How to remove a helmet from an injured rider

[sarahtvet]

Our club is subsidising some motorcycle related first aid in a few months and I was the first to sign up. Here's hoping they will get people to demonstrate this as it's the one fear I have when riding. I'd hate to do more harm than good so actually being shown how to safely remove a helmet would be great. Of course hopefully it would be one of those cases where breathing wasn't compromised so I could leave it on until professional help arrived.

Really looking forward to the course. Have already done basic First aid with Red Cross and they do show you how to remove a helmet safely but tend to bring a huge helmet. If you attend any such courses I would take your helmet to :-
1) Get a feel for how it feels to have it taken off that way
2) For all first aiders to feel the true resistance you get when taking a properly fitted helmet off a casualty.

Have all the forms to apply to train as a paramedic outside work and with my background should be pretty quick to get through it :

Another 2 things I would highly recommend
1) Spot Tracker - recommended by NZ search and rescue. $350 and easy to use. Look up find me spot on internet.

2) Red Cross single use resuscitation mask. Comes in a 15mm x 15mm soft material pouch on a keyring. You will be carrying it more for everybody else but the people I ride with know one is on my keyring if they need to use it for me.

Fear of disease, vomit and blood often puts people off cpr even when they know how to do it. $10 not much to spend in case you need to save a life hey

I believe in forward planning and hoping I never need to use it but as I have been at two offs in 2 years (and a few off horses too) I guess the odds are....

[ital916]

I have posted a video in bike chrash thread which shows a massive t-bone impact into a car.

The rider after impact lies face down in a pile.

This thread has been very informative for riders who are prone on their back but what should we do if we come accross a rider who is face down or on their side with a high possibilty of bleeding into their helmet.

Do we move them? Do we remove the helmet with them face down?

I apologise if this has been answered already but I would like to know..just in case.

[YellowDog]

I have heard some quite horrible stories from helmets being removed by concerned helpers after accidents.

While the head is in the helmet, whilst it may be uncomfortable, it is still supporting the potentially damaged head.

Best to wait for the paramedics to do this who are best equipped to deal with any resulting complications.

[mowgli]

Do we move them? Do we remove the helmet with them face down?

I apologise if this has been answered already but I would like to know..just in case.

Priorities on discovering a casualty
1. Danger - is it safe for you to approach.
2. Response - establish the casualty's level of responsiveness.
3. Send for help
4. Breathing - is the casualty breathing? If not, clear the airway, start CPR.
5. Bleeding - check for major bleeds and deal with each as you find them.
6. Burns - treat and protect any significant burns.
7. Bones - immobilize broken bones.

I expect that probably the only reason for needing to remove a helmet would be when the casualty is not breathing. If I couldn't detect any signs of breathing I'd try repositioning them to open the airway, supporting the head and neck as best I could. If they're still not breathing then they're dead so I'd get the helmet off as best I could and start CPR.

If they are breathing, then use the priorities to guide you. Unless there is masses of blood pissing out around their nape (major bleeding) then the helmet stays on. They're unlikely to be burnt inside the helmet so the helmet stays on. If they have a fractured skull then the helmet will protect better than any dressing so the helmet stays on.

While waiting for the paramedics monitor the casualty for shock. If they go green or complain of nausea then I'd consider removing the helmet. This would be a judgement call on whether I felt they were more at risk of neck/spine injury or of suffocating on their vomit.

Best advice is do a first aid course and then keep it current. Practice breeds confidence.

[Clubbie]

Clubbie you might be able to clarify.....have heard from friend (RN and First Aid trainer) that research is currently being done that the mouth to mouth part of CPR is to be eliminated and just chest compressions only to be done....would save removing the helmet at all if it was brought in

There are two points here - first yes the mouth to mouth part is not as important as the chest compressions. New ratio is 30:2 for those that don't know.

The second thing is CPR following a motor vehicle crash is very rarely needed.

The reason for this is they are usually dead as a result of trauma not a heart problem such as a heart attack.
So their heart has usually stopped due to something else like blood loss, brain trauma, heart trauma etc and thus CPR is fruitless and unnecessary.

There are a very small number of crashes where a patient has a heart attack immediately prior to the crash. I doubt you'd be able to tell unless you were either witness to the crash and the rider's disposition pre-crash or had an ECG on hand to look at their cardiac rhythm.

If they are not breathing and you remove their helmet. Often, opening the airway is enough and they start breathing again on their own.

[RavenVulf]

Thank you very much for this information.

[bkker]

Priorities on discovering a casualty
1. Danger - is it safe for you to approach.
2. Response - establish the casualty's level of responsiveness.
3. Send for help
4. Breathing - is the casualty breathing? If not, clear the airway, start CPR.
5. Bleeding - check for major bleeds and deal with each as you find them.
6. Burns - treat and protect any significant burns.
7. Bones - immobilize broken bones.

Thanks. Was that from a Saint Johns or similar course or did you come up with it yourself?
Cheers for the clarification that the removal methods should only rarely be used, but it's good to know I guess.

[mowgli]

Thanks. Was that from a Saint Johns or similar course or did you come up with it yourself?

Myself? I should be so clever No, these are the first aider priorities as taught to Air Force personnel and tested annually.

[scooute]

Thanks for the info I hope Im never in a postion where proffesionals are too far away and I have to use it!!!

[tig5]

We had quite a good discussion about this at the First Aid course I went too last week. Main points were:
> Don't remove the helmet unless you have to.
> If it has to come off then it's best to get the rider to take it off if they are able.
> If the person has stopped breathing or is vomiting then having a viable airway is more important than a possible neck injury (you can live with a neck injury but you can't without an airway)
> An existing neck injury is just that ... existing. Possibly the damage you are worried about causing has already been done.

If the rider is able to take their helmet off, they don't need to and should be prevented from doing so. Otherwise, as above. When in doubt, ask the person (me) on the end of the 111 line, we can also help you determine if someone is breathing effectively, as opposed to just breathing. Just because someone is snoring away doesn't mean they are getting the level of o2 their body requires. Just some thoughts.

Stay safe

[p.dath]

If the rider is able to take their helmet off, they don't need to and should be prevented from doing so.

Try lying out in the sun on some tar seal with a helmet on. Not very pleasant.

Might just be me, but if I attended an accident, and the rider was fit and well enough to remove their own helmet I wouldn't be trying to prevent them from doing so.

[Milts]

Nah just wait until these are more mainstream

http://www.gizmag.com/splinter-motor...m_medium=email

[steve_t]

Nah just wait until these are more mainstream

http://www.gizmag.com/splinter-motor...m_medium=email

Umm.... isn't this a similar concept to the Shoei X-12? Apart from leaving the neck brace looking "sub-assembly". I wonder when the dissertation was written as the article is very recent. The video below is over a year old

[Milts]

Hah, looks like you're right, nearly the same. Excellent system nevertheless.

[tnarg]

This system is already in use over in the states. A combo of the two systems would be the go.

http://www.ejectsafety.com/instructions.html