Thanks to Casey Ross for the humility to share his lessons learned. (He is ok after some nice looking lacerations and swelling, but it could have been much worse).
“Probably the craziest thing that has ever happened to me cutting wheel straight to my neck...no guard, handle, or face shield was ever provided to us at work at the time until after this incident and I didn’t know any better. To be very clear, this was ABSOLUTELY MY FAULT. This was my very first job and I had never been trained properly how to handle everything safely plus the other workers handled their grinders the same way so that’s what I thought was okay, until this happened yes I get that it is definitely my fault in the end I was wearing safety glasses. I thought I was invincible until getting hit which changed my whole perspective on safety when working. Definitely learned a lot from this and haven’t touched a grinder without the proper PPE since then.”
Civilian Response- Think MARCH
Massive Bleeding-
Injuries to the carotid arteries ARE survivable (sorry TV and movies). They require immediate direct pressure and will need surgical intervention. Apply bandages and add more when those get soaked. Do NOT remove bandages as you want to keep clots in their spot.
Airway-
Penetration of the airway will inhibit the natural negative pressure of the patient, and the positive pressure that may be used by EMS if that fails. Swelling and bleeding may occlude the airway and your best assistance may be limited to positioning the victim so that blood drains out instead of down.
Respirations-
They may struggle to breath due to occlusions or bleeding. Anticipate a struggle here and attempt to keep them calm. Reducing their total body oxygen demand will assist in keeping them going with slower or ineffective respirations.
Circulation-
Do the other things well and we hopefully won’t have much to do here. Shock is likely with serious bleeding, and an elevated pulse rate is an indicator of this. Altered mental status is a critical finding and elevation of the legs may be a viable option to keep blood in the important half of the body. Vomiting is common in shock and makes your airway and respiration management extremely difficult. Side positioning helps with keeping the blood and vomit out.
Hypothermia-
Wonder why we keep them warm? Blood clotting works better if they are warm. Simple enough.