I thought i'd post this fact as well, but Vic beat me to it.
Just for completeness, the Senior Fire officer is responsible for "health
and safety" in the inner cordon (which can be any size he deems fit), but
the "overall" management of the RTA scene still rests with the police. This
changes if the scene involves Fire.
In my experience, the senior fire officer is not necessarily the one making
the decisions, (usually an SO/ADO) and will leave it to the OIC of the
appliance(s) who are already dealing with the extrication or have attended
because of specialist knowledge, i.e OIC of the major rescue unit or
whatever it's called in your area.
If the senior fire officer deems that someone is not complying with his
wishes, he can "request" that the police remove that person, but will have
to justify that request to the HSE, should it be challenged at a later date.
Cheers
Dr Rob Dawes
(ex Fire Officer WMFS)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Accident and Emergency Academic List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Victor Calland
> Sent: 22 March 2002 15:00
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: so who is in control at the roadside?
>
>
> I've been sitting in the background quietly reading all of this debate and
> would like to offer a contraversial thought.
>
> Within the inner cordon or 10 metre action circle (which ever you want to
> call it) the person ultimately in charge is the senior fire officer. The
> reasons for this are:
>
> 1. He is designated as responsible by the Police, and don't
> argue with
> them because the Crown and the Government say they are in overall
> authority.
>
> 2. He is the person ultimately responsible for your safety
>
> 3. He has at least four other guys who will paste you if you disagree
> with him
>
> 4. He has the rescue gear and if he takes his bat & ball home you're
> stuffed.
>
> 5. He actually knows what can & cannot be done.
>
> 6. Strangely enough he wants to get a live casualty to hospital too.
> And knowing you know more about medicine than he ever will, he will, if he
> has any sense, listen to you provided that you are properly equipped to be
> at the scene and you have authority to be there.
>
> As soon as the person has been removed from danger you have the absolute
> authority for the patient, provided you can identify yourself as a doctor.
> It does not matter if you are the local dermatologist, but your
> professional responsibility is not to interfere unless you know you can do
> better.
>
> If you take responsibility for the patient, then you can say where the
> ambulance goes. Once you are no longer with the patient however, the
> ambulance crew can always change your decision based on what they percieve
> to be the changing needs of the patient.
>
> Vic Calland
>
>
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