First aid on the road saves lives. The law expressly requires it after a road accident, so it is good to know the basics. This lesson does not replace a first-aid course, but it summarises the procedure.
The legal duty
Under § 47(3)(b) of Act No. 361/2000 Sb., a party to