Bleeding, burns and injuries

000 Severe bleeding, a major burn, or a head or spine injury?

Call 000. Life-threatening bleeding comes before everything else, even airway and breathing.

Bleeding

Wear gloves if you have them.
Press firmly on or around the wound with your hand or a pad.
Still bleeding: add a second pad and bandage more tightly. If it still bleeds, check the pad is on the right spot. One or two pads over a small area work best.
Lie the person down and keep the injured part still.
Severe bleeding: call an ambulance, reassure, keep them lying down and warm, keep checking them. Nothing to eat or drink.

Use only when firm pressure does not control life-threatening bleeding from an arm or leg.
Follow the maker’s instructions, or put it about 5 cm above the wound. Not over a joint, a wound or clothing. Never cover it up.
Tighten until the bleeding stops. If it doesn’t, add a second tourniquet above the first.
Write down the time it went on. Don’t take it off.
An improvised tourniquet is better than none, but it must be tight enough to stop the blood (a loose “venous” one is unsuitable).

On fire: stop, drop, cover and roll. Smother or douse the flames.
Cool running water for 20 minutes. Still worth doing up to 3 hours after the burn.
Take off jewellery and wet clothing unless it is stuck to the skin.
Cover loosely with cling film laid on (not wrapped round; not on the face). Keep the rest of the person warm. Raise a burnt limb.
Burn gels only after the 20 minutes of water.

more than 10% of the body (about an adult’s whole arm or half a leg), or a full-thickness burn over 5%;
on the face, hands, feet, genitals or a major joint, or goes all the way round a limb;
electrical, chemical or from breathing in smoke or heat;
on a very young or very old person, or someone with other illness or injuries.

Breathed in hot air or smoke (burns to face, singed nose hairs or eyebrows, soot): fresh air, call an ambulance. Damage can appear up to 24 hours later.
Electrical: turn the power off; stay 10 m from high voltage. CPR if needed, cool for 20 minutes, ambulance.
Chemical: remove contaminated clothing, brush off powder, flush with water for at least 20 minutes (up to an hour). Eye: flush with the injured eye lower. Call Poisons Information 13 11 26 and an ambulance. Don’t try to neutralise it. No cling film.

Stop the activity. Move them to safety, moving the neck and back as little as possible. CPR if needed.
Warning signs: nausea or vomiting, headache, balance or vision problems, weakness or slurred speech, confusion, seizures. Call an ambulance.
Don’t let them go back to sport or work until they have been checked. Keep watching them.

Make the area safe and call an ambulance. Airway, breathing and bleeding come first.
Awake: tell them to keep still. Don’t hold them down.
Unconscious: the airway comes first. Gently bring the head to a neutral position. If you need to, put them on their side without twisting.
Where practical, hold the head and neck steady by hand.

If it is safe, remove the crushing weight as soon as possible and control bleeding.
Don’t apply a tourniquet before release unless there is life-threatening bleeding.
Everyone with a crush injury must go to hospital.

Full guidelines: Bleeding, Burns, Head, Spinal, Crush (PDF).