What is happening?

What to do

1. Get emergency help and give your location. Alone, call on speakerphone while pressing.
2. If able, press your wound with clean cloth. For an embedded object, press either side. Ask someone to keep pressure if you cannot.
3. Life-threatening arm/leg bleeding despite pressure: use a commercial tourniquet if trained or dispatcher-guided. Place 5–7 cm above the wound, never over a joint. Tighten until bleeding stops, record time and do not loosen.
4. Stay still if the place is safe. Ask someone to stay and maintain pressure until someone takes over.
5. Let someone else preserve the part. Do not put yourself in danger searching for it.
6. Child/baby or short stump: pressure and emergency help now. Tourniquet only suitable size and trained/guided use. No room clear of joint/wound: follow dispatcher. Do not improvise fit or site.
7. Tourniquet in place, still bleeding: report now. If trained, check fit/position. Available second goes above first per instructions. Never loosen first. Keep visible and record times.
8. Still attached: do not detach or straighten. Support gently as found, no pulling or squeezing connection. Do not bag in ice: it remains attached to the person.
9. No watertight bag or ice: wrap clean and still hand to team. No soaking/freezing or delaying transport for supplies. Dirty part: tell team. No scrubbing or disinfectant.