushing out air which contains the waste product - a gas called carbon dioxide.
Circulatory System
Comprises of the heart, blood and blood vessels. It works with the respiratory system to provide oxygen to those parts of the body which need it. The blood absorbs oxygen from the lungs and circulates it around the body.
The heart expands and receives blood, then contracts and forces it out, in fact, one side of the heart circulates blood through the lungs, where it absorbs oxygen, and the other side supplies the oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
The average body contains about 10 units or about 1.2/1.5 gallons of blood or about 1 litre of blood per 13kg of body weight. The heart pumps out the oxygenated blood through arteries and the used blood is returned to the heart through the veins. If too much of these 10 units is lost or if the lungs are not providing enough oxygen, or if the heart is not pumping properly, the blood cannot do its work efficiently and the body may eventually cease to function.
If the skin is broken, blood will escape, and infection may enter the body. However as soon as a blood vessel is cut, the blood coming from the cut will start to clot. This is the body's mechanism for sealing off a wound and preventing further blood loss.
Nervous System
Part of which controls functions such as the heartbeat. Another, very important part of the nervous system affects body movements and sensations under control of the brain. Nerves run down the spinal column in the spinal cord, rather like wires in an insulated sheath. If the spinal cord is damaged the nerves may also be damaged and paralysis may result.
A person becomes "unconscious" as a result of the brain not working properly. In accident cases this is usually due to damage to the brain or excessive bleeding.
As the various parts of the body work, they make unwanted chemicals which must be carried away in the blood. One example of this is urea, a substance like ammonia, which is extracted from the blood by the kidneys and is eventually passed out of the body as urine.
What is the aim of First Aid:
To act quickly, calmly and correctly to:
It is important that as a first aider you do not transmit infections to your casualty or indeed contract infections from your casualty. To assist in minimizing the risk of infection and cross contamination there are various precautions that can be taken such as:
Emergency Response:
At any incident involving casualties, it is essential you appear and remain claim and let your common-sense, allied with your training and skills take over. Upon arrival at an incident a scene survey must be completed to ensure the safety of the casualty, any bystanders and the first aider. The scene survey should be conducted by remembering the mnemonic CLAP:
Having contacted a scene survey and established that the immediate area is safe from any dangers, you can now approach the casualty. When approaching the casualty an initial casualty assessment should be completed - this initial assessment is called a primary survey. The primary survey is a systematic process of approaching, identifying and dealing with immediate and or life-threatening conditions.
The Primary survey can be remembered by the mnemonic DRSBACD:
Contacting the emergency services:
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First aiders will either contact the emergency services themselves or instruct a bystanders to do so. Contacting the emergency services at the earliest opportunity is paramount. When contacting the emergency services on either 1122/911/15, it is important that the information given is clear, concise and sufficient. This can be achieved by remembering the mnemonic LINE:
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First Aid at Road Traffic Collisions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMAgxMFjz6A
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Smoke and Fumes
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Electrical Injuries
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NEVER enter flood waters or touch pylons or downed cables, especially during rainfall!
First aid for drowning
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First aid for Asthma attacks
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The symptoms are :
First aid for shock:
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Anaphylactic shock is a severe allergic reaction that occurs within seconds or minutes, of exposure to the trigger/allergen and is potentially fatal.
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Causes of anaphylactic shock:
Signs of anaphylactic shock:
Heart attack refers to the blockage of the blood supply to the heart muscle, which can cause the heart to become weak or stop beating. This can cause death.
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Signs of heart attack:
Fainting refers to a brief loss of consciousness, due to decrease in blood flow to the brain.
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Causes of fainting:
First aid response for fainting:
A fracture means that there is a break or crack in a bone.
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Causes of fractures:
Closed fracture:
DO NOT move or try to straighten the injured extremity
DO NOT allow the person to eat or drink until cleared by the physician
DO NOT allow the victim with a lower extremity injury to walk (bear weight) until cleared by a medical professional
Sprains and Strains
Strains or sprains refers to the injuries to the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments).
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Bleeding from the nose occurs when small blood vessels inside the nostrils are ruptured.
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Causes of a nose bleed:
Spinal injury refers to the injuries involving one or more part of the back and/or neck i.e. bones, discs, muscles, ligaments or spinal cord. The most serious risk involving a spinal injury is damage to the spinal cord. Such damage can cause loss of function or sensation below the injured area.
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Causes of spinal injury:
Seizures or convulsions refers to involuntary contractions of the muscles of the body, followed by loss of consciousness.
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Causes of seizures:
Signs of seizures:
DO NOT put anything in the person’s mouth or use force to restrain the person.
Strokes
Stroke refers to a condition in where the blood supply to a part of the brain is stopped
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Causes of stroke:
Skin is an organ that acts as a natural barrier to the infection and to fluid loss. Burns disrupt this barrier causing exposure to infection and fluid loss.
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Causes of burns:
Heatstroke refers to a condition where your body overheats.
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Causes of heatstroke:
Signs of heatstroke:
Hypothermia refers to a condition when the body over cools i.e. temperature falls below 95 F (35 C).
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Causes of Hypothermia:
Signs of hypothermia:
First aid response to hypothermia:
Usually an insect sting causes a localized allergic reaction.
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First aid response to an insect sting:
First aid response to snakebites:
First aid for jellyfish stings:
Poison/toxin is a substance that causes temporary or permanent damage to the body.
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Types of poisons:
Signs of swallowed poisons:
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Choking is a life-threatening medical emergency and most commonly occurs when a piece of food, an object, or a liquid becomes lodged in the throat. The following videos provide useful advice for first aid on choking adults/children/infants:
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CPR
What is CPR?
CPR stands for Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation i.e. to help restart the heart (pulse) and lungs (breathing).
When do we perform CPR?
CPR is performed when a person stops breathing and/or the heart stops.
Why is it important to learn CPR?
47 people die of heart-attacks in Pakistan every hour, that's 411,720 people every year[2]. If you know how to perform CPR you may be able to save a life.
Why is timing important?
When the heart (pulse) and lungs (breathing) stops, the victim has 5 minutes before (gradual) brain death starts to occur, if no CPR is performed. Therefore, it is very important to start CPR as soon as possible.
What is hands-only CPR?
Any bystander who is not trained in CPR can perform this type of CPR to try to save a life. Hands-only CPR is better than no CPR. If you witness an adult or a child/infant suddenly collapse then:
1. Call 1122/911
2. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest
Hands only CPR:
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Know your emergency numbers:
[1] Yegen B (1958). First Aid. In: The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association The British Red Cross Society. Turkish Crescent Society Publishing. 5th ed, Ankara, pp.100–150.
[2] Junaidi I (2021). ‘47 people die of heart attack every hour in Pakistan’, Dawn News. Available: https://www.dawn.com/news/1649189
[3] 2021 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science with Treatment Recommendations
[4] Thygerson, A., Thygerson, S., Gulli, B., Mell, H. and Elling, B., n.d. First aid.
[5] Thomas, J. and Paynter, A., 2018. Assessment and management of common musculoskeletal injuries. Practice Nursing, [online] 29(11), pp.521-525. Available at: <https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/pnur.2018.29.11.521> [Accessed 5 May 2020].
[6] Outcomes following cardiopulmonary resuscitation in an emergency department of a low- and middle-income country - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12245-018-0200-0
[7] Characteristics of traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients presenting to major centers in Karachi, Pakistan—a longitudinal cohort study - https://intjem.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12245-018-0214-7
[8] Knowledge of first aid and basic life support amongst medical students: a comparison between trained and un-trained students - https://jpma.org.pk/article-details/2839
[9] Knowledge attitude and practices of undergraduate students regarding first aid measures - https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/47256849.pdf
[10] Awareness Level of First Aid in General Population, Karachi Pakistan: A Survey Report - https://www.researchgate.net/public...l_Population_Karachi_Pakistan_A_Survey_Report
[11] Road Traffic Accidents; Predictions in Pakistan: WHO
--End--
--Edit-- Will add the remaining articles by the end of this weekend work and time permitting.
This is a real life skill and I hope you never have to use it, but it's one skill that you should rather have and NOT use it, then NOT have when you need to USE it!
Why is First Aid so Important?
Every day in Pakistan thousands of people get injured on roads, in their homes, in schools and workplaces. According to International Journal of Medicine Trauma is the leading cause of death for adults under 44 years age.
Road traffic accidents are the second highest cause of deaths in Pakistan.
Statistics published reports by the WHO 30,000 people in Pakistan die every year due to road traffic accidents, fires claim 16,500 deaths annually whilst sudden cardiac arrest accounted for more than 80,000 deaths per year – that’s more than 200 deaths every day.
Ambulances are in short supply in large and densely populated cities. For example, Rawalpindi a city with a population of 2.1 Million has only 14 fully equipped emergency ambulances (note: this number doesn't include motorcycle fast response service).
The professional pre-hospital care provided by Rescue1122 is testament to the hard work of its staff, however it is worth considering that the volume of emergency calls has risen from 90 calls a day in 2007, to over 230 a day, in a country with a population of over 212 million those few well equipped Ambulances staffed with professional EMTs will not be able to answer every call.
Hoax calls make up the bulk of incoming calls to the emergency helpline, in 2019 Rescue 1122 received 1.18 million calls deemed to be hoax, fake, nuicense or malicious.
Therefore, teaching communities first aid is vital, especially considering in a study into pre-hospital care by five major hospitals in Karachi showed that out of 187 patients admitted during a study, none received bystander CPR or first aid. The report concluded that “Patients who received life-support interventions survived for longer time, though not clinically significant, as compared to those who did not”.
This behaviour of “bystander effect” - the more people there are at the scene of an accident, the less likely anyone is to help as they all expect someone else to take charge and it is driven in part by the shared psychology of communities.
In an article published by the Association for Psychological Science in 2015 it was stated that “children as young as 5 years old are less likely to help a person in need when other children are present and available to help”.
First Aid: What is First Aid?
A brief history:
St. John Ambulance was the first to use the concept of first aid in the United Kingdom in 1879. Princess Christian – the daughter of Queen Victoria translated from German into English five ambulance lectures given by Prof. Esmarch in 1882, which were published under the title “First Aid to the Injured” by Smith Elder and his partners.
In 1882, St. Andrew established the First Aid Organization in Scotland in order “to alleviate the pains of the injured and patients in wartime and peacetime and to take measures required for their care”. The regulation of this organization, written by Sir George Beatson, was issued in 1891. In1908, St. John's and St. Andrew's organizations reached an agreement on merging their activities carried out in various regions of Scotland and the United Kingdom in order to manage them under a single roof (1). Esmarch (1823-1908) laid the foundations of civil first aid institutions. He became a physician in 1848, and then received education on surgery. In 1854, he specialized in surgery and ophthalmology. His main fields of interest were military surgery and first aid. He was one of the most important emergency surgeons of the 19th century. [1]
Simply put: First aid means Initial help given to a person who is sick or injured.
The Basics: Anatomy & Physiology
To be able to give basic first aid, it is not necessary to know how the body works, but if you read the information, you will understand the reasons for the first aid which should be given. The basic functions of the human body can be simply described as follows. It processes food, water and oxygen to produce the energy necessary for living and disposes of the waste that arises. We should think of the body as a series of separate systems for doing these things.
Examples of these systems are the integumentary system (Our skin, hair, nails, external glands), skeletal system (our bones), digestive system, the respiratory or breathing system, the circulatory system and the nervous system. If any of these are badly damaged, it will affect the others.
The principal parts of theses systems are the lungs, the heart and the brain. Theses organs are protected by the skeleton. The body also has an envelope of skin to act as a barrier against infection.
If the skeleton is damaged, as it is when a bone is broken, then the part of the body that is being protected and supported may also become damaged by the broken bone ends of the bone. If the skin is pierced , or cut - infection may be admitted and this can be more dangerous than the actual injury.
In this brief explanation, we will consider only three of the body's systems - Breathing, Circulation and the Nervous system. In emergency aid you are mainly concerned with these when a life is in danger.
Respiratory System
Its purpose is to extract oxygen from the air, the oxygen is then absorbed by the blood. The lungs act as bellows, drawing air in, extracting some of the oxygen and then pushing out air which contains the waste product - a gas called carbon dioxide.
Circulatory System
Comprises of the heart, blood and blood vessels. It works with the respiratory system to provide oxygen to those parts of the body which need it. The blood absorbs oxygen from the lungs and circulates it around the body.
The heart expands and receives blood, then contracts and forces it out, in fact, one side of the heart circulates blood through the lungs, where it absorbs oxygen, and the other side supplies the oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
The average body contains about 10 units or about 1.2/1.5 gallons of blood or about 1 litre of blood per 13kg of body weight. The heart pumps out the oxygenated blood through arteries and the used blood is returned to the heart through the veins. If too much of these 10 units is lost or if the lungs are not providing enough oxygen, or if the heart is not pumping properly, the blood cannot do its work efficiently and the body may eventually cease to function.
If the skin is broken, blood will escape, and infection may enter the body. However as soon as a blood vessel is cut, the blood coming from the cut will start to clot. This is the body's mechanism for sealing off a wound and preventing further blood loss.
Nervous System
Part of which controls functions such as the heartbeat. Another, very important part of the nervous system affects body movements and sensations under control of the brain. Nerves run down the spinal column in the spinal cord, rather like wires in an insulated sheath. If the spinal cord is damaged the nerves may also be damaged and paralysis may result.
A person becomes "unconscious" as a result of the brain not working properly. In accident cases this is usually due to damage to the brain or excessive bleeding.
As the various parts of the body work, they make unwanted chemicals which must be carried away in the blood. One example of this is urea, a substance like ammonia, which is extracted from the blood by the kidneys and is eventually passed out of the body as urine.
What is the aim of First Aid:
To act quickly, calmly and correctly to:
- Preserve life
- Prevent the condition from worsening
- Promoting recovery
- Assess a situation quickly and calmly
- Protect yourself and any casualties from danger - never put yourself at risk.
- Prevent cross infection between yourself and the casualty as far as possible (wear gloves and use barriers)
- Comfort and reassure the causalities at all times
- Assess the casualty; identify, as far as you can, the injury or nature of illness affecting the casualty
- Give early treatment, and treat the casualties with the most serious(life threatening) conditions first.
- Arrange for appropriate help; call 911/1122 for emergency help if you suspect serious injury or illness; ask for AED (if you suspect a heart problem; take or send the casualty to hospital; transfer them into the care of a healthcare professional or to his home. Stay with a casualty until care is available.
- Be calm in your approach
- Be aware of risks (to yourself and others) remove the danger from the casualty (only if in further danger)
- Build and maintain trust (from the casualty and bystanders)
- Give early treatment, treating the most serious (life threatening) conditions first
- Call appropriate help
- Remember your own needs too.
It is important that as a first aider you do not transmit infections to your casualty or indeed contract infections from your casualty. To assist in minimizing the risk of infection and cross contamination there are various precautions that can be taken such as:
- Having good personal hygiene
- Ensuring that barrier devices are used
- Covering any open cuts or sores
- Minimizing contact with blood or bodily fluids
- Changing gloves between casualties
- Washing hands thoroughly after removing gloves
- Resuscitation barrier devices are essential equipment and help to reduce the spreading of infection and cross-contamination. Barrier devices as their name suggests, place a barrier between the first aider and the casualty. Barrier devices include:
- Nitrile or powder-free gloves
- Face shields
- Pocket masks
Emergency Response:
At any incident involving casualties, it is essential you appear and remain claim and let your common-sense, allied with your training and skills take over. Upon arrival at an incident a scene survey must be completed to ensure the safety of the casualty, any bystanders and the first aider. The scene survey should be conducted by remembering the mnemonic CLAP:
- C: Control the situation: Stop, take a deep breath and take charge of people and vehicular traffic
- L: Look for potential hazards: Look for anything that could cause further harm to the casualty, bystanders or more importantly yourself within the immediate area.
- A: Assess the situation: Gather as much information about what has occurred from the casualty and from bystanders, and try to make a diagnosis (history of the casualty(do they have diabetes/asthma etc), any signs (things you can see i.e. blood), symptoms (anything the casualty complains about i.e. headache).
- P: Protect and Priorities: Ensure PPE is worn and that casualties are prioritized (breathing, bleeding, bones/burns and other conditions). Try to gain assistance from a bystander and contact the emergency services.
