Emergency action planning
Performing risk assessments and planning for emergency events, such as illness or injury, can make an incident less stressful for those involved and may improve the quality of care provided.
Considering procedures at Rugby clubs relevant to first aid training, supervision of sessions, lines of communication, activation of emergency services and availability of emergency equipment such as an AED is a good example of such planning.
Items to be included in emergency action plans:
- position of first aid room.
- exit routes from pitch to first aid (no stairs for stretchers) and/or ambulance
- exit routes from first aid room to ambulance transport
Medical Facilities
- site
- access
- capacity of first aid room
- equipment present
- support staff
- lighting/running water/waste disposal
Equipment
- Is it present?
- Is it appropriate?
- Are you familiar with it?
- Do AEDs have working batteries/‘in-date’ pads?
- Storage – battery operating temperatures (0 to 30 degrees) so be careful in extremes of weather – store in regulated temperatures
- Checks – at least weekly checks of all equipment
- Availability – ensure access codes to locked areas are available to all who may need them