Action cards for mass casualties and major incidents
The first minutes when an event hits many at once
If you are among the first at the scene of an incident with multiple casualties, your most important task in the first minutes is not to treat — it is to get an overview and report it so the right emergency response can be activated. Use this action card as a checklist.
§1. Safety first
- 01Assess hazards for yourself and your partner before you enter the area
- 02Keep distance to ongoing hazard sources (traffic, fire, unstable structures, chemicals)
- 03Place the vehicle so it provides access but does not block multiple units
§2. Overview and report
Report back to the EMC dispatch centre with a quick situational overview before you proceed to treat the first patient you see. The report should give the dispatch centre enough information to dispatch the right number of units from the start instead of having to send them out one by one.
| Point in the report | Content |
|---|---|
| Type of incident | What happened (e.g. traffic accident, explosion, collapse) |
| Approximate number of injured | An estimate is better than no message |
| Need for additional resources | More ambulances fire police emergency doctor |
| Access conditions | How do more units most easily come forward |
§3. Start triage
- 01Go to primary sources: authorities, standards, research articles and manufacturer data sheets instead of secondhand renditions
- 02Use only short time per patient initially — thorough treatment comes after sorting
- 03Clearly mark who has already been triaged so no one is skipped or counted twice
§4. Organisation
As soon as multiple units arrive you enter the common leadership structure with health operation leader police operation leader and rescue operation leader. Follow the designated operation leader's instructions for patient distribution meeting places and which hospitals receive whom instead of acting alone based on your own assessment.
The action card does not replace training and practice, but it gives you a fixed sequence to fall back on when a rare and chaotic situation arises.