Having contacted a scene survey and established that the immediate area is safe from any dangers, you can now approach the casualty. When approaching the casualty an initial casualty assessment should be completed - this initial assessment is called a primary survey. The primary survey is a systematic process of approaching, identifying and dealing with immediate and or life-threatening conditions.
The Primary survey can be remembered by the mnemonic DRSBACD:
Contacting the emergency services:
The Correct Way to Make an Emergency 999 Call
Knowing what to expect when making an emergency call to Dorset Fire and Rescue Service can help you provide vital information much more quickly and easily
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- Location (Where are you, where is the incident, any landmark, be specific).
- Incident What has happened
- Number, provide your number for call-back
- Exact number of injured, level of injuries.
- Clean the wound or abrasion with clean running tap water for at least 5 minutes or until the wound is totally clean (no dirt or other matter on the wound).If tap water is not available use bottled (non-carbonated) drinking water.
- To stop the bleeding, apply firm steady pressure directly on the wound until bleeding stops.
- If gauze, cloth or sanitary pads are available, place one directly over the bleeding area and apply steady pressure. Continue until bleeding stops.
- If bleeding continues, do not remove the gauze; add more gauze on top and apply more pressure.
- As the gauze, cloth or sanitary pads become soaked replace with dry ones if available.
- Once the bleeding has stopped, apply an elastic bandage over the dry gauze, cloth or sanitary pad
- Apply triple antibiotic ointment on abrasions (scrapes) to prevent infections.
HeartStart Training - Bleeding
Video 6 in our HeartStart Training series, provided by the British Heart Foundation.In this video, we look at how to treat and bandage serious bleeds.
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First Aid at Road Traffic Collisions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMAgxMFjz6A
- Evaluate the situation. Look for dangers to yourself and to the victim(s).
- Make the area safe for yourself and the victim e.g. Switch off the ignition
- Check the victims. Evaluate all victims quickly and firstly give aid to those with major injuries or not breathing.
- DO NOT move the victim unless it is absolutely necessary. Treat the victim in the position where you find him or her.
- ALWAYS assume that there is a neck (spinal) injury
- If you think the victim has a spinal injury (back or neck injury) do not move the victim. If the victim is unresponsive (unable to answer your questions) and is having difficulty breathing, is vomiting or if you must leave the location to get help, place the victim in the modified recovery position.
- Recovery position :- extend one of the victim's arms above the head and roll the body onto one side. Use the extended arm as a pillow. Bend both legs to keep the body on its side. . (stabilize)
- Monitor and record the victim's vital signs (pulse, breathing, response to your questions)
- Be prepared to give CPR, if needed.
- Call 911/1122
- DO NOT put your safety at risk.
- DO NOT attempt to fight a fire.
- Pull the nearest fire alarm. Many buildings have maps on the backs of doors with marked alarm locations and exits
- DO NOT use elevators under any circumstances
- STOP, DROP and ROLL if you or anyone else is on fire. (If possible wrap the victim in a coat, curtain, blanket, rug or other heavy fabrics) .
Fire Safety Series: Stop Drop and Roll
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eastoncatand Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastontv/And check out our website: eastoncat.orgYou can d...
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Smoke and Fumes
- Smoke and fumes in a confined space create an environment that is low in oxygen and may be polluted by carbon monoxide and toxic fumes.
- If trapped in a burning building, get down on your knees and crawl across the smoke filled room (air is cleanest at the lowest level). Go to a room with a window and close the door. Encourage and assist others to evacuate (leave) the area.
- Almost all of fire victims perish from smoke inhalation, 4 maybe 5 breaths can kill you.
FireED Interactive | Smoke Inhalation
Almost all of fire victims perish from smoke inhalation, 4 maybe 5 breaths can kill you. Sleeping with your bedroom door closed and having a smoke alarm in t...
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Electrical Injuries
- Evaluate the situation. Look for dangers to yourself and to the victim
- Make the area safe for yourself and the victim
- HIGH VOLTAGE current found in power lines and overhead high-tension (HT) cables, is usually fatal. Immediately notify the authorities if there is high voltage electrocution, such as fallen power lines.
- LOW VOLTAGE current is found in homes and workplaces
- DO NOT touch the victim if he/she is in contact with the electrical source because you risk electrocution.
- Break the contact between the victim and electrical supply by switching off the current at the main switch or fuse box or by unplugging or disconnecting the appliance.
- If unable to reach the plug or main switch, then stand on dry insulating material such as a wooden box, a plastic mat, or a telephone book. Using a wooden stick push the victim's limbs away from the electrical source or push the source away from the victim.
- If a wooden stick is unavailable, place a piece of rope or cord around the victim's ankles or under victim's arms and then pull away from the electrical source.
- If a wooden stick or rope is unavailable then pull the victim by any loose, dry clothing (sleeve , pant leg or hem of shirt) being careful not to touch the body. Remember , you risk electrocution by touching the victim's body.
- Once the power is off, evaluate the victim's for breathing and pulse.
- Begin CPR if the victim has no pulse or is not breathing.
- Call 911/1122 emergency medical services
- All victims of electric shock need medical assistance. Internal injuries may have occurred that are not visible.
- Arrange to take or send the victim to a hospital so that he or she may be evaluated by professionals
ASHI & MEDIC First Aid | Electrical Shock
Electrical shocks and burns can be fatal if you're not properly prepared to deliver first aid. Learn how to deliver proper CPR, first aid and AED treatment ...
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NEVER enter flood waters or touch pylons or downed cables, especially during rainfall!
First aid for drowning
How to perform CPR for a drowning victim
A first responder walks you through the life-saving steps.
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- Evaluate the situation. Look for dangers to yourself and to the victim.
- Make the area safe for yourself and the victim.
- If possible stay on land and pull the victim from the water with your hand, a stick, or a rope.
- If victim is unconscious you may have to wade or swim to the victim and bring him or her to shore.
- Begin CPR if the victim is not responsive and not breathing.
- If only one rescuer is present then start CPR and complete 5 cycles (2 minutes) before activating emergency services. If two people are present then send one person to activate emergency services and the other to start CPR.
- Once the victim is out of the water, place the victim in a position so that his/her head is lower than the rest of the body to reduce the risk of inhaling the water and protect the body from the wind to prevent the victim's body from getting colder. Remove wet clothing if possible and cover the victim with dry materials (blankets, towels, clothes).
- Arrange to take or send the victim to a hospital. As with electrical injuries the victim may have suffered injuries that are not obvious.
Water Rescue: Reach, Throw, Row, but Don't Go!
Reach, Throw, Row, but Don't Go is a 3-minute instructional video from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District that demonstrates techniques that ...
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How to Treat an Asthma Attack - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
This St John Ambulance first aid training video shows you what signs to look out for and how to help someone having an asthma attack. If you think someone ma...
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- Asthma is a condition where the distant/small wind pipes are swollen and the swelling results in spasms
- Asthma may be caused by an allergy, a cold, a particular drug, or cigarette smoke.
- People with asthma may have sudden attacks at night.
The symptoms are :
- Wheezing (whistling sounds when breathing), and coughing.
- They usually have to use a “rescue” inhaler at the start of an attack
- Be calm, reassure the person and ask the location of his or her inhaler
- Ask the person to take the “rescue” inhaler (e.g. Albuterol inhaler). Within few minutes he/she should feel better. If their breathing does not, improve, ask him/her to take another dose of the same inhaler. They may repeat 2-4 inhaler puffs at a time every 15-20 minutes. If the repeated inhalers are not helping then he/she should seek medical service ( doctor or emergency room service).
- Difficulty speaking and whispering
- Gray-blue colored lips, earlobes and nail beds
- Breathlessness, causing exhaustion
- If the person loses consciousness or is having a severe asthma attack, call 911 or 1122. Be prepared to administer CPR to the unconscious person if necessary. If it is a severe asthma attack then continue “rescue” inhaler (e.g. Albuterol inhaler) every 5-10 minutes, until the EMS arrives. Monitor and record (write it down) vital signs – level of response, pulse and breathing.
First aid for shock:
Shock
https://www.ProCPR.org - A conscious/responsive shock victim may exhibit symptoms of restlessness, fear, shivering, rapid breathing and pulse rate, sweating,...
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- Shock is a life threatening condition.
- It occurs when the circulatory system (heart and/or blood vessel system) fails, and it cannot supply oxygen to the important organs i.e. brain, kidneys, and heart.
- Rapid pulse/heart beats
- Pale, cold, clammy skin and sweating
- Weakness and dizziness
- Gray-blue skin (cyanosis), especially inside the lips, nail bed and earlobes
- Rapid, and shallow breathing, which progresses to gasping for air.
- In later stages, pulse is weak (faint) and eventually the heart stops working.
- Severe blood loss (more than 1 Liter)
- Severe diarrhea and vomiting
- Severe burns
- Severe infection
- Severe allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock)
- Low body temperature (hypothermia)
- Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
- Drug overdose
- Spinal cord injury
- Treat the underlying cause, and activate EMS
- Raise the victim’s legs (above the level of the heart) to improve the blood supply to the vital organs.
- Monitor and record vital signs – level of response, pulse and breathing
- Be prepared to administer CPR, if necessary
Anaphylactic shock is a severe allergic reaction that occurs within seconds or minutes, of exposure to the trigger/allergen and is potentially fatal.
Allergies and Anaphylaxis
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Causes of anaphylactic shock:
- Drug reaction (injection or by mouth)
- Insect stings (bees for example)
- Ingestion of certain food (peanuts for example)
Signs of anaphylactic shock:
- Anxiety
- Skin rash
- Swelling of the tongue and throat
- Rapid, and shallow breathing (wheezing)which progresses to gasping for air.
- Signs of shock
- Call EMS or 911 state that you suspect an anaphylactic shock.
- If the victim has auto injector of epinephrine (adrenaline) then administer it (usually administered on the thigh).
- If the victim continues to have symptoms or the symptoms are worsening, even few minutes after the first dose of epinephrine and EMS hasn't arrived then administer the second dose of epinephrine
- If the person is conscious, then sitting position helps the victim's breathing
- Monitor and record vital signs-level of response, pulse and breathing
- Be prepared to administer CPR, if necessary
Heart attack refers to the blockage of the blood supply to the heart muscle, which can cause the heart to become weak or stop beating. This can cause death.
Heart Attack Symptoms & How to Treat a Heart Attack - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
If you think someone is having a heart attack, knowing how to help them could be life saving. In this video a St John Ambulance trainer shares signs of a hea...
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Signs of heart attack:
- Continuous chest pain (center or left sided), radiating to the jaw and down one or both arms.
- Sudden dizziness
- Extreme fearfulness
- Profuse sweating
- A rapid, weak, pulse. Racing heart (palpitation)
- Fainting
- Gasping for air
- Treatment:
- Call 1122/911 and state that you suspect a heart attack.
- Make the victim sit in a comfortable position
- If the person is conscious, ask the person to chew a 325 mg aspirin tablet or two 81 mg baby aspirins (if no allergic reaction to aspirin or recent GI bleed)
- If victim has medicine for angina (e.g. nitroglycerine), then help him or her take it.
- Monitor and record vital signs – level of response, pulse and breathing
- Be prepared to administer CPR
Fainting refers to a brief loss of consciousness, due to decrease in blood flow to the brain.
Fainting Causes & Treatment - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
In this video, a St John Ambulance trainer shares how to identify signs of fainting and demonstrates what to do if someone has fainted. Fainting is when some...
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Causes of fainting:
- Lack of food/fluids
- Reaction to pain
- Exhaustion
- Emotional stress
- Prolonged periods of physical activity/inactivity (sitting or standing) in a warm environment
First aid response for fainting:
- When a person feels faint, ask person to lie down.
- Raise the person legs and support the ankles on your shoulders. This should improve the blood flow to the brain. Once the victim is fully recovered encourage victim to drink plenty of fluids.
- If the victim does not regain consciousness, then activate EMS and administer CPR
A fracture means that there is a break or crack in a bone.
How To Treat A Fracture & Fracture Types - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
A St John Ambulance trainer demonstrates what to look for if someone has a fracture and how to treat a fracture.Find out more about what to do if someone has...
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Causes of fractures:
- Direct force i.e. heavy blow to the body
- Indirect force i.e. twisting or wrenching (usually occurs when the bones are weak)
- Open fracture: Skin above the fracture is broken i.e. one of the broken bone ends may be sticking out of the skin or there is a wound at the fracture site. Since the skin is broken, there is a high risk of infection.
- Closed fracture: Skin above the fracture is intact.
- Stable fracture: The broken bone ends do not move.
- Unstable fracture: The broken bone ends can easily move out of position, resulting in severe damage to the blood vessels, nerves, and organs.
Closed fracture:
- Support the injured part
- Bandage the injured part to the closest parallel unaffected part of the body. For the lower limb fractures, bandage the injured leg to the uninjured one. For the upper limb fractures, immobilize the arm against the trunk.
- Arrange to transport the victim to the nearest hospital or doctor’s office
- Check the circulation (pulse point nearest to the fracture) every 10 minutes. If circulation is weak , loosen the bandage.
- Place on a disposable gloves, if available
- Cover the wound with clean pads or sterile dressing.
- Apply gentle pressure to control bleeding.
- Secure the dressing and padding with a bandage.
- Bandage the injured part to the closest parallel unaffected part of the body. For the lower limb fractures, bandage the injured leg to the uninjured. For the upper limb fractures, immobilize the arm against the trunk.
- Arrange to transport to the medical facility
- Check the circulation every 10 minutes. If circulation is weak then loosen the bandages. Monitor and record vital signs – level of response, pulse and breathing
- Be prepared to administer CPR, if necessary
DO NOT move or try to straighten the injured extremity
DO NOT allow the person to eat or drink until cleared by the physician
DO NOT allow the victim with a lower extremity injury to walk (bear weight) until cleared by a medical professional
Sprains and Strains
Strains or sprains refers to the injuries to the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments).
How to Bandage A Sprain - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
A St John Ambulance trainer demonstrates how to bandage a sprain. You’ll need to put an ice pack and padding on the injury, then apply the bandage from the j...
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- Causes of strains and sprains:
- A strain or sprain occurs when the muscle is overstretched
- Signs of strain or sprain:
- Pain
- Swelling
- Bruising
- Difficulty moving the injured part
- First aid response for strains or sprains:
- R- Rest
- I - Icing the injured part
- C- Compress the injured part (e.g. ACE wrap)
- E- Elevation of the injured part
- If the pain is severe, or the person is unable to use the injured part, arrange transportation to a medical facility
Bleeding from the nose occurs when small blood vessels inside the nostrils are ruptured.
How to Treat Nose Bleeds - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
If someone is having a nose bleed, there are simple first aid steps you can take to treat them. This St John Ambulance video shows you how to safely position...
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Causes of a nose bleed:
- Sneezing/upper respiratory infection
- Picking the nose
- Blowing the nose
- Hit to the nose
- High blood pressure
- Place person in a seated position
- Ask the person to breathe from the mouth and to pinch the soft part of the nose for up to 10 minutes. If the bleeding has not stopped, then the person can repeat the pinching of the nose for 10 minutes. This procedure may be done for a total of thirty minutes
- Advise him/her to rest quietly for a few hours and try not to swallow, cough, spit or sniff, because it may restart the nose bleed.
- If the nose bleed is due to an injury (head or nose injury) arrange for medical attention
Spinal injury refers to the injuries involving one or more part of the back and/or neck i.e. bones, discs, muscles, ligaments or spinal cord. The most serious risk involving a spinal injury is damage to the spinal cord. Such damage can cause loss of function or sensation below the injured area.
What To Do If Someone Has A Spinal Cord Injury - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
A St John Ambulance trainer demonstrates what to look for if someone has a spinal cord injury, what causes a spinal cord injury and what to do to help. Learn...
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Causes of spinal injury:
- Falling from a height
- Motor vehicle accident (sudden stops)
- Injury to the head or the face
- Thrown from a horse or motorbike
- Diving into a shallow pool and hitting the bottom
- Heavy blow to the back
- Signs of spinal injury
- Pain in the neck or back at the injury site
- Change in the normal curvature of the spine
- Tenderness in the skin over the spine
- Signs of spinal cord injury
- Loss of control over the limbs; movements may be weak or absent
- Loss of bladder /bowel control
- Loss of sensation, or abnormal sensations such as burning or tingling.
