The Immediate Action Plan - DR ABC
People at work or home can suffer injury or illness at anytime. It doesn't matter whether this is caused by their work or not - what is important is that the first person to arrive at the scene of the situation, makes priority arrangements to ensure the casualty receives immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill. The initial management of injuries and illness, until expert medical attention is received, could make a difference between life and death.

The immediate action plan consists of five steps:
Danger,
Response,
Airway,
Breathing and
Circulation.

Circulation

Finding a pulse can be very difficult, and is not always a reliable indicator of circulation in a collapsed casualty, so looking for other signs of circulation such as normal breathing, swallowing, movement, coughing, warmth or skin colour is essential.

If Circulation Present

• continue EAR until the casualty starts breathing on their own
• if the casualty starts to breathe normally on their own but remains unconscious, turn them into the recovery position.
• observe and reassess the casualty’s vital signs regularly

Be ready to turn the casualty on their back and re-start EAR if they stop breathing again.

If Circulation Absent

• if there are no signs of circulation, or you are at all unsure that there are signs of circulation, start chest compressions
  • compress at a rate of 100 per minute
    • Adult and older children = 15 compressions : 2 breaths
    • 2 Younger children and infants = 5 compressions : 1 breath
  • return your hands quickly to the correct position on the chest and then give the next compressions and breaths
• continue compressions:breaths cycles

Stop to re-check for signs of a circulation after 1 minute, and then every 2 minutes. Also stop to check if the casualty makes a movement or takes a spontaneous breath.

Only Stop CPR If:

• the scene becomes unsafe
• another trained first aider arrives and takes over
• qualified help arrives and takes over
• the casualty shows signs of recovery
• you become physically unable to continue defibrillation

Defibrillation is the emergency procedure where specially trained first aider’s apply an electronic device called an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to the chest of a cardiac arrest casualty, and the device delivers a controlled electric shock to the casualty’s heart.