6 replies to this topic

[RDCHAIR]

Recently I was at a trial where a competitor fell off into a rose bush, quite amusing I thought untill he stood up and his face was awash with blood.
The thorns had ripped into his face and lips. He was quite shocked (as many others were ) at the amount of blood. The cuts were not life threatening but the amount of blood scary.

Everyone sort of waited for someone else to help him, as no-one could think of how to help, someone suggested he ''rode back to the burger van to get some napkins''

This raised a point. would it be a daft thing for all observers to carry a simple first aid kit?
I am not suggesting that they administer first aid, there are plenty of riders who are first aider and observers are scarce enough.
It would have been easy for me to have bandaged him up.( maybe I should carry one?)

So about £5 kit a pop. What do you think?

[Andy M]

Surely not a bad idea to have one to hand even if the observer does not administer any first aid. Like having plasters or headache tablets in your works bag just in case. Amazing how many people don't have anything but are the first to come on the scrounge when they need something if they know you carry stuff.

[jmspear]

Surely the trial should have had a designated 1st aider who would have the full 1st aid kit, and the observers should know who it is and where they can be found? I would have thought it was an insurance requirement.

Recently at the end of a trial my son fell off his bike after slipping over the end of drop and fell on top of it and put his hand in the fast spinning rear wheel, the spokes made a right mess of his thumb and four operations, culminating in 3.5 hrs of plastic surgery he is on the mend, just highlights the very real dangers of any sport involving machinery.

Blood was pumping everywhere and his thumb was in bits, I wrapped it up in my shirt as a makeshift bandage and off to hospital, the trial designated 1st aider came over to check it before we left, he was notified by someone and came to us (i was abit busy with my son at the time - no kit in sight, but it was a little more serious than a £5 kit) he definitely knew his basic 1st aid though, tightly bandage (already done, my trials shirt) lots of pressure and raise it up.

The following day the clerk phoned me up to see how he was, what was happenning etc. This to my mind was a pretty well organised trial and I was happy with the 1st aid arrangements.

So yes all trials need to make arrangements than napkins at the burger van, how would they have coped with the above!

Generally I feel that most of the trials I go to are pretty well organised from a safety viewpoint, did go to one trial which was a nightmare, two way traffic (fast) on one narrow track, no room to pass, sections exiting onto same track with no visibility to riders on section on who was coming on the track etc, just an accident waiting to happen.

[Metisse]

Here in France all trials are unable to start unless you have a ambulance on site and a doctor present. If there it is a long lap, sections can only be laid out where there is access to get to any injured party and the organisers may have to have two ambulances and teams to take this into account. I think I am correct in saying also before a trial can take place on land it has to be homologated ie. inspected by the Fireservice, police and council etc to make clear any other safety issuses.
Now on the face of it, this looks the perfect answer, accidents do happen, certainly with modern trials and their eagerness to mount incredible steps and extreme sections etc etc...but it adds huge cost and problems to the organising club. Each ambulance and first aiders Euros 300/400 and a doctor on standby the same.. and then tying to find someone certainly a doctor to give up a Sunday even for this type of reward is very difficult.
So if you want the security of knowing someone is on hand it has to go on the entry cost and trials have attract enough riders so clubs do not lose out.
Again, here elf and safety is going mad, and the price and general aggravation and of course putting huge responsibility on organisers is drivng clubs to think is it worth the hassle and financial risk, so the trials calander is starting to decrease and riders are losing out.
By all means a first aider and a box of relevent bandages plasters etc etc but for me ease the sections so accidents are less likely to happen.

[stevel]

I think it is necessary to differentiate between the serious injuries (as previous post) that need the services of medical professionals and the minor injuries that can be treated with a £5 first aid kit.

For the serious injuries the club should have a plan in place with, at least, a designated first aider.

For the 'cuts & bruises' surely a rider should take some personal responsibility and have a first aid kit in his car. As a regular (ish) observer, I don't need or want the responsibility of providing a first aid kit, as the next step is that you would be expected to administer the first aid.

I'm sure many of you won't notice the observer walking back to his/her car at the end of a trial as you are probably well on the way home by then, but they are generally like a pack horse, with haversack, umbrella, waterproofs, score board, an armful of flags, several coats left at the section etc. The last thing any of us want is even more to carry!

[rabie]

we run mx, enduros and trials - in trials you just don't ge the injuries in the same number and type as mx. at mx we've got 200ish riders, but 3 or 4 ambulances and paramedics and a medical centre - if we had 2 or 3 broken bones (legs, collarbones, etc) that would be normal. but at our enduros the ambulance crews (we go OTT and have 2) sit about all day, dealing with the odd exhausted rider. trials we have no medical staff but no injuries. i think 15 to 20 years ago we had a bad one and they came out in the air ambulance (could have gone by road but they weren't doing anything). Now road race is really serious because when they fall off they really hurt themselves, and street road races (eg IOM) kill a few people each year ....

[jmspear]

I'm with Steval, minor injuries, scrapes and bruises, responsibilities with rider, BUT the trial should have a plan and a plan that all observers are aware of for more serious injuries, plus designated 1st aider who knows what they are doing, plus enough people who are both aware of who it is and will get them in an emergency i.e they can mobilise the plan. This happened when the incident happened to my 14yr old son (it was actually academic as I administered 1st aid and got him to hospital but it was well organised.)

I have also done enduro's and agree with above re ambulances sitting around. We don't need them at Trials, we don't need a trained 1st aider at every section nor do we need the French solution, but we do need a plan and awareness and capability to put plan into action. BTW, making the section easier wouldn't have helped in our case, accidents do happen and my personal experience had nothing to with section ease.