- Breathing difficulties.
Seizures or convulsions refers to involuntary contractions of the muscles of the body, followed by loss of consciousness.
What To Do If Someone Has A Seizure - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
A St John Ambulance trainer demonstrates what to look for if someone is having a seizure, what causes a seizure and what to do to help. Learn more about what...
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Causes of seizures:
- Head injury.
- Low oxygen to the brain.
- Low glucose (diabetes).
- Poison toxicity (alcohol, drugs, cleaning products).
- Brain damaging conditions( infections or diseases).
- High fevers in infants and children (below 6 years of age).
Signs of seizures:
- Sudden unconsciousness or unresponsiveness.
- Repetitive convulsive movements.
- Rigidity and or arching of the back.
- Breathing difficulty.
- Clenching of the teeth.
- Incontinence (urine or bowel movement).
- After the seizure a person may have a post seizure state where he or she is dazed, acts strangely or is unaware of the surroundings. This state can persist for minutes to hours..
- If the person is falling ease the fall
- Make space for the person, ask bystanders to move away
- Remove dangerous items i.e. hot drinks or sharp objects etc, from the surrounding.
- Note the time when the seizure started
- Loosen the clothing around the neck and place a protective soft padding under the head, if possible.
- When the seizure has stopped, be ready to administer CPR, if the victim is not responding i.e. no movement and no breathing.
- If the person is breathing then place him/her in the recovery position.
- Note the total time of the seizure.
- Call EMS or 911, if the seizure continues for more than 5 minutes, the person is unconscious for more than 10 minutes, the person is having repetitive seizures or having seizures for the first time.
DO NOT put anything in the person’s mouth or use force to restrain the person.
Strokes
Stroke refers to a condition in where the blood supply to a part of the brain is stopped
What To Do If Someone Has A Stroke, Signs & Symptoms - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
A St John Ambulance trainer demonstrates what to look for if someone is having a stroke and what to do to help. Find out more about what to do if someone is ...
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Causes of stroke:
- Blood clot to the brain
- Ruptured blood vessel in the brain
- Problem speaking
- Problem swallowing
- Decrease or loss of strength or movement of the limbs
- Tingling and numbness on one side of the body
- Sudden, severe headaches
- Sudden or gradual loss of consciousness
- Call 1122/911
- Help the victim lie down with head and shoulder raised and the head turned to prevent choking.
- Monitor and re/cord vital signs level of response, pulse and breathing
- Be prepared to administer CPR, if necessary
- DO NOT give the victim anything to eat or drink
Skin is an organ that acts as a natural barrier to the infection and to fluid loss. Burns disrupt this barrier causing exposure to infection and fluid loss.
Burns - First Aid
https://www.ProFirstAid.com You can treat first, second, and third-degree Chemical Burns prior to seeking medical treatment by using saran wrap and freezer b...
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Causes of burns:
- Dry burn-flames, friction, contact with hot object.
- Scald burn-steam, hot liquids.
- Electrical burn-low-voltage: household appliances. High-voltage: power cables, lightning current
- Cold injury-frostbite, contact with freezing metal or freezing vapors i.e. liquid oxygen or liquid nitrogen.
- Chemical burn-industrial chemicals or fumes or household chemicals ( caustic soda, bleach , oven cleaner )
- Radiation burn-sunburn, over exposure to ultraviolet rays from sunlamp or exposure to radioactive source (x-rays)
- First-degree burn: It damages the outermost layer of skin. It is characterized by redness, swelling and tenderness.
- Second-degree burn: It damages the epidermis (2nd layer of skin). It is characterized by redness, tenderness and blisters.
- Third-degree burn: It damages all the layers of the skin. It is characterized by loss of pain sensation. There may be damage to the nerves, fatty tissue, muscles, and blood vessels. These burns need immediate medical attention.
- Evaluate the situation. Look for dangers to yourself and to the victim.
- For severe burns or burns to the airway or electrical burns, call 1122/911
- Apply plenty of cold tap water for at least 10 minutes.
- Put on disposable gloves if available.
- Carefully remove the clothing around the burn, unless it sticks to the burn.
- Cover the burned area with sterile dressing or folded triangular bandage, part of a sheet or plastic wrap, to protect it from infection and to prevent fluid loss.
- Monitor and record vital signs-level of response, pulse and breathing
- Be prepared to administer CPR, if necessary
- DO NOT burst any blisters. Loosely cover blister with sterile dressing, but leave blisters intact as it improves healing and reduces pain.
- DO NOT apply lotions, ointment, or adhesive tape to the burned area
- DO NOT apply ice directly on the burn as it may cause tissue injury
- DO NOT remove anything sticking to the burn
Heatstroke refers to a condition where your body overheats.
How To Treat Heat Stroke, Signs & Symptoms - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
A St John Ambulance trainer demonstrates what to look for if someone has suffered from heat stroke and how to treat it.Find out more about what to do if some...
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Causes of heatstroke:
- Prolonged exposure to heat
- High fever
- Drugs ( ecstasy)
Signs of heatstroke:
- Headache, dizziness
- Confusion
- Hot, flushed dry skin
- Body temperature above 104 F (40 C)
- Move the person to a cool place
- Call 1122/911
- Immerse the victim in a cool water up to the chin or wrap the person with a sheet and apply cool water on the sheet, until the temperature falls below 100.4 F (35 C)
- Once the temperature has returned to normal, replace the wet sheet with a dry one. Monitor and record vital signs – level of response, pulse and breathing.
- Be prepared to administer CPR, if necessary
Hypothermia refers to a condition when the body over cools i.e. temperature falls below 95 F (35 C).
First Aid Treatment for Hypothermia
First Aid Treatment for Hypothermia. Part of the series: First Aid Basics. The proper first aid treatment for hypothermia involves calling 9-1-1 immediately ...
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Causes of Hypothermia:
- Poorly heated houses
- Outdoor exposure
Signs of hypothermia:
- Shivering
- Cold, pale and dry skin
- Impaired consciousness or disorientation
- Shallow breathing
- Weak pulse
First aid response to hypothermia:
- Replace any wet clothing with warm, dry clothes
- Warm water bath, if possible
- Offer warm drinks, or soups.
- Monitor and record vital signs-level of response, pulse and breathing
- Be prepared to administer CPR, if necessary
- Obtain medical care for the elderly and infants/children.
Usually an insect sting causes a localized allergic reaction.
Bites and Stings
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- Stings from a bee, wasp, or hornet are painful rather than dangerous.
- Stings in the mouth or throat are potentially dangerous because they may obstruct the airway.
- Pain, redness and swelling which starts within minutes to hours after an insect sting.
- Allergic reaction may progress to anaphylactic shock
First aid response to an insect sting:
- For victims showing signs of anaphylactic shock or victims who develop mouth or throat swelling after a bite - call EMS or 911
- If the stinger is visible, then remove it with a blunt knife. DO NOT use tweezers, because it may inject more poison into the person.
- Apply an ice pack or cold compress.
- Elevate the affected part
- Follow up with a doctor if pain and swelling persists
First aid response to snakebites:
- Applying a pressure immobilization bandage to the entire length of the bitten extremity will, slow the spread of the venom (poison) by slowing the lymph flow. The pressure should be sufficient so that the bandage is comfortably tight and snug but allows a finger to be slipped under it.
- DO NOT apply suction for the snakebites.
First aid for jellyfish stings:
- Wash the area with vinegar (4-6% acetic acid solution) as soon as possible for at least 30 seconds (to inactivate the venom [poison] or nematocysts)
- If vinegar is not available, a baking soda slurry/paste may be used instead.
- Once the nematocysts are removed or deactivated, the victim should be instructed to take a hot shower or immerse the affected part in hot water (temperature as hot as tolerated, or 45°C if there is the capability to regulate temperature), as soon as possible, for at least 20 minutes or for as long as pain persists.
Poison/toxin is a substance that causes temporary or permanent damage to the body.
How To Treat Poisoning, Signs & Symptoms - First Aid Training - St John Ambulance
A St John Ambulance trainer demonstrates what to look for if someone has swallowed a poison and how to treat poisoning.Find out more about what to do if some...
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Types of poisons:
- Swallowed - drugs, alcohol, cleaning products, food poisons
- Inhaled- fumes from the cleaning products, fumes from fire
- Injected- venom from stings and bites or drugs
- Absorbed through the skin- cleaning products, plant poisons
- Splashed- cleaning products, home and gardening products
Signs of swallowed poisons:
- Vomiting
- Look for containers near the victim
- Pain or burning sensation in mouth and throat
- If the person is conscious, then ask about the exposure or ingestion history.
- DO NOT give anything by mouth until advised by the poison control or emergency personnel
- DO NOT attempt to induce vomiting.
- DO NOT administer syrup of Ipecac
- If unable to contact poison control then you may give frequent sips of cold milk or water (risk of emesis or aspiration)
- Monitor and record vital signs-level of response, pulse and breathing
- Be prepared to administer CPR, if necessary
- Obtain medical help if symptoms continue or worsen
- If the person is unconscious then call 1122/911 and start CPR.
Dental First Aid: What to do when an adult tooth gets knocked out
Our quick reference Dental First-Aid Easy Guide will show you what to do when an adult tooth gets knocked out of the mouth.If you are a parent, a teacher, co...
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- First aid for the broken tooth:
- Clean the bleeding wound with saline or clean tap water
- Stop bleeding by applying direct pressure to the injured area with gauze or cotton
- Handle the tooth by the crown, NOT the root (i.e. do not handle the part that was beneath the gum)
- Place the tooth in milk, or clean water if milk is not available
- Contact the dentist or take the tooth and victim to an emergency care center as quickly as possible
Choking is a life-threatening medical emergency and most commonly occurs when a piece of food, an object, or a liquid becomes lodged in the throat. The following videos provide useful advice for first aid on choking adults/children/infants:
Conscious Adult Choking
For more videos like this or to get CPR Certified please visit https://www.procpr.orgProTrainings offers a variety of courses such as:Bloodborne pathogens: h...
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Conscious Child Choking
https://www.ProCPR.orgIf a child is choking and conscious, signs include looking panicked, blue color around the lips, and the inability to talk, cough, or b...
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Conscious Infant Choking
For more videos like this or to get CPR Certified please visit https://www.procpr.orgProTrainings offers a variety of courses such as:Bloodborne pathogens: h...
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CPR
What is CPR?
CPR stands for Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation i.e. to help restart the heart (pulse) and lungs (breathing).
When do we perform CPR?
CPR is performed when a person stops breathing and/or the heart stops.
Why is it important to learn CPR?
47 people die of heart-attacks in Pakistan every hour, that's 411,720 people every year[2]. If you know how to perform CPR you may be able to save a life.
Why is timing important?
When the heart (pulse) and lungs (breathing) stops, the victim has 5 minutes before (gradual) brain death starts to occur, if no CPR is performed. Therefore, it is very important to start CPR as soon as possible.
What is hands-only CPR?
Any bystander who is not trained in CPR can perform this type of CPR to try to save a life. Hands-only CPR is better than no CPR. If you witness an adult or a child/infant suddenly collapse then:
1. Call 1122/911
2. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest
Hands only CPR:
Learn Hands-Only CPR from the American Red Cross
Learn CPR, visit: http://www.redcross.org/take-a-classThe American Red Cross and Howcast have teamed up to teach you how to perform the potentially life-savi...
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Know your emergency numbers:
- 911 [Public Emergency Helpline]
- 1122 [Rescue 1122 Emergency Number]
- 15 [Police Emergency Number]
- 115 [EDHI Ambulance]
- 1124 [Aman Ambulance Karachi]
- 1020 [Chippa Ambulance Karachi]
[1] Yegen B (1958). First Aid. In: The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association The British Red Cross Society. Turkish Crescent Society Publishing. 5th ed, Ankara, pp.100–150.
[2] Junaidi I (2021). ‘47 people die of heart attack every hour in Pakistan’, Dawn News. Available: https://www.dawn.com/news/1649189
[3] 2021 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science with Treatment Recommendations
[4] Thygerson, A., Thygerson, S., Gulli, B., Mell, H. and Elling, B., n.d. First aid.
[5] Thomas, J. and Paynter, A., 2018. Assessment and management of common musculoskeletal injuries. Practice Nursing, [online] 29(11), pp.521-525. Available at: <https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/pnur.2018.29.11.521> [Accessed 5 May 2020].
[6] Outcomes following cardiopulmonary resuscitation in an emergency department of a low- and middle-income country - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12245-018-0200-0
[7] Characteristics of traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients presenting to major centers in Karachi, Pakistan—a longitudinal cohort study - https://intjem.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12245-018-0214-7
[8] Knowledge of first aid and basic life support amongst medical students: a comparison between trained and un-trained students - https://jpma.org.pk/article-details/2839
[9] Knowledge attitude and practices of undergraduate students regarding first aid measures - https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/47256849.pdf
[10] Awareness Level of First Aid in General Population, Karachi Pakistan: A Survey Report - https://www.researchgate.net/public...l_Population_Karachi_Pakistan_A_Survey_Report
[11] Road Traffic Accidents; Predictions in Pakistan: WHO
--End--
--Edit-- Will add the remaining articles by the end of this weekend work and time permitting.
RescueRanger
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Making a first aid kit
In this post I will provide simple guidance on how to make a very cheap, easy to transport and modular first aid kit for everyday use in the home, car or office. First thing is first, don’t bother buying an expensive, pre-packed travel kit and make your own instead.
There are many commercial pre-packed first aid kits available in Pakistan, most of these are bloated and over-priced:
Instead of spending 2500 to 3000 rupees on an overpriced commercial pre-packed first aid kit, consider making your own, get your children involved and make it a fun activity. Perhaps give them a list of items to buy and a budget, this will teach them about budgeting and also give them a sense of ownership on the subject of safety in and out of the house.
Before you get started lets take a second to jot down the emergency numbers for where you live:
- 911 - This is now the NATIONAL emergency helpline for ALL Pakistan, although there are occasions where the service routing does break-out so just in-case remember these regional numbers too:
- 1122 – This is the number for Rescue 1122 and you can dial this number for fire and medical rescue in all of Punjab, KPK, Islamabad, Murree and Kashmir.
- 115 – Every Pakistani knows this number, this number will put you through to EDHI ambulance, not as well equipped or well trained as Rescue 1122 but still they will help you when you need them and for free.
- 16 – Fire Brigade number can be dialled in any part of Pakistan
- 15 – Police Rescue
- 021-111-11-2626 – Aman Ambulance service, Karachi only. They only have a few ambulances but provide a high level of service.
Please consider taking the time to teach your children about not misusing these emergency numbers, every year between 300,000 and 450,000 emergency calls are answered by Rescue 1122, a very large percentage of these are FAKE calls. Furthermore, FAKE calls can result in diverting an ambulance or rescue team to a location and depriving someone who is actually in life threatening situation from help:
To get started consider using a medium plastic zip lock bag, these can be purchased at any local market:
There are a few first aid necessities that belong in every kit. These should be included no matter where you plan to use the kit—be it in the home, in the car, for camping, or for another purpose.
These include:
- Adhesive bandages of various sizes
- One or two finger splints, you can use ice lolly sticks for this
- An elastic conforming bandage
- Sterile gauze pads
- Eye bandages x1 minimum
- Triangular bandage for wrapping injuries or creating a sling x 2 minimum
- Latex or non-latex gloves for handling bodily fluids x 3 pairs
- Antibiotic ointment ( this is a good to have item )
- Cotton swabs ( at least 5)
- Antiseptic towelettes for cleaning minor wounds ( You can also use prep swabs available from medical stores ).
- Imodium tablets to relieve diarrhea
- Female Sanitary pad ( if you are a female of course
).
And in addition to the items above just add a few extras such as:
- a baby bulb suction device ( Rs. 30 ) [ Very useful in winter for suctioning mucus from the blocked nose of little children]
- an hot/cold pack
- hand sanitizer gel
- sterile cotton swabs and balls
- tweezers
- a thermometer: digital & strip
- a spare zip lock bag
- Medicine syringe without needle or small plastic cup ( to wash eyes with )
- Rubbing alcohol or alcohol swabs
- First aid booklet or you can install an app on your phone
RescueRanger
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First Aid for IED Incidents
Continuing on from my previous posts on first aid an emergency response today's post will focus on immediate action drills for IED incidents. As always, I hope you never have to use these skills but in-light of recent emerging trends these are lifesaving skills that can help you or enable you to help others in the worst case scenario.
