Road Traffic Collision (RTC)

On the 17th January we were involved in a reconstruction of a Road Traffic Collision (RTC) outside the main entrance at Chesterfield College. It involved two cars which had collided into each other. Our job, was marshaling different locations within the College. The tasks ranged from diverting smokers to smoking areas, directing traffic etc. This was a great opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding for the unit 'Responding to Emergency Services'.
Below are a few pictures and a video which I took, Which is evidence of the RTC.

A video of the RTC

A few pictures of the RTC

This picture shows some of the students from Uniformed Public Services were doing. They are marshalling the road to stop any unauthorized traffic from passing their point. 

This picture shows what the Emergency Sercices were doing to deal with the incident.

This is another picture of the incident, but also shows some of the crowd.

This is a picture of a Poilce Car. It shows a Police Officer dealing with one of the drivers involved in the incident.

This is another picture of the incient, and shows what the Emergency Services are doing to deal with it.

Another picture of the incident.

This picture shows the emergency service vechiles and the crowds that were at the incident.

Evaluate the impact of health and safety legislations/regulations on services responding to an emergency incident

•The protective gear and high visibility jackets make members of the public aware the public services are there. This is important that the public services are noticed, especially in the dark because when attending an emergency incident they cannot always control the traffic. If they are not in high visibility jackets then they are at risk from the traffic that wont be able to see the public services until the last minute.

•Also if they attending an incident that is high risk, then the protective clothing is going to stop them from getting any injuries. This could potentially save their lives.

•Some of the health and safety regulations could get in the way of the emergency services doing their job. For example, If the incident scene is too dangerous for the emergency services to go in or onto, then they have to wait for their ‘gold command’ to say it is safe. This is not very good because if there is a lack of communication and the site is safe to enter, then lives may not be saved which could have been saved if they were allowed to enter the scene straight away.

•When the first crew arrive on scene, they have to run a risk assessment which takes time. If the people involved in the incident are critically ill and may need urgent attention. They will not have time to fill out forms.

•On the other when the public services do actually assess the risks of the incident scene, they will know what safety precautions they need to take in order to save the lives of the public.

Evaluate the interagency co-operation operation of the emergency response services

The emergency services work together to overcome any situation they may face. The police are usually the first to be on any incident scene, so decide which other emergency service should attend the incident scene. All three of the emergency services work together to try and get the injured people to hospital and investigate why this incident has occurred. They would then clean the incident up. All three emergency response units have key roles and responsibilities when attending an incident.

The outcome of the three services working together is usually good because combining their knowledge and experience the three services will do what is best for that scenario. For example, if a major car crash has happened and needs all three of the emergency services to attend. The police would close off the area in which the incident, inform the close relatives about the incident, direct the traffic and investigate why this incident has occurred. The Ambulance service would treat the casualties which have been involved in the incident, and get them to hospital as soon as possible. Lastly the fire service would make sure the are no fires and hazardous chemicals, and if needed cut the casualties from the vehicle.

This shows how the three services work well as a team because they all know what they are doing in this situation, everyone has a key role within the team. Without the three emergency services working together on scenes like this, then it would be very hard for just one emergency service to overcome a situation like this.

This is because the one emergency service would not have enough experience to do everything, there would be a lack of equipment and not enough personnel on scene. This is why combining the three services gives the best outcome, because between them they can accomplish any situation which they have to encounter.

How does scene prevention and service provision contribute to an incident investigation?

•Scene preservation means the police can obtain any vital evidence which can be used in court as evidence to who’s fault the accident was. Preserving the scene means the police can collect vital evidence from the scene. This contributes to an investigation because with collect vital evidence they can then find out who’s fault it actually was.

•With the special equipment the different public services have, they can minimise contamination. This means they will be able to collect vital evidence and bring the offender to justice.

•The service provision of specialist units is vital because to preserve the evidence you will have to wear and use special equipment in order to not contaminate it. This means you will be able to investigate why the incident occurred using evidence from the scene.

•By seeing what made the incident happen (providing it was an accident) then the public services can tell the councils how to improve the safety. Scene preservation helps because they will be able to find out how the incident occurred.  

Service provision of specialist units

•The emergency services have special types of clothing to protect them from anything that is harmful from different emergency incidents. These items of clothing are called personal protective equipment (PPE). To some of the emergency services the PPE is common, where as with other emergency services PPE is exclusive.    

•Ambulance PPE :-

•Disposable aprons and overalls for the splattering of blood onto the body.

§Protective overalls for the risk of severe contamination.

§A face mask so the risk of transmitting a contagious disease is reduced.

§Eve protection to protect against any blood or dirt that may enter the eye.

§Ear defenders where the noise is too loud.

§Fire service PPE:-

§Suits, gloves and gloves to protect them from the fire.

§Helmets to protect them from fires and buildings collapsing.

§Self contained breathing apparatus for the use in smoky buildings.

§Goggles to protect the eyes.

§Decontamination suits.

§Police PPE :-

§Fire suits for some special units.

§Riot gear.

§Protective headwear and goggles.

§All of the three services have to wear high visibility jackets when on any scene, as part of the health and safety.