The Response
The first thing that needs to be mentioned is to know the enemy’s TTP (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures.) That being said, they often set up secondary devices with the hope of taking out first responders. Take that second to look around the scene, not only for other threats, but to determine ground zero of the incident. Time, distance and shielding goes into play as well. We need to look for the victims that are in the worst shape, not necessarily the ones yelling the loudest.
What should you expect to see if you respond to an IED? Let’s use the injuries from the Boston marathon. Partial or complete amputations, patients near the blast suffered burns which causes a compromised airway, penetrating trauma to the chest wall and lungs. It doesn’t matter if it’s an explosion or gun shot wound, we’ll have the same response. That response that we’ll go over today is MARCH, specifically focusing on the first three issues to address.
M – Massive Bleeding
A – Airway
R – Respiration
C – Circulation
H – Head injury/Hypothermia.
Controlling that bleed:
The textbook answer to control bleeding is to activate 1122 first and transport to higher medical care. In the real world, massive bleeding needs to be controlled immediately. The ideal way to do this is with a tourniquet.
A manufactured combat tourniquet is the best option. When it come to massive bleeding from an extremity, you can’t go wrong with a tourniquet. We have massive amounts of data in tourniquet use over the past ten years and it all says the same thing, TOURNIQUETS SAVE LIVES.[1]
Tourniquet placement is crucial, go as high on the limb as you can. It doesn’t matter if its a gun shoot wound or an IED. Bullets and shrapnel can travel and tear flesh up above the apparent wounds.
Remember that arteries are elastic in nature and when severed, they travel up into the muscle. I think this was best shown in this clip from Black Hawk Down:
Tighten the tourniquet until you see the bright red blood stop. This will be extremely painful and be aware that the patient may try to loosen it to relieve the pain.
If you don’t have a tourniquet it’s OK. A field expedient tourniquet can be made from a piece of cloth that’s two inches wide and a stick to act as a windlass to tighten it. Army cravats are small and work awesome in a pinch. If you don’t have a tourniquet it’s OK. A field expedient tourniquet can be made from a piece of cloth that’s two inches wide and a stick to act as a windlass to tighten it.
Here you can see we have made an improvised tourniquet using two strips of cloth and a pair of scissors as a securing mechanism:
Airway
First thing is to talk to the patient. If they answer, they have a good airway (for now.) If they have a compromised airway, you’ll have to try and open it. Head tilt, chin lift or the jaw thrust.We are also observing the patient as they move to a position of comfort, especially with head trauma. If they need to sit a certain way to breathe, let them.
Look for soot around their mouth and nose indicating a compromised airway. These patients can go downhill quickly if unnoticed. They will experience swelling of the vocal cords and eventually will lose the ability to breath on their own. They need ALS (advanced life support) now.
Respiration
The third thing moving down our MARCH list is Respiration. This area is the neck down to the belly button on all sides.
With blast injuries, we’re concerned about penetrating trauma to the lungs and the thoracic cavity. You’ll need to do a thorough assessment if you’re looking for very small shrapnel wounds. More than likely you’ll see no blood coming from these wounds, so use your hands and stretch the skin to expose hard to spot wounds.
This is an example of a Rapid Trauma Assessment you can perform on an injured casualty.
If you do find any wounds, you’ll need to place an airtight seal over it to prevent air from entering the chest cavity. Ideally this is a pre-manufactured chest seal like the Asherman (tm)Chest seal - these are rare to come by in Pakistan, but plastic bags will work also. When using plastic, remember to tape off three sides and leave one corner untapped to allow for air to escape, this prevents a medical complication known as tension pneumothorax (collapsed lung).
The above picture is to get you thinking. How would you handle a situation like this, who would you help first? Events like this will never be a cut and dry exercise. If this would have been your town, how long would it be until help arrived? Is help coming? Rescue 1122 response time is between 5 and 7 minutes. Remember that.
Take your fully stocked med bag or kit out of the equation for a moment and think outside the box, “what can I use to treat the injured if I didn’t have my kit?” In care under fire, we only do the M and A (controlling massive bleeding and opening the airway). That will buy you time, so do you go from one casualty to another controlling bleeding and managing the airway? I’d say yes. We need to be the most help to the most people. I don’t want one alive casualty that is all neat and bandaged up, when I could have performed the important steps for more people.
How would you handle a bystander that wants to help, but may know nothing about a medical first response? While he doesn’t have a clue what to do, give him a specific job as this will allow you to do your assessment.
It’s easy to look at what happened in any situation and say I’d do this, or they didn’t do this. We live in a dangerous world, it could be an IED attack or a shooting.
References:
Lee C, Porter KM, Hodgetts TJ, Tourniquet use in the civilian prehospital setting, Emergency Medicine Journal 2007;24:584-587.
RescueRanger
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First Aid Apps
Continuing on my theme of posts on first aid, as promised today I am going to be covering first aid apps. So are you ready to upgrade from Minecraft with an App that can make a life-saving difference? Then my list of Apps is just what you need. Whether someone has suffered a simple cut, a fracture or is going into anaphylactic shock; you can be confident with the these app's that you'll have all of the essential information to help right in the palm of your hand.
Providing Basic Life Support knowledge as well as step-by-step guides to help assist in everyday First Aid incidents, these apps will help bring confidence to any rescue situation and will allow you to help a victim as well as call an ambulance directly from the app if further assistance is required.
These apps are all pretty awesome and well worth a look. I've selected these first aid apps for exceptional performance in one of these categories:
- User Experience
- Core Functionality
- Innovative solution
- Review: 7/10
- Price: 0 PKR
- Average Rating: 4.4
- Total Downloads: 540+
Urdu First Aid App:
- Review 3/10
- Price: 0 PKR
- Average Rating: N/A
- Total Downloads: 10,000+
St. John Ambulance First Aid APP:
- Review 7/10
- Price: 0 PKR
- Average Rating: 4.4
- Total Downloads: 50,000+
British Red Cross First Aid APP:
- Review 9/10
- Price: 0 PKR
- Average Rating: 4.8
- Total Downloads: 500,000+
There are step-by-step instructions for each emergency situation, as well as videos and pictures to show each procedure. This app would likely get 10/10 from me if it was available in Urdu.
Disclaimer: This post has been written as a community service for those interested in the subjects of safety, disaster preparedness and emergency response. The Author & PDF management shall have no liability to any persons or entities with respect to any loss, liability or damage alleged to be caused by the application or reliance on information or opinions published on this article.
Joe Shearer
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- Apr 19, 2009
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Personal Safety
Part 1 Situational Awareness:
This is one subject I am very passionate about so I would like to add my two cents if I may! Personal safety and security is down to common sense. It's all down to situational awareness, to begin with, followed by impact factors and your capacity and ability to respond to the threat.
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of areas left in our world where you are immune to threats to your personal safety. With increases in crime such as theft, rape, terrorism and assault, it is in our best interest to pay attention.
This post is not covering the entire subject of self-defense, it may give you some food for thought.
It is also important to mention that whilst however no one is totally immune from possibly becoming a victim of a crime, learning how to be more alert and aware of your surroundings and keeping an eye out for signs of trouble is a good start.
As any good self-defense trainer will tell you, the best self-defense is to avoid the situation entirely. So let's get started, first, we are going to look at how the mind of criminal works and then compare this to the thought process of the victim:
The mental process of a criminal are broken into three simple steps:
1. First, a target is selected
2. A plan is made
3. The crime is committed
A victim is at a disadvantage because they have to go through a four step process:
1. They have to be aware of their surroundings
2. They have to evaluate the situation
3. They have to think of a counter plan
4. Finally, take action on the plan.
As a potential victim goes through these four steps, they are running through the phases of the “personal safety spectrum”.
This system is a simplified version of the “Cooper Colour Code” which is named after the person who developed it, Colonel Jeff Cooper of the United States Marine Corps, the colour code was designed to teach US Marines about maintaining mental readiness and how to respond to threats based on severity and exposure.
The personal safety spectrum, which is what I am going to be talking about is a more simplified version designed for personal safety awareness:
Here is the list of the conditions “phases” of the personal safety spectrum:
1. Condition Grey: In a safe place such as your home, and are not concerned with your surroundings.
2. Condition Yellow: When you are outside driving or walking down the street, you should be in Yellow condition. You should be taking in information, assessing risks. The reason you upgrade from condition grey to yellow is because you have left the comfort of a controlled environment, such as your “home” and as such have a greater need to pay attention to the environment around you.
For example:
You are proceeding down a sidewalk, a person approaches and asks “what time is it”? At this point, most people will look at their watch, this is actually a common distraction technique used to cause inattention to your surroundings.
3. Condition Red: In this condition you should be ALERT, look at the person/threat and decide what you will do and your decision, the act upon that decision. Once you are ready to act, you upgrade to Condition Green.
4. Condition Green: When you see an individual approaching you and decide you don’t wish contact, change your direction by moving away from the individual.
5. Condition White: This is a state of panic and you don’t know what to do.
So you can see, that it pays to be alert and aware of your surroundings as you may never know what may be around the corner. For example, if somebody approaches you, there are four things you need to be thinking about:
1. Hands: Where are their hands and what are they doing with their hands. 55% of our communication is through body language, for example: if someone makes a fist, chances are they are going to hit someone with it. But if they don’t have anything in their hands, then you should start looking for the second thing which is weapons.
2. Weapons: Guns, Knives or anything within that person's reach that can be used against you. Also known as a weapon of opportunity.
3. Friends and Associates: Is the person alone or is he in a group? Remember that many crimes are committed in pairs.
4. Escape: Finally consider your options to escape, where are you going to run to, are you boxed in, are you blocking the exit of the suspect? Remember that cornered criminals are more likely to use violence, so keep this in mind when considering an escape route.
This video shows some examples of pre-contact queues:
Here is a fine example of what happens when you fail to pick up on pre-contact queues telling you to "fight or flight":
Guard your personal space, When approached by someone whom you do not trust always try to keep him/her outside of what is referred to as your “Intimate space”, simply put, keep strangers who approach you and you don’t trust at an arms length. There are three kinds of Spaces you need to be concerned with when it comes to personal safety:
1. Intimate space: 0-1.5 Feet (The only people you should allow into your intimate space are people you trust such as your friends and family).
2. Personal space: 1.5 Feet – 4 Feet (This is the ideal range to deal with strangers, it makes it difficult for someone to try and grab your clothing, or throw a punch. You should always try to maintain a distance out of “arms reach” when dealing with strangers you may feel are a threat. This space should allow you enough of a gap to quickly run through the four steps to be able to protect yourself.
3. Social space and public space: 4 Feet – 12 Feet ( This is the distance you should aim to keep from people in public, remember that even at 4 Feet, you are still maintaining the “Arms length” distance from a potential threat.
Observation:
This is a very important skill to learn and develop, not only will help keep you safe, it can also help when completing a FIR and if you notice anything out of the ordinary during your day to day activities such as a suspicious car or package, or even an unusual smell coming from something unexpected you can report it to the authorities.
https://www.samaa.tv/video/2017/02/cctv-footage-of-gun-attack-on-police-van/
Remember if it doesn't look right or if it doesn't sound or smell right, report it! When observing your surroundings, use the look, scent, listen method. Start from head and go to toes, clothing information such as shirts, pants, shoes, accessories, and then consider the physical characteristics of the individual such as:
1. Body shape
2. Skin colour/ Eye Colour
3. Hair [colour and length]
4. Height
5. Gender
6. Age
7. Distinguishing features including what weapon was used?,voice, accent, strange smells such as “Charred hands, or smelling like chemicals etc.”
8. Finally record the direction of travel: Which way were they going.
Part 2 Safety at work, home and in public spaces:
When you are out and about you need to remember three simple rules:
Safety at work:
- Stay Alert: Referred to as Situational Awareness
- Avoid Risky Situations: No need to be a Hero
- Trust Your Instincts: If it does not feel right…avoid it
DON'T BE LIKE LARRY:
- Keep your work area organized and secure
- Lock pocketbooks in desk drawer or locker
- When entering or exiting the building look for suspicious activity
- Always travel in groups
- Report all suspicious vehicles and people
- Know the location of the nearest exit
Safety in public places:
Scenario:
- Go in groups
- Walk in well-lighted areas
- Be alert to suspicious activity
- Never carry more items than necessary
- Provide route to friend or family member
- Carry pocketbooks and briefcases securely
- Always carry identification
- Never carry more money than you are willing to lose
- Carry money, credit cards, and ID in trouser pocket…separate from pocketbook
- Stay alert at ATM machines
- Carry a fully-charged cell phone
- Avoid uncomfortable situations (remember the three rules)
You are in a busy marketplace, there have been a number of operations against militant groups in Pakistan recently and the militants have vowed retribution, you notice something suspicious near a market.
Do you:
A) inspect it?
B) call for help?
If you chose option B, well DONE!
Remember that unlike the movies it takes lengthy training and use of correct PPE and tools such as x-ray, hook, and line etc to safely dispose of an IED. If you cannot identify something, you CANNOT handle it! Simple as that.
Safety in your vehicle:
- Vacate the area and inform security/police
- Do Not use cell phones or CB radios in close proximity to the device
- Evacuate the area minimum 200 meters, try to get behind a solid building away from any glass or falling hazards and do not return until the police have made the area safe. Terrorists are known to use primary explosions to stage an assault or gather a crowd before detonating a secondary IED.
If you THINK you are being followed:
- Keep doors locked at all times
- Park in well-lighted area or potential for light
- Do not park between two full-size vehicles
- Scan the area before exiting the vehicle
- Remember where you parked
- Place valuables in trunk or take with you
- Park near the front of the business
- Scan parking lot before returning to vehicle
- Walk with others
- Have your keys out as you approach
- Look for signs of forced entry
- Scan interior of vehicle before you enter
- Quickly enter your vehicle and lock the doors
- Do not exit your vehicle for strangers
This video from 1978 presents the basic tactics used in vehicle surveillance used even today:
- Have your cell phone ready for use
- Look to see that you are not being followed, check your mirrors. To test if you have a tail, make a note of the vehicle and if you are on a highway reduce your speed gradually, as you do this other car will overtake you, the tail will try to match your speed. If you are off the highway in a commercial or residential area you can go around a few familiar busy streets a couple of times, if the same car is behind you, then you have a tail
- My favourite method is to use roundabouts if you are lucky enough to be near a roundabout, don't take the exit, go round the roundabout two or even three times, if, by the third time the car is still behind you, you have a tail on your backside.
If you are being followed:
There are many methods to losing a tail, but that is too complex for this post just use common sense.
When approaching a check post, signal clearly that you have no harmful intentions:
- Keep moving in a busy area, stay on main roads.
- Change direction and return to the business
- Drive to a busy convenience store
- Call 15 or your local police helpline number from you cell phone - Apps are available which will send an alert SMS with your map location to your contacts at the push of the home button three times.
- Avoid driving to the police department after business hours, most stations close to the public in Pakistan after 23:00 HRS.
- DO NOT GO HOME
If you get hit from behind whilst driving:
- Slow down
- Avoid any brusque movements in the car, and keep your hands clearly up and visible.
- Stop the car a few yards from a barrier, but always keep the engine running unless ordered otherwise.
- If there is more than one vehicle, the next one keeps a certain distance
- Take off sunglasses so that people can see your face and eyes
- Put the window down; just about 2/3” enough for you to pass your id badge if needed.
- After dark, avoid using High-Beam headlights when approaching check posts
- After dark turn on the light inside the car cabin so that all passengers are clearly visible
- Be polite and comply with the officer's questions. No need to get offended and be rude.
Part 3 Safety at Home:
- Try to avoid becoming boxed-in, always try to keep 1 chevron/car length between you and the car ahead. ( Impossible in Lahore and Karachi, I have tested. Damn bikers and Rickshaw wala's).
- Avoid isolated areas, this is very IMPORTANT!
- If bumped from behind…remain in your vehicle
- Open car window on 1-2 inches
- Dial 15 to report the accident
- Do not exit your vehicle - some gangs will do a bumper hug as a tactic for you to get out so they can a)mug you or b) rob your car!
- Get the License Plate number of the other vehicle, if it leaves the scene
- Get a description of the driver, if possible
- Remain where you are until police arrive
- Do not resist an armed car-jacking. Remember that an average acceleration of a .32 is 335m/s, that's faster than your hands can react! The moment the enemy has a weapon against you and you are unarmed, you have lost the tactical advantage!
Home Security System:
- Keep bushes and shrubbery trimmed to no more than 3 feet high
- Keep the lowest limb on trees to no lower than 6 ft from the ground
- Keep window and doors locked at all times
- If you have a dog, good they are the best friends you will have. If you don't like dogs too bad.
- Install auxiliary locks on your windows if the current locks are not sufficient
- Use solid core exterior doors [ Sold wood doors instead of hollow core doors]
- Use motion sensor lights on the exterior of your home or CCTV cameras, which can be purchased for as little as Rs. 4000
- If you are going away out of town for a vacation or the house will be unoccupied for a long period of time, either cancel or have neighbors or family/friends collect mail or newspapers when you are away.
- When leaving the house alone, keep some lights on and leave a radio or television on to give the appearance of an occupied home.
- Set up a neighborhood watch scheme in your area this is very active in Karachi.
- Keep Jewellery/money/valuables in no conspicuous location…in other words…not in the master bedroom
- Do not provide personal information over the phone unless you initiated the conversation
- If you list our phone number…use only your initials, not your full name
- Remove the nameplate from the front of your house! especially if yours says Brig (R), Gen(R), Adv IHC, CEO Blah, Blah, you get the picture!
- If you have staff in the house such as drivers, cooks, cleaners, drivers, chowkidars etc make sure you keep a copy of their CNIC, get it verified by SMS. Get the CNIC of the person and send the CNIC number (with or without dashes) to 8008. If the number is Genuine you should get a text back with all his family as well along with their CNIC numbers.
- Make sure you only hire staff that you can get references for, or they are happy to provide an up to date police character certificate and new biometric CNIC which you can verify! Never trust your children with the staff!
- Use Caller-ID to screen your calls
- Report Harassing Phone calls to PTCL or the correct telco
- Report threatening phone calls to the police and FIA
- Report threatening or Harassing social media posts to the FIA
- Avoid storing your home location in your phone navigation
- Avoid enabling geolocation for your camera on your smartphone
Okay so if you have the money to splash out, there are many options. You can pay a company like Wackenhut Pakistan and they will install and monitor the alarm for you, sending out an armed QRF if the alarm or Panic button is pressed, but of course this costs LOTS of money.
The cheaper alternative is, again if you have the cash to buy a CCTV system with DVR this should set you back about 20,000 PKR. Installation can be done yourself if you are reasonably technical. If not, the vendor will do the installation on average for an extra 5,000 plus 150 rupees for every meter of wiring used. When buying camera always opt for wide angle, Zero Lux cameras.
Home alarm systems that trigger an audio alarm if the window is broken or door is opened cost about 10,000 PKR on OLX.com and I have tested one, they work really well! Most alarms now have the ability to send an SMS or a call to up to three pre-stored numbers using an auto dialer and a pre-paid GSM sim. They even have a backup battery so should the UPS fail during a day of load shedding the alarm will run on backup battery for 24 hours.
Example:
https://www.olx.com.pk/item/gsm-bas...plete-security-system-IDTMSVH.html#17212e15a1
Hired Guns:
Okay, so you have cash to spend and want to hire a security guard. Things to look out for when hiring a security guard.
1. ONLY hire from companies who are members of APSAA ( All Pakistan Security Agencies Association). www.apsaa.com.pk
2. Ask people in your office, workplace or neighborhood if they recommend a company.
3. Check the company website, and visit their office. Any decent company should have a file on each guard which should include the following:
A. CNIC
B. Character Certificate from Police and Special Branch
C. Copy of service book if ex-military
D. Training log: Most good companies keep one, in Islamabad and Punjab this training in mandatory.
E. License both for the company and the guard, company license is from IB and ISI in the shape of an NOC and from Home Department. The guard should have their own firearms license which should be up to date with full duty stamps.
F. The sign of professional security guard company is that they will refuse to give you 1 guard, they will offer a minimum of two on a rotation 12-hour shift basis with rest days in between.
G. Before the guard comes to your home, set some ground rules of do's and don't for your family/staff and him. H. If he is armed, ask him to demonstrate safe loading, unloading, and handling of a firearm. Most guard companies provide their guards with a 12 gauge shotgun, they should have a minimum of 12 shells for each guard on site.
Responding to an Attack or Robbery:
Robbery:
First, decide if you are being robbed or attacked If you are being robbed…do not resist, Give the robber what he or she wants Remember…your goal is to avoid injury Do not carry anything of value that you are not willing to lose.
Second, if you are being attacked…decide NOW how you are going to respond: Safety in these situations is a personal choice, because only you can decide how to respond, Points to Consider if Being Attacked:
If you don't know any real self-defense and have never had any martial arts training I would strongly recommend looking into Tony Blauer's SPEAR system. It is a very good bridge skill and is taught to police all over the world:
- What is the intent of the suspect?
- Determine if a weapon is involved
- Is there one suspect or two?
- How do you normally respond to threats?
- What is your physical ability?
- Where is the suspect trying to take you?
- Do you really want to "fight"?
Other good self-defense martial arts include Karate, Brazilian jiu-jitsu & Krav Maga, although I cannot vouch for the quality of trainers in Pakistan.
JUST REMEMBER WHATEVER YOU DO, YOUR GOAL HERE IS SURVIVAL
After an Attack or Robbery:
- Do not feel guilty or embarrassed
- Go to a safe place to report the crime
- Preserve all physical evidence
- Call the police IMMEDIATELY
- Remember…you can do everything right and still become the victim of a crime
Part 4: Advanced situational awareness:
Do you sit facing the door at restaurants? Do you always back into parking spots? in this section of the thread, I’d like to share some situational awareness tips you can use when you’re out and about with your family, that will put you at another level when it comes to identifying your surroundings and being prepared for whatever comes your way.
There’s a saying that I use often when discussing home security, which is “know your neighbourhood.” The baseline is the standard by which anything out of the ordinary stands out against.
Meaning that if you know the cars that commonly park in and around a neighbour's house and one day you see an unfamiliar vehicle parked on the street, that’s out of the ordinary; outside the baseline.
Noticing this and other details like it, can help alert you to threats that might arise. The devil is in the details, as they say and all danger comes from this place. The goal is to recognise it ahead of time and have already prepared your response.
That’s what this article is all about today, doing the upfront work to have a plan in case something goes wrong. Just like your neighborhood, there’s advance work you can do on places you visit on a regular basis and even those you’ve never been before.
Maps are your friend:
Maps aren’t just good for navigating, they can help you learn the ingress and egress routes, points of interest and emergency resources of an area that you’re planning to visit. You don’t even need a physical map, (though one is good for backup) most of this area familiarization can be done using Google Maps or another online navigational resource in advance of your visit.
With all the advancements in technology today, there’s even a way to get a three-dimensional view of the area with online map views and Google’s Street View can be an invaluable resource to learn about terrain features in the immediate vicinity, sadly street view is not available in Pakistan, but it doesn't hurt to do a recce of an area prior to visiting it.
This is all about knowledge work. Knowledge is power and the more familiar you are with the places you visit, or even intend to visit, the more prepared you’ll be for responding to threats that could occur and where you should go during an emergency.
Sketching your own maps:
While doing proper advance work on an area is a skill-set that’s in use by many government agencies, Observation is a critical skill and you can develop your observational skills by starting to observe the important details inside and outside a building, later using that information to sketch your own maps.
This provides two benefits, one is having your own map of an establishment if you ever need it in the future and the most important reason is using the creation of maps to develop your observational skill-set through repetition.
The more you practice observing a location and then drawing a map of it based on what you remember, the more powerful your observation will become. The reason being is that you’ll no doubt miss important details you wish you’d remembered when later drawing a map.
That will force you to think about them and memorize them better the next time. This repetition will hone your skill to the point where this observational detail of places you go becomes second nature.
Your goal should be to draw so many maps after you’re out and about, that you get to the point where you no longer have to draw them and you’re instinctively noting the details you previously would have had to memorize to build a map off of.
As an example, how many times have you heard, or even seen information that you wanted to remember, but never wrote it down? More than likely, that information evaporated from your short term memory and left you kicking yourself for not writing it down.
That’s the same in this example, however you’re not only getting the practice of writing things down to remember them later, you’re getting the practice of being forced to observe important details, in order to be properly prepared for a response to potential threats.
Confused yet? Let’s look at what kind of details I’m referring to observing, by using the example of a restaurant you’ve just arrived at with a group of friends. At this point, if you weren’t already familiar with the area you’re traveling to, a proper map study would need to be done, as mentioned earlier.
What to note:
Colored Structure Reference:
- Where should you park? Can you maneuver your vehicle out of the spot, even if someone double parked in front of you? Is your parking spot in an optimal position in relation to the egress points of the parking lot, or is that not something you have to worry about, due to having a lifted suspension to negotiate curbs and sidewalks if you had to?
- If you’ll be leaving the building at night, what does the parking lot lighting look like? Will there be dark areas you’ll be crossing to get back to your vehicle? If so, consider parking elsewhere in a well-lit area. There’s always the health benefit of more walking by parking further out, but realize that you’ll need to cover more ground if you have to get back to your vehicle in an emergency.
- Back in to the parking spot for easier egress when you leave and take the time to observe after you put the car in park. What’s the baseline? Is anything out of the ordinary with the vehicles you’re parked amongst? Do the people walking around, or coming in and out of the establishments, look to belong?
- Note the location you parked and burn it into your memory, you don’t want to be running around trying to remember where you parked in an emergency. Ensure that anyone who could be responsible for driving if you were incapacitated, knows this info as well.
- As you approach your destination, note the building layout. What direction is the front door / front side of the building facing? Is the front of the building all glass? What’s the composition of the exterior walls? Are they made out of concrete, stucco? This is important to note for not only the purpose of cover, but also for how wide your field of view will be from the inside as you’re looking out towards the front entrance.
- As you step inside, note the table layout, where’s your optimum seat at? Can you put your back to the wall and still see the entrances? If the restaurant isn’t self-seating, ask the host or hostess for a specific location. Don’t be afraid to speak up and let it be known where you’d prefer to sit.
- Start looking around for additional entrances and exit doors, emergency or otherwise. There’s usually always an exit in a restaurant kitchen that leads outside for easy disposal of trash into a dumpster. It might be impossible to confirm this, but put that into your memory bank.
- Does the restaurant have cameras? How many are there and where are they pointed? Being recorded isn’t always a bad thing, it can often prove your location if it was ever called into question.
- Where’s the hard cover? Meaning if bullets started flying, where would you move to for cover? FYI, a flipped over restaurant table is not the answer. Kitchens are usually a great spot, not only because of the heavy cooking equipment and thicker walls designed to mask the noise coming from inside, but because there’s also probably that exit door we talked about.
- Size up everyone in the restaurant, even if eye contact makes you uncomfortable. Get a read on people and notice if the way they’re acting looks out of the ordinary for the baseline of the establishment. Is it just a quarrel amongst a couple, or something that could turn violent at any moment? Anything that piques your interest should be followed up with noticing distinguishing details about said person. Not just what they’re wearing, but any identifying marks or features.
- Keep your head on a swivel and keep observing. This shouldn’t be to the extreme of detracting from your enjoyment of having a meal with friends, but look at the entrance every once in awhile and scan the restaurant. If you think of this in terms of the Col. Cooper Color Code, you’re still in the Yellow here.
- Your departure from the establishment is no different than your entrance, continue observing the environment all the way back to your vehicle. Once there and everyone is back inside the vehicle, get in the habit of immediately locking the doors if they don’t do so automatically when you turn the key. It’s better to habitually lock them anyway, to avoid a surprise of someone intent on doing you harm from opening the door while you were distracted and hadn’t turned the key yet.
One last thing I want to go over is an easy to remember system for quickly identifying different sides of a building. This Colored Structure Reference can be good for a group of friends communicating internally, or for couples to use for identification.
While it’s always good to have a general ideal of the cardinal directions wherever you go, it’s not always intuitive to say “pick me up on the southwest side of the building.” Using the colors Green, Red, Black and White, label the front primary entrance White. Opposite of White, or the back of the building, becomes Black. While facing the building, the right side becomes Red. I remember this as “Red Right.” Opposite of that is Green, so the left side of the building becomes Green.
Closing:
I hope this has given you some information on ways that you can train your powers of observation and things to notice the next time you’re out and about. Again, the goal here is to develop your observational skill-set and notice threats before they happen, in addition to pre-planning a response and course of action should anything occur when you’re out.
--END--
Suspect items and Public places:
If you see a suspicious item, vehicle or person - think HOT!
Hidden - i.e. placed where they will not be readily seen or noticed as unusual
Obviously suspicious (e.g. by physical appearance, by placement, or because of the circumstances in which they have been discovered)
Not Typical of what you would normally expect to find in that environment
Items that have any of the following should be treated with extreme caution:
a. external wiring;
b. visible batteries;
c. switches;
d. timers;
e. circuit boards;
f. wire passing from one package to another;
g. items secured by plastic adhesive tape;
h. annotations (e.g., ‘ON’ or anything in reference to the time delay);
i. specially modified wooden or plastic boxes;
j. unidentified powders or other putty-like substances; or
k. carefully wrapped in plastic bags.
What you should DO:
Just 1500g of ANFO (terrorist preferred HME) is enough to kill 10 people in a 15-meter radius:
- DO NOT TOUCH IT OR HANDLE IT
- Vacate the area and inform security/police
- Do Not use cell phones or CB radios in close proximity to the device
- Evacuate the area minimum 200 meters, try to get behind a solid building away from any glass or falling hazards and do not return until the police have made the area safe. Terrorists are known to use primary explosions to stage an assault or gather a crowd before detonating a secondary IED, try not to return to the area until the all-clear has been given.
An average suicide vest detonates and produces a number of effects chiefly being the blast overpressure "Shockwave" it is estimated that the average vest (depending on varying factors) can produce blast overpressure of anywhere between 50-150 PSI within the immediate area around the T.
According to the "Forensic Neuropathology, Third Edition" blast overpressure of 100-250 PSI is not survivable. Your best job as a civilian is to observe, report and evacuate or if it is a car or package, move as far as possible away from the object min distance between 300-400 meters.
Look out for "Hostile Surveillance"
How to identify "Hostile Surveillance":
The first thing to remember is that attacks and other crimes don’t just appear out of a vacuum. They are the result of the attack cycle [fig 2], and those planning crimes are vulnerable to detection as they progress through these processes.
Figure 2: The Attack cycle
The activity that most exposes hostile actors to detection is surveillance, and every criminal act involves some degree of surveillance. Obviously, the amount of surveillance needed for a simple purse snatching is much less than that required for a complex kidnapping, but both nevertheless require surveillance.
Most criminals have poor surveillance tradecraft. Yet, the reason they are able to succeed in their crimes despite their ineptitude at this critical skill is that the majority of people simply aren’t looking for surveillance and therefore miss even awkward surveillance efforts.
Tradecraft is an espionage term that refers to operational techniques used in the field. The term implies that tradecraft is as much an art as a skill and that they require a degree of finesse to conduct them properly.
In many ways, tradecraft skills are like learning a musical instrument. One can listen to music, read books on music theory, and take lessons, but becoming a skilled musician requires a great deal of time and practice.
The same is true for the art of surveillance, as it takes time and practice on the street for one to become a skilled surveillance operative.
While there are some terrorist operatives and high-end criminals who have mastered the surveillance art, most hostile actors simply do not devote the time necessary to become adept. They display terrible technique, use sloppy procedures, and lack finesse during their surveillance. This makes them easy to pick out—but only if someone is looking for them.
Remember: TEDD
Life Has No Rewind Button (2020) | Action Counters Terrorism
Unfortunately, life has no rewind button. If it doesn't feel right, ACT. If you have any information about suspicious activity or behaviour, you can report i...
TEDD stands for Time, Environment, Distance and Demeanour, and is also applicable to ordinary citizens trying to identify hostile criminal or terrorist surveillance.
If a person sees someone repeatedly over time—in different environments and at a distance from where they last saw them—or if they notice someone who displays poor surveillance demeanour, then that person can assume he or she is under surveillance.
For example, if you see someone on your morning commute to work, and then see the same person while shopping that evening at the mall in a different part of town, there is a good chance that person is following you.
For an individual, however, TEDD is only relevant in cases where you are being specifically being stalked or targeted for a complex attack such as a kidnapping or being stalked. In such cases, the individual will have the elements of time, environment, and distance to see the hostile actor planning a crime.
However, in mass casualty incidents such as a terrorist or workplace violence attack, it is often the location that is being targeted rather than a specific individual. An individual who just happens to be at the attack site will not have the ability to make time, environment, or distance correlations.
In such cases, a victim will only have a demeanour to key on. It is often a demeanour mistake that allows one to initially notice a person and then key in on them over the other TEDD factors of time, environment, and distance.
Changing Appearance
Skilled hostile actors conducting surveillance over an extended period may cloak their actions by changing their clothing, wearing wigs, or other light disguises. They may also use different vehicles or license plates, and thus watching for mistakes in demeanour is critical for detecting hostile surveillance.
It is thus important to focus on the things that cannot be changed as easily as clothing or hair, such as a person’s facial features, build, mannerisms and gait. Additionally, while someone can change the license plate on a car, it is not as easy to alter other aspects of the vehicle such as scratches and dents in the body.
Critical Places
One technique that can be helpful in detecting hostile surveillance is to identify critical places that provide optimal visibility of a critical place someone doing surveillance would want to watch.
Such a critical place would include the front door of the surveillance target’s residence or office, or a choke point on a route frequently used by the target, and the places that provide an optimal view of them are referred to as perches in surveillance jargon.
Once identified, perches can then be monitored for tell-tale signs of hostile surveillance such as people who do not belong, people who are unnaturally lurking, or people making more subtle demeanour mistakes.
Keying in on Demeanour
Demeanour is the outward behaviour a person displays to those watching him or her. The key to good surveillance tradecraft is mastering the ability to display appropriate demeanour for the environment one is in.
Practicing good demeanour is not intuitive. In fact, I believe many of the things one must do to maintain good demeanour while conducting surveillance are counter to human nature.
At its heart, surveillance is watching someone while attempting not to be caught doing so. As such, it is an unnatural activity, and a person doing it must deal with strong feelings of self-consciousness and of being out of place.
Burn Syndrome
People conducting surveillance frequently suffer from what is called “burn syndrome,” the belief that the people they are watching have spotted them. Feeling “burned” will cause untrained surveillance operatives to do unnatural things, such as hiding their faces or suddenly ducking into a doorway or turning around abruptly when they unexpectedly come face to face with the target.
People inexperienced in the art of surveillance find it difficult to control this natural reaction.
Because of this, intelligence, law enforcement, and security professionals receive extensive surveillance training that includes many hours of heavily critiqued practical exercises, often followed by field training with a team of experienced surveillance professionals.
This training emphasizes and reinforces maintaining proper demeanour. Even experienced surveillance operatives must deal with the feeling of being burned.
The difference is that since they have received extensive professional training, they are better able to control their reaction and behave normally. They possess the ability to maintain a demeanour that appears normal even though their insides are screaming that the person they are watching has seen them.
Proper Cover
In addition to doing something unnatural or stupid when feeling burned, another common mistake made by amateurs when conducting surveillance is the failure to use proper cover for action and cover for status.
Cover for status is a person’s purported identity—his costume. A person can pretend to be a student, a businessman, a repairman, etc. Cover for action explains why the person is doing what he or she is doing—i.e., sitting on that bench waiting for a bus.
Proper cover for status and cover for action makes the presence of the person conducting the surveillance look routine and normal in that specific environment at that particular time. When done right, the surveillance operative fits in with the mental snapshot subconsciously taken by the target as the target goes about his or her business.
An example of a bad cover for status would be someone dressed as a “businessman” walking in the woods or at the beach. An example of a bad cover for action is someone pretending to be sitting at a bus stop who remains at that bus stop even after several buses have passed.
For the most part, however, inexperienced operatives conducting surveillance practice little or no cover for status and cover for action. They just lurk and look totally out of place. There is no apparent reason for them to be where they are or doing what they are doing.
In addition to plain old lurking, other demeanour giveaways include a person moving when the target moves, communicating when the target moves, making sudden turns or stops, or even using hand signals to communicate with other members of a surveillance team or criminal gang.
Surveillants also can tip off the person they are watching by entering or leaving a building immediately after the person they are watching does so, or simply by running in street clothes.
Just Doesn’t Look Right
Sometimes, people who are experiencing the burn syndrome exhibit almost imperceptible behaviours that the target can sense more than observe. It may not be something that can be articulated, but the target just has a gut reaction gets the gut feeling that there is something wrong or creepy about the way a certain person is behaving.
The term we use for that gut feeling is “JDLR” or Just Doesn’t Look Right. Innocent bystanders do not exhibit behaviour that triggers such feelings. I encourage people to trust their gut when they encounter such a situation.
There is often little to lose by doing so, other than perhaps a little time and effort, and avoiding a potential problem is always the right thing to do.
Another important demeanour indicator is a person’s eyes. How a person looks at you—or doesn’t—can provide a good indicator of their intent.
Are they looking at you with a hostile, drop-dead look? Do they have a thousand-yard stare? Are they avoiding your gaze? It has been said that the eyes are the window to the soul, and I have found this to very often be true.
It takes intelligence officers months or years of training and practice to become highly proficient at detecting surveillance conducted by professional surveillance operatives, and there are many tricks of the trade.
However, almost anyone can learn to spot surveillance by poorly trained criminals or terrorists—it is not rocket science.
The keys to doing so are to first understand a bit about surveillance and demeanour as we have done in this article; and secondly, to make the effort to practice situational awareness to look for surveillance when appropriate.
Suspect Identification:
Emergency Numbers:
--END--
This is awesome.
How did I miss it first time around?
RescueRanger
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Sir, I am glad you liked it, possibly got downed out by the raft of political posts on PDF back then
. I will be posting all my old write up's relating to safety and preparedness from the old PDF to this new forum. I hope you enjoy the other ones as well 
.
Joe Shearer
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Making a first aid kit
In this post I will provide simple guidance on how to make a very cheap, easy to transport and modular first aid kit for everyday use in the home, car or office. First thing is first, don’t bother buying an expensive, pre-packed travel kit and make your own instead.
There are many commercial pre-packed first aid kits available in Pakistan, most of these are bloated and over-priced:
Instead of spending 2500 to 3000 rupees on an overpriced commercial pre-packed first aid kit, consider making your own, get your children involved and make it a fun activity. Perhaps give them a list of items to buy and a budget, this will teach them about budgeting and also give them a sense of ownership on the subject of safety in and out of the house.
Before you get started lets take a second to jot down the emergency numbers for where you live:
- 911 - This is now the NATIONAL emergency helpline for ALL Pakistan, although there are occasions where the service routing does break-out so just in-case remember these regional numbers too:
- 1122 – This is the number for Rescue 1122 and you can dial this number for fire and medical rescue in all of Punjab, KPK, Islamabad, Murree and Kashmir.
- 115 – Every Pakistani knows this number, this number will put you through to EDHI ambulance, not as well equipped or well trained as Rescue 1122 but still they will help you when you need them and for free.
- 16 – Fire Brigade number can be dialled in any part of Pakistan
- 15 – Police Rescue
- 021-111-11-2626 – Aman Ambulance service, Karachi only. They only have a few ambulances but provide a high level of service.
Please consider taking the time to teach your children about not misusing these emergency numbers, every year between 300,000 and 450,000 emergency calls are answered by Rescue 1122, a very large percentage of these are FAKE calls. Furthermore, FAKE calls can result in diverting an ambulance or rescue team to a location and depriving someone who is actually in life threatening situation from help:
To get started consider using a medium plastic zip lock bag, these can be purchased at any local market:
There are a few first aid necessities that belong in every kit. These should be included no matter where you plan to use the kit—be it in the home, in the car, for camping, or for another purpose.
These include:
This is the minimum you should have on your person in a handbag, laptop bag or purse. If you want to make another kit to keep in the house, why not recycle an old lunch box:
- Adhesive bandages of various sizes
- One or two finger splints, you can use ice lolly sticks for this
- An elastic conforming bandage
- Sterile gauze pads
- Eye bandages x1 minimum
- Triangular bandage for wrapping injuries or creating a sling x 2 minimum
- Latex or non-latex gloves for handling bodily fluids x 3 pairs
- Antibiotic ointment ( this is a good to have item )
- Cotton swabs ( at least 5)
- Antiseptic towelettes for cleaning minor wounds ( You can also use prep swabs available from medical stores ).
- Imodium tablets to relieve diarrhea
- Female Sanitary pad ( if you are a female of course
And in addition to the items above just add a few extras such as:
--End--
- a baby bulb suction device ( Rs. 30 ) [ Very useful in winter for suctioning mucus from the blocked nose of little children]
- an hot/cold pack
- hand sanitizer gel
- sterile cotton swabs and balls
- tweezers
- a thermometer: digital & strip
- a spare zip lock bag
- Medicine syringe without needle or small plastic cup ( to wash eyes with )
- Rubbing alcohol or alcohol swabs
- First aid booklet or you can install an app on your phone
What this triggered in me was a spur to make my own safety kit suitable for a stay-at-home elderly man with a compromised heart and the dangers of falling on wet floord.
Thanks for the prod.
Liked it?Sir, I am glad you liked it, possibly got downed out by the raft of political posts on PDF back then
It was brilliant.
I am thinking furiously how I can reproduce it on another forum without compromising your authorship. I might come back to you.
RescueRanger
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You are more than welcome to share/ modify /edit and reuse sir, I write these for public education, not for praise of copyright
. This is an effort to help humanity . God bless you and keep you and yours safe. -
RescueRanger
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Hello,
Continuing on from my theme of posts on first aid, today I will be focusing on what immediate actions you can take when you encounter an accident on the road, be it as a victim or a passer-by. So why is it important to consider road safety? Every day in Pakistan thousands of people get injured on roads, according to International Journal of Medicine Trauma RTC's(Road Traffic Collisions) are the leading cause of death for adults under 44 years age.
So lets start off with the basics: Road Safety
Roads are busy with cars, buses, taxis, bikes and pedestrians. According to available data for 2009 to 2020, a total of 104,105 accidents are reported in Pakistan including 44,959 fatal and 59,146 non-fatal accidents. Due to these accidents, 55,141 people have died while 126,144 were found injured. [1] According to available information from Rescue 1122 for the period between 2013 and 2020 the largest contributor to trauma injuries in Pakistan have been road traffic collisions with over 83% involving motorcycle users within the peak earning age of 21-30 years old and the majority of victims earn below 15,000 PKR.
[Image source Rescue 1122 - Used with Permission]
The simplest way to protect children (and yourself) is to wear a helmet every time Even if it’s a quick cycle around the block or down to the park.
[Whilst ingenious, this will not protect the head of the user in this photo should he meet with an unfortunate accident].
All road users should have basic first aid supplies with them, even if it is just a couple a triangular bandage.
It’s mind boggling the difference speed makes to a child’s chances of survival if hit by a car. 20 mph means most children will survive, just more than 20 mph and nearly all will die, or at the least experience serious life-changing injuries.
You can only do so much, so do the BEST you can.
STOP
THINK
and then ACT!
---
Call emergency services early you can use the following numbers 15, 1122, 911. Remember when you call an emergency number use the following mnemonic:
L: Location [exactly where you are, landmarks, road names, buildings, street signs, fixtures, are there any barriers/hazards etc]
I: Incident [What has happened, be exact]
N: Number [ Give your telephone number in-case the control need to call you back]
E: Exact number of people injured and the exact level of their injuries or other risks/hazards you can spot/see safely.
[people can often suffer with soft-tissue or musculoskeletal damage to the c-spine (the section of the spine that runs from the base of the skull down the neck].
It is important that YOU DO NOT MOVE ANYONE WITH A SUSPECTED C-SPINE INJURY - Approach them from the front maintain eye contact with them and tell them to keep looking in front and to not move their neck- then keeping them seated in the position they were stabilise their neck as shown in this video. [IMPORTANT: This video is aimed at Emergency Medical Technicians - as a first aider you will only need to follow steps from 0:00-0:32 of this video and keep the persons neck secure until ambulance arrive]. ONLY MOVE THE CASUALTY IF THEY STOP BREATHING, ARE BLEEDING EXCESSIVELY OR THERE ARE HAZARDS SUCH AS RISK OF FIRE.
[1] Memhood A (2021). Alarming Figures of traffic accidents need attention. The News Pakistan. Nov 2021. Available online: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/910436-alarming-figures-of-traffic-accidents-need-attention
---
@Dedbot please may I request if this thread could be made a sticky, I will update it regularly from time to time with relevant advice and may come in handy in helping members keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
Thank you
Continuing on from my theme of posts on first aid, today I will be focusing on what immediate actions you can take when you encounter an accident on the road, be it as a victim or a passer-by. So why is it important to consider road safety? Every day in Pakistan thousands of people get injured on roads, according to International Journal of Medicine Trauma RTC's(Road Traffic Collisions) are the leading cause of death for adults under 44 years age.
So lets start off with the basics: Road Safety
Roads are busy with cars, buses, taxis, bikes and pedestrians. According to available data for 2009 to 2020, a total of 104,105 accidents are reported in Pakistan including 44,959 fatal and 59,146 non-fatal accidents. Due to these accidents, 55,141 people have died while 126,144 were found injured. [1] According to available information from Rescue 1122 for the period between 2013 and 2020 the largest contributor to trauma injuries in Pakistan have been road traffic collisions with over 83% involving motorcycle users within the peak earning age of 21-30 years old and the majority of victims earn below 15,000 PKR.
[Image source Rescue 1122 - Used with Permission]
Pedestrians and Child Safety
Children struggle to judge speed and distance until they are at least eight.- Show young children you’re serious about them holding your hand near the road. Toddlers may try to fight it but it’s a good time to stay firm. Especially with unpredictable traffic and distractions.
- You can start to teach the Green Cross Code: (stop, look, listen, think and cross) from around five years. If you’ve forgotten your ‘stop, look, listen and think’, you can easily find the rules online.
- Many people, especially teenagers, get distracted by their phones when they are out. As a result, they are less aware of dangers in their surroundings such as other people or traffic. If your teenager insists on wearing their headphones, encourage them to opt for the ear bud types and ideally only use one side.
- Children learn by copying what you do. Now more than ever, it’s helpful to set a good example before you step off the pavement.
Cyclists & Motorcycle riders
Cyclists and Motorcycle riders are particularly vulnerable road users. It is vital that all riders know what to do (and what not to do) if there is an accident. If you are cycling with children and teenagers, reinforce the importance of not overtaking lorries, buses and other large vehicles on the inside lane. Explain about their blind spots.The simplest way to protect children (and yourself) is to wear a helmet every time Even if it’s a quick cycle around the block or down to the park.
[Whilst ingenious, this will not protect the head of the user in this photo should he meet with an unfortunate accident].
All road users should have basic first aid supplies with them, even if it is just a couple a triangular bandage.
Drivers
It’s mind boggling the difference speed makes to a child’s chances of survival if hit by a car. 20 mph means most children will survive, just more than 20 mph and nearly all will die, or at the least experience serious life-changing injuries.
- It is incredibly important to slow down in built-up areas or where you seeing children playing. It only takes a moment to take a life.
- Avoid the temptation to look at your phone when driving. If you get into the habit of keeping it out of reach, it makes that easier.
- No matter how short your journey, remember to use the right child car seat or booster seat for your child’s weight and height.
What to do in the event of a road accident
The following is a step by step approach as guidance, should you be the first on scene at an accident:First steps:
- When approaching an accident scene it is really important to ensure your own safety. Make sure that all traffic has stopped. Ensure everyone is aware that there has been an accident otherwise there may be additional casualties.
- Be aware of oncoming traffic to ensure that it is not posing an additional danger. Note if there is any fuel spillage or potential fire risk – turn off car ignitions if possible. Put on vehicle hazard lights and use a warning triangle if there is one available.
- If other people are around; get them to phone the emergency services. If you are on your own, assess the situation and treat any life threatening conditions first.
- Quickly establish how many vehicles have been involved. Assess the occupants of all the vehicles to ensure no one has life threatening injuries.
You can only do so much, so do the BEST you can.
STOP
THINK
and then ACT!
---
Call emergency services early you can use the following numbers 15, 1122, 911. Remember when you call an emergency number use the following mnemonic:
L: Location [exactly where you are, landmarks, road names, buildings, street signs, fixtures, are there any barriers/hazards etc]
I: Incident [What has happened, be exact]
N: Number [ Give your telephone number in-case the control need to call you back]
E: Exact number of people injured and the exact level of their injuries or other risks/hazards you can spot/see safely.
Check the quiet ones first:
- People screaming, crying and making a noise have to be breathing – your initial priority is therefore to check anyone quiet and not moving.
- Quickly check if quiet casualties are responsive: – if there is no response check if they are breathing. If they are unresponsive and breathing ensure they are in a position where they are leaning forward or to one side in a position where the airway will remain open. Move them the minimum necessary and avoid twisting them. Keep talking to the casualty calmly as they can hear you even if they are unconscious. Keep them warm.
[people can often suffer with soft-tissue or musculoskeletal damage to the c-spine (the section of the spine that runs from the base of the skull down the neck].
It is important that YOU DO NOT MOVE ANYONE WITH A SUSPECTED C-SPINE INJURY - Approach them from the front maintain eye contact with them and tell them to keep looking in front and to not move their neck- then keeping them seated in the position they were stabilise their neck as shown in this video. [IMPORTANT: This video is aimed at Emergency Medical Technicians - as a first aider you will only need to follow steps from 0:00-0:32 of this video and keep the persons neck secure until ambulance arrive]. ONLY MOVE THE CASUALTY IF THEY STOP BREATHING, ARE BLEEDING EXCESSIVELY OR THERE ARE HAZARDS SUCH AS RISK OF FIRE.
Important checkpoints:
- If the person is not breathing you will need to resuscitate – if you are on your own and have not called an ambulance – do this now and ask their advice as to the best way to resuscitate, as this is not easy to do in a car.
- Only remove an unconscious person from a vehicle if there is an immediate danger to their life from fire, flood, and explosion. Ask the emergency services over the phone for their advice as to what you should do. It is very difficult to remove an unconscious person from a vehicle and there is a major danger that you could worsen their injuries and injure yourself in the process.
- Conscious casualties should be in the care of bystanders and removed from the wreckage to a safe area. Be aware of confused and dazed casualties who may wander into danger. Brief the bystanders to keep the casualties warm and calm and help them to contact the next of kin. Look for any major bleeding and life threatening injuries and treat these first.
- Note the nature of the wreckage and be aware of possible injuries as a result: bodies are softer than metalwork, so if there is major damage to the vehicle it is possible that there could be internal injuries to the casualty – ensure the bystanders notify you if there is any change in the casualty’s condition.
- You should monitor anyone trapped in a vehicle carefully and notify the emergency services immediately, this includes the exact time of the accident. If there are additional people around, show them how to support the person’s neck to avoid them twisting as there is the possibility of a spinal injury.
- Wear gloves and apply dressings if trying to control severe bleeding.
Be careful how and when you move them:
- Only remove a motorcyclist’s helmet if they are unconscious and there is no other way to assess their breathing or their airway is in danger. There is usually a way of lifting the visor, it may be sensible to loosen their chin strap. This video shows the safe technique for single person emergency helmet removal:
- If a casualty has been hit by a car and they are lying on their back unconscious and breathing – they should be carefully rolled into the recovery position to keep their spine in line. This should ideally include the support of others to avoid twisting the spine.
- If a casualty has been hit by a vehicle or thrown from one and they are conscious in the road, they should try to keep still. Ensure that someone is directing traffic and maintaining safety. Support their head and neck, keep them warm and dry and wait for the emergency services.
[1] Memhood A (2021). Alarming Figures of traffic accidents need attention. The News Pakistan. Nov 2021. Available online: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/910436-alarming-figures-of-traffic-accidents-need-attention
---
@Dedbot please may I request if this thread could be made a sticky, I will update it regularly from time to time with relevant advice and may come in handy in helping members keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
Thank you
RescueRanger
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Opinion: Management of spontaneous volunteers in disasters
Opinion | National Security | Emergency Management: Rescue Ranger [Also Published in NDMA Journal and Intl. Journal of Crisis Management]
Disaster risk reduction and management have become key concepts in present-day development practices across the world. Globally and regionally, we are experiencing a constant increase in socioeconomic losses due to disasters.
Figure 1: Disaster Management Cycle
Figure 2: Pakistan's disaster management framework
Geological, ecological and climatic changes are persistently mounting disaster threats for the world community in general and developing nations. With Little or no warning, disasters and emergencies can happen. The local government’s ability to respond to these incidents can be quickly overwhelmed.
We have all had the misfortune to witness or be directly impacted by an emergency in our lives. It is in times such as this, be it the roadside accident or a major national emergency such as the October 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, Pakistan that we see the human nature truly shine.
It is in times of hardship, struggle and strife the desire to help others often becomes overwhelming. Coupled with uncertainty, anxiousness and the innate drive to help, people are driven to converge on the scene and attempt to render assistance in any way possible.
However, alongside official first responders, such incidents not only draw the well-intentioned volunteer, but also play host to a flurry of other actors, the press and onlookers.
The Journal of Emergency Management explains that while there is little to no conclusive socio-demographic evidence available to explain what drives certain people to volunteer spontaneously, it does elaborate that convergence in the context of disasters is partly driven by people who have previously been affected by a similar incident. Constant media attention can also apparently drive people to take action.
This can be witnessed time and time again on TV when entire bands of well-intentioned people come together to try and help at the site of an accident or emergency.
However, these untrained and highly charged individuals, with little or no supervision, often place themselves and others in perilous positions. The lack of training and organisation can further compound the problem and may even lead to complications such as further injuries, deaths or the contamination of vital evidence on site.[4]
An example of well-intenetioned volunteers coming to help but becoming casualties themselves due to lack of training, preparedness and appropriate equipment.
Therefore it is imperative for emergency managers and first responders to understand convergence behaviour in the context of disaster response. Fritz and Mathewson categorised five types of people who converge on a disaster scene:
1. Helpers: formal and informal attempting to provide assistance
2. Returnees: residents or those people who initially evacuated the area
3. Anxious: family and friends seeking information about loved ones
4. Curious: onlookers attempting to view the impacted area
5. Exploiters: seeking to take advantage of the circumstances
Faced with a mix of emotions, personalities and demands of the actual response, the emergency services can quickly become overwhelmed and scene management can be compromised.[5]
That is not to say that spontaneous volunteers are not a force for good, on the contrary, according to International Disaster Nursing: “Informal helpers may help because of their proximity to the site, knowledge of the area/victims, the ability to function outside the bureaucratic mechanism or being able to provide vital skills when a gap in the response capacity exists.”[1]
Such actions have been witnessed the world over, stories of how people banded together to help others. However, at the same time, complex emergencies and large scale uncontrolled volunteering can create a situation where unscrupulous elements can exploit the chaos. As a first responder I have seen this on more occasions than I care to remember.
For example, when working as a rescuer at the Margalla Towers in 2005, we had to abandon rescue operations for a short period and I injured my hand badly as I pulled a Japanese photographer out of harm’s way as he was almost crushed under the stampede of people after an onlooker had started a rumor that the surrounding buildings were collapsing.
In addition to managing the press, scene safety, incident response, personnel management, logistics and the inevitable bureaucracy, emergency managers and responders also face the difficult decision to ‘vet’ and manage the risks posed by non-responders on scene.
Figure 3: The volunteer management cycle
Pakistan is not an isolated case; it is because of similar problems that the United States Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency created and polished the Incident Command System and National Incident Management System.
Figure 4: A Basic Incident Command System
The benefits of a unified and modular incident command system are that it empowers professional responders such as the police, rescue and military rapidly have to take control of scene safety, prioritize response, assess damage and evaluate needs and control the information collected and disseminated, ensuring accountability all the while.[2]
In addition to the ICS the government should work in partnership with other key players such as civil society and the media during such incidents, using such valuable resource as an extension of the response and not a hindrance to it.
Figure 5: Perimeter controls during a large scale emergency or disaster
Similarly, non-government actors, the media and volunteers should respect the stresses placed on government services during response to mass casualty incidents and large-scale emergencies and respect the cordon.[3]
Pakistan has come a long way since 2005, we now have specialist rescue teams and a respectable emergency medical service in the form of Rescue 1122 that is quickly expanding to parts of the country. However, until a unified incident command system is designed and implemented, we will continue to see more missed opportunities and unnecessary losses.
Investing in a modular incident command system that is adaptive to local needs and incorporates the need to engage with community volunteers will empower responders, promote citizenship, improve accountability, ensure control over information flow and ultimately strengthen national resilience.
References:
[1] Disaster and Terrorism Editorial - Convergence Behaviour in Disasters; Ann Emergency Medicine 2003
[2] UN INSARAG Guidelines 2015
[3] United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Field Handbook, 7th Edition (2018)
[4] Disaster Study Number 9, Convergence Behaviour in Disasters : A Problem in Social Control, CHARLES E. FRITZ AND J. H. MATHEWSON, Committee on Disaster Studies, National Academy off Sciences-National Research Council, Publication 476
RescueRanger
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Make a disaster grab bag
Opinion | Emergency Management & Preparedness
What with all the panic in the public of nCOV, floods, wildfires etc, I thought I would share how you can make a simple emergency grab bag to use in an emergency if you need to evacuate your home at short notice or need to survive for a length of time without supplies.
Why is this important you say?
A theoretical study in the UK 'Life without lorries‘ study (McKinnon, 2006), considered the effects of a complete shut-down of road haulage in the UK for 1 week, In the study, there was insufficient time for retailers to switch from centralised systems to local sources , so rationing of some foods was necessary after three days. It also found that supplies to many hospitals would break down within 1 day.
In the event of a major incident, whether it is a result of a natural or man-made disaster, the authorities may become overwhelmed with the scale of the response. During these times, the emergency services will not be able to respond to the immediate needs of everyone. Response times could stretch from minutes to hours or it may be days before help arrives.
It is, therefore, vital that you can support yourself and your family for at least three days in the event of a major incident. In 2010/2011, severe flooding in Pakistan left thousands of people without power and clean water supplies for many weeks.
Employers and Businesses alike should plan to support their guests and staff in these situations. In short, plan to be self-sufficient for at least three days in the aftermath of a disaster. You may need to survive, in adverse weather, without electric power, heat, gas or communication for 72 hours or longer.
Contents of a Emergency Grab Bag:
First thing’s first, no amount of fancy equipment will aid you unless you have a clearly laid out plan – Make a plan – Laminate it and keep a copy of the plan in your grab bag. (Be sure to test your plan, regularly, get everyone involved and turn it into a family game).
When considering preparing an emergency kit, you need to break down the items you will need into specific categories, these are:
- Communication
- Food & Water
- Medical & Hygiene
- Tools
- Shelter & Good to have.
Communication:
- Plan:Keep a copy of your plan in your grab bag and make sure that if you are making mini grab bags for your family members, these bags have a copy of the plan. Make sure everyone in your family know the plan.
- Map:Keep a map of your local area, nowadays google maps can print highly detailed street maps of Pakistani cities which can be laminated and placed in your bag.
- Photographs:Keep photographs of yourself and your family members and place their names on the back of the photographs. (You can show these to emergency workers and others in the area if you get separated).
- Insulation tape:This is a cheap bit of kit that comes in many colours and can be used to mark rendezvous points. Assign a colour to each family member for example blue for yourself and red for your wife, and green for your child. Always plan to have 3 or more rendezvous points if you become separated, if one of you arrive at that location first and have to move on due to an emergency or other untoward situation stick a strip of your colour coded insulation tape on the door/wall/ tree/ prominent place to say you were here and have moved on to location 2.
A good dependable option is the Nokia 1100 true to its name retails for about 1000/1100 rupees and is rugged and will easily provide you with 72 hours battery time or standby. Always keep a spare battery and make sure that this is charged (wrap in plastic to avoid discharge).
Out of city contact: In the event of a major disaster or emergency, the local cellular or fixed line networks may become congested due to traffic volume, however it would still be possible to contact people in other parts of the country who may be unaffected by network congestion. In this case it is a good idea to keep an out of city contact (or 2) on your plan. You can contact them and let them know of your condition, location and current situation.
Pens, Markers, Chalk, notepads and a (can of spray paint in orange or red) : The need for pens and notepads should be self-explanatory should you need to note down important information or pass information to someone, the SPRAY PAINT CAN may be used to spray HELP, SOS or WARN others. Orange is a high visibility colour is better than darker colours.
Whistle: The saying “Old is gold” applies here, one of the oldest methods of alerts or signalling others, and still the most effective. A very good tool if you need to signal someone or get their attention (like a passer-by, rescue boat, ambulance or police officer).
Radio: Most phones now have built in radios – radios are good to keep up to date with news, alerts and weather updates.
A plastic mirror or highly polished reflective metal sheet: This can be used to reflect the light from the sun to get the attention of helicopters or aircraft flying overhead.
Food, Water & Welfare:
Food: When planning your emergency rations make sure you choose food you will actually eat, but don’t go overboard. The daily calorie intake for men is 2500, 2000 for women and 1400 for children.
Choose non-perishable ready to eat food that is low in salt (avoid dehydration) and high in energy, there are several options available to suit all budgets, for example; you can buy ready made Daal-makhni that you can eat out of the packet for 180 rupees. If you are thrifty, you can make your own ready meal by emptying the contents of an instant noodle packet in a zip lock bag and all you will need to add to have a warm meal is hot water….
Pack some comfort foods like instant coffee, tea bags and milk powder, chocolate and trail mix.
An example of Pakistani made MRE: Meal ready to eat:
Water: The average person requires 3 litres of water a day to keep well hydrated, storing this much water in a grab bag may become a problem….. So the easier option is to keep a small supply of potable water (1 litre) and have a water purification kit to purify available water in the event of an emergency…
How to source water in an emergency? Water can be sources from many places in the event of sudden emergency, such as roof top and underground water tanks, the boiler of a gas geezer and even the “top tank” of a toilet flush (just remember to bleach it first) :enjoy:
How to purify water? You can purify water by boiling the water, by using available commercial purification products or if you are really desperate you can use household bleach, 3 drops of bleach will purify 1 litre of water.
Medical & Hygiene
First Aid Kit: There are many commercially available first aid kits in Pakistan, with most starting at 800 rupees and rising, it is always a better idea to build your own kit rather than buy a ready made product.
A simple first aid kit should have the following items:
1x Tweezers
1x Scissors (preferably blunt tip)
6x safety pins
2x sterile eye pads
1x Crepe Bandage 5cm x 4.5cm
2x packets of sterile gauze swabs 5 x 5cm
1x Fabric tape or Micropore tape 1.25cm x 5m
10x Alcohol prep swabs
2x Disposable latex gloves
1x Pack of assorted plasters
1x Pack of analgesic plasters
1x Forehead thermometer / digital thermometer
(Once you have these items you can pack them in a small container like an old purse or even a lunch box).
Personal Medical Needs: Everyone has some form of personal medical need such as prescription glasses, prescription medication etc. If anyone wears glasses in your family, keep a spare set in a protective case in your kit.
Hygiene supplies: Toothbrush, toothpaste, anti bacterial soap (Dettol/Safeguard) , insect repellent, hand sanitizer, paper towels, tissue paper, wash cloth, antiseptic liquid = Dettol, some Vaseline, a small amount of bleach in a secure container, remember, disposable gloves, surgical masks (10 minimum per person), safety goggles (personal needs may vary from person to person and from gender to gender)
Tools
Lighting: 2x flashlights (with extra batteries), candles, and matches (keep them waterproof by placing them in a container such as a 35mm film canister), lighters.
Dust Masks: Different from your surgical face mask, these are made of paper and are very good to protect from dust, sediment and other particulates that may cause breathing difficulties.
Duct Tape: Also known as elephant tape, this is very strong adhesive tape and will secure anything to anything, in fact it is so good it was used fix the broken water tanks at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Excellent you need to make an emergency shelter and also can be used to sure bandages. Squash the roll by stomping on it to make it easier to pack in your bag.
Multi Tool / Pocket Knife: A knife has many uses and there are many times of knives available, choose a reliable and good blade, a sensible option is a multi-tool which contains a plier, saw, knife and other useful tools and can be picked up for around 500/1500 rupees.
Nylon rope – Good quality rope can be used for a number of emergency situations such as securing objects, making your shelter, making a stretcher or for access. Minimum of 5 meters.
Aluminium foil: This is a very versatile bit of kit and can be used to create a solar oven, an electricity free refrigerator or even used as a signal mirror to signal rescue boats/ helicopters.
Zip Lock Bag: These are cheap resalable bags good for storing almost everything and can also be used as a porta-potty in extreme circumstances.
Shelter
Plastic Sheet: 12 feet by 12 feet plastic sheet (2 millimeters in thickness) – This is very easy to acquire in Pakistan and can be picked up for no more than a couple of hundred rupees, it’s primary use is to help you create a temporary shelter and even help in collecting water or acting as an emergency stretcher.
Good to have (optional goodies)
Sewing Kit: A good sewing kit is very useful to mend clothes and with some ingenuity, you can also use the needle make a makeshift compass.
A book: Once the chaos passes, this is one bit of your kit that will comfort you and take your mind of things, it can be any kind of book such as a religious or spiritual book or something that gives you comfort.
Your child’s favourite toy or a Board game/Colouring in book: You may wonder, why on earth you would put this in an emergency kit, but you must understand that children cope differently to adults in an emergency and it is vital that they see that parents are in control and things are normal, such little things will keep their mind of matters around them and allow you to engage with them and reassure them.
Once you're done with your kit, pack it in an easy to carry back pack. You can use a large school bag, however a decent quality rucksack can be purchased for about 1500 rupees.
-End-
ghazi52
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- Mar 21, 2007
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LHC asks Punjab to establish public safety commission within 30 days
Hamid NawazLAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) directed the provincial government to establish the Public Safety Commission within 30 days and observed if any public authority overlooked or abdicated the statutory duty it would violate the law and the Constitution.
The court passed this order in a petition of Muhammad Razzaq who approached the court for compliance of the provisions of the Police Order 2002.
The court said it had directed the respondents time and again to comply with the mandatory provisions of the law; however, it is admitted position that since promulgation of the Police Order, the Public Safety Commission has never been established.
The court rejected the excuse of the law officer for establishing the commission by the government due to the unavailability of the elected representatives.
The court rejected the explanation of the law officer, terming it against the spirit of the Constitution. It said unfortunately, the statutory obligation has been overlooked by the elected, as well as, caretaker governments as there cannot be a gap for the people to exercise sovereignty through their elected representation.
A report submitted on the court’s direction shows that no law has been referred for deferring the matter of the constitution of the commission which shows the incompetence of the caretaker government, the court added.
The court said the spirit of establishing local governments and thereafter devolution of political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives at local level has not been followed for the last thirteen years.
The court said unfortunately, there is and has been an absence in the continuity of chosen representation in the country and the right of the people to govern them through chosen representation at the local level has always been ignored for one reason or the other.
The court said that the dissolution of local government and the role of the provincial government after devolution are not directly in question yet the opinion of the court is that there has to be continuity for elected representation of the people, which is the essence of the constitution for exercising sovereignty.
The court; therefore, held that in the absence of newly elected representation, the representatives lastly elected by the people shall continue to represent the people unless newly elected representatives replace them.
The court; therefore, directed the government to file the compliance report with hardships being faced by it for the allocation of funds or budget followed by the establishment of the commission.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
LHC asks Punjab to establish public safety commission within 30 days
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) directed the provincial government to establish the Public Safety Commission...
www.brecorder.com
RescueRanger
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- Sep 20, 2008
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[Archived post]
Introduction to Flooding
Many of us have this idea that floods (or flooding) is simply, too much water around your house. People think that can be fun. Wrong. Flooding is a lot more than that. Flooding is extremely dangerous and has the potential to wipe away an entire city, coastline or area, and cause extensive damage to life and property. It also has great erosive power and can be extremely destructive, even if it is a foot high.
What is a flood?
It is a natural event or occurrence where a piece of land (or area) that is usually dry land, suddenly gets submerged under water. Some floods can occur suddenly and recede quickly. Others take days or even months to build and discharge. When floods happen in an area that people live, the water carries along objects like houses, bridges, cars, furniture and even people. It can wipe away farms, trees and many more heavy items.
Rains
Each time there are more rains than the drainage system can take, there can be floods. Sometimes, there is heavy rain for a very short period that result in floods. In other times, there may be light rain for many days and weeks and can also result in floods.
River overflow
Rivers can overflow their banks to cause flooding. This happens when there is more water upstream than usual, and as it flows downstream to the adjacent low-lying areas (also called a floodplain), there is a burst and water gets into the land.
Strong winds in coastal areas
Sea water can be carried by massive winds and hurricanes onto dry coastal lands and cause flooding. Sometimes this is made worse if the winds carry rains themselves. Sometimes water from the sea resulting from a tsunami can flow inland to cause damage.
Dam breaking (raptured dam or levee)
(Embankments, known as levees, are built along the side of a river and are used to prevent high water from flooding bordering land). Dams are man-made blocks mounted to hold water flowing down from a highland. The power in the water is used to turn propellers to generate electricity. Sometimes, too much water held up in the dam can cause it to break and overflow the area. Excess water can also be intentionally released from the dam to prevent it from breaking and that can also cause floods.
Ice and snow-melts
In many cold regions, heavy snow over the winter usually stays un-melted for sometime. There are also mountains that have ice on top of them. Sometimes the ice suddenly melts when the temperature rises, resulting in massive movement of water into places that are usually dry. This is usually called a snowmelt flood
Flash floods
This kind occurs within a very short time (2-6 hours, and sometimes within minutes) and is usually as a result of heavy rain, dam break or snow melt. Sometimes, intense rainfall from slow moving thunderstorms can cause it. Flash floods are the most destructive and can be fatal, as people are usually taken by surprise. There is usually no warning, no preparation and the impact can be very swift and devastating.
Rapid on-set floods
Similar to flash floods, this type takes slightly longer to develop and the flood can last for a day or two only. It is also very destructive, but does not usually surprise people like Flash floods. With rapid on-set floods, people can quickly put a few things right and escape before it gets very bad.
Slow on-set floods
This kind is usually as a result of water bodies over flooding their banks. They tend to develop slowly and can last for days and weeks. They usually spread over many kilometres and occur more in flood plains (fields prone to floods in a low-lying areas). The effect of this kind of floods on people is more likely to be due to disease, malnutrition or snakebites.
Which areas are more likely to flood?
Flood Risk Map of Pakistan. Source: UN OCHA 2010
From the causes of floods and the types that we just read about, you can tell that floods are more likely to occur in some areas than others.
Generally, the natural behaviour of water (and flowing water) is that it moves from higher ground to lower ground. This means if there is a higher ground adjacent a lower ground, the lower ground is a lot more likely to experience floods.
Additionally, anywhere that rains fall, floods can develop. This is so because anytime there are more rains bringing more water than it can be drained or absorbed by the soil, there is a flood potential.
In many cities, there are buildings springing up in many places where they have not been authorized. Some of these building are placed in waterways. Other places also have very bad and chocked drainage systems. The danger is that, with the rains, water will find its own level if it cannot find its way.
The result is flooding and your home could be under water. Any plain low-lying area adjacent a river, lagoon or lake is also more likely to have floods anytime the water level rises. This includes coastal areas and shorelines, as seawater can easily be swept inland by strong winds, tides and tsunamis.
Fact: Out of all the natural hazards in the Pakistan, floods are the most common.
Source: UNIOVI - Dept of Medicine Unit for Research in Emergency and Disasters
Another fact? Prepping for one is a crucial part of emergency preparedness, even if you don’t live near any body of water. In this article, I talk about why you need to get ready for floods and what to do before, during, and after one.
Let’s get started:
Why should we prepare for floods?
Floods happen as a result of many things:
Yeah, you know what a flash flood can do. It can drown you and sweep away cars and trees. But don’t underestimate other types of floods just cause they don’t rise as fast. Even if you won’t drown from it, floodwater on its own is still dangerous.
It can carry:
You also don’t know what things can be hiding in it — manholes, sharp objects, and downed power lines may be waiting to catch you by surprise.
See why you need to take flooding seriously?
A colossal flood won’t only ruin buildings, your home, and your things. It can also have devastating consequences on your family and the rest of your community. What you do in the first 72 hours will play a big role in your survival, so prepping for it ahead is essential.
What to Do Before a Flood
Prepping for a flood is easier said than done, but with these steps to guide you, you can begin defending yourself and your family before the water surges.
Do Your Homework
Before anything else, find out what your area’s risk level is.
You can learn this from the Pakistan Met Department. They’re in charge of circulating flood watches and warnings. The PMD shares these on platforms like public radio, social media, and local TV channels.
You should also know the difference between a watch and a warning. A watch is broadcast when a flood is likely. On the other hand, a warning is issued when there’s a flood happening or about to occur.
Create an Emergency Plan
Let’s say you’re listening to the news when suddenly, you discover your area is under a flood watch. If that’s the case, then it’s time to put your emergency plan into action. This plan spells out the measures your household will take to survive the flood.
Please note: I have attached a Family Disaster Plan template in PDF in this post for you to download and use. This document is my own work so if you do share it please do attribute it to me, thank you.
It should include:
Fortify Your Home
Your home is your castle. There’s no way you’re gonna let anyone or anything wreck it — even a flood. You need to strengthen your home to lessen damage to your property and belongings and also keep your family safe.
Here’s what you should do once a flood warning is issued:
Safety advice during flood season
Introduction to Flooding
Many of us have this idea that floods (or flooding) is simply, too much water around your house. People think that can be fun. Wrong. Flooding is a lot more than that. Flooding is extremely dangerous and has the potential to wipe away an entire city, coastline or area, and cause extensive damage to life and property. It also has great erosive power and can be extremely destructive, even if it is a foot high.
What is a flood?
It is a natural event or occurrence where a piece of land (or area) that is usually dry land, suddenly gets submerged under water. Some floods can occur suddenly and recede quickly. Others take days or even months to build and discharge. When floods happen in an area that people live, the water carries along objects like houses, bridges, cars, furniture and even people. It can wipe away farms, trees and many more heavy items.
Rains
Each time there are more rains than the drainage system can take, there can be floods. Sometimes, there is heavy rain for a very short period that result in floods. In other times, there may be light rain for many days and weeks and can also result in floods.
River overflow
Rivers can overflow their banks to cause flooding. This happens when there is more water upstream than usual, and as it flows downstream to the adjacent low-lying areas (also called a floodplain), there is a burst and water gets into the land.
Strong winds in coastal areas
Sea water can be carried by massive winds and hurricanes onto dry coastal lands and cause flooding. Sometimes this is made worse if the winds carry rains themselves. Sometimes water from the sea resulting from a tsunami can flow inland to cause damage.
Dam breaking (raptured dam or levee)
(Embankments, known as levees, are built along the side of a river and are used to prevent high water from flooding bordering land). Dams are man-made blocks mounted to hold water flowing down from a highland. The power in the water is used to turn propellers to generate electricity. Sometimes, too much water held up in the dam can cause it to break and overflow the area. Excess water can also be intentionally released from the dam to prevent it from breaking and that can also cause floods.
Ice and snow-melts
In many cold regions, heavy snow over the winter usually stays un-melted for sometime. There are also mountains that have ice on top of them. Sometimes the ice suddenly melts when the temperature rises, resulting in massive movement of water into places that are usually dry. This is usually called a snowmelt flood
Flash floods
This kind occurs within a very short time (2-6 hours, and sometimes within minutes) and is usually as a result of heavy rain, dam break or snow melt. Sometimes, intense rainfall from slow moving thunderstorms can cause it. Flash floods are the most destructive and can be fatal, as people are usually taken by surprise. There is usually no warning, no preparation and the impact can be very swift and devastating.
Rapid on-set floods
Similar to flash floods, this type takes slightly longer to develop and the flood can last for a day or two only. It is also very destructive, but does not usually surprise people like Flash floods. With rapid on-set floods, people can quickly put a few things right and escape before it gets very bad.
Slow on-set floods
This kind is usually as a result of water bodies over flooding their banks. They tend to develop slowly and can last for days and weeks. They usually spread over many kilometres and occur more in flood plains (fields prone to floods in a low-lying areas). The effect of this kind of floods on people is more likely to be due to disease, malnutrition or snakebites.
Which areas are more likely to flood?
Flood Risk Map of Pakistan. Source: UN OCHA 2010
From the causes of floods and the types that we just read about, you can tell that floods are more likely to occur in some areas than others.
Generally, the natural behaviour of water (and flowing water) is that it moves from higher ground to lower ground. This means if there is a higher ground adjacent a lower ground, the lower ground is a lot more likely to experience floods.
Additionally, anywhere that rains fall, floods can develop. This is so because anytime there are more rains bringing more water than it can be drained or absorbed by the soil, there is a flood potential.
In many cities, there are buildings springing up in many places where they have not been authorized. Some of these building are placed in waterways. Other places also have very bad and chocked drainage systems. The danger is that, with the rains, water will find its own level if it cannot find its way.
The result is flooding and your home could be under water. Any plain low-lying area adjacent a river, lagoon or lake is also more likely to have floods anytime the water level rises. This includes coastal areas and shorelines, as seawater can easily be swept inland by strong winds, tides and tsunamis.
Fact: Out of all the natural hazards in the Pakistan, floods are the most common.
Source: UNIOVI - Dept of Medicine Unit for Research in Emergency and Disasters
Another fact? Prepping for one is a crucial part of emergency preparedness, even if you don’t live near any body of water. In this article, I talk about why you need to get ready for floods and what to do before, during, and after one.
Let’s get started:
Why should we prepare for floods?
Floods happen as a result of many things:
- Heavy rains
- Storm surges
- Overflows of water systems like dams and sewers
- They can either progress slowly or fast. Either way, you gotta gear up for them.
Yeah, you know what a flash flood can do. It can drown you and sweep away cars and trees. But don’t underestimate other types of floods just cause they don’t rise as fast. Even if you won’t drown from it, floodwater on its own is still dangerous.
It can carry:
- Sewage
- Chemical waste
- Bacteria
- Infectious diseases
You also don’t know what things can be hiding in it — manholes, sharp objects, and downed power lines may be waiting to catch you by surprise.
See why you need to take flooding seriously?
A colossal flood won’t only ruin buildings, your home, and your things. It can also have devastating consequences on your family and the rest of your community. What you do in the first 72 hours will play a big role in your survival, so prepping for it ahead is essential.
What to Do Before a Flood
Prepping for a flood is easier said than done, but with these steps to guide you, you can begin defending yourself and your family before the water surges.
Do Your Homework
Before anything else, find out what your area’s risk level is.
You can learn this from the Pakistan Met Department. They’re in charge of circulating flood watches and warnings. The PMD shares these on platforms like public radio, social media, and local TV channels.
You should also know the difference between a watch and a warning. A watch is broadcast when a flood is likely. On the other hand, a warning is issued when there’s a flood happening or about to occur.
Create an Emergency Plan
Let’s say you’re listening to the news when suddenly, you discover your area is under a flood watch. If that’s the case, then it’s time to put your emergency plan into action. This plan spells out the measures your household will take to survive the flood.
Please note: I have attached a Family Disaster Plan template in PDF in this post for you to download and use. This document is my own work so if you do share it please do attribute it to me, thank you.
It should include:
- Steps for safeguarding your home
- A checklist of survival supplies to prepare
- Places to evacuate to
- What to do if your family gets separated (e.g., where to meet, who to contact)
Fortify Your Home
Your home is your castle. There’s no way you’re gonna let anyone or anything wreck it — even a flood. You need to strengthen your home to lessen damage to your property and belongings and also keep your family safe.
Here’s what you should do once a flood warning is issued:
- Clear out your lawn. Take out any lawn furniture and remove debris and dead leaves.
- Place whatever you can at the highest level of your home.
- Stash important documents, family heirlooms, and other valuables in waterproof containers.
- Add backflow valves to toilets, drains, and sewer connections. These valves keep floodwater and nasty sewage from backing up into your drains. [These are available in Pakistan]
- Invest in a backup generator to keep your appliances working when the power is out.
- Secure furniture, geezers, and other items that aren’t anchored to anything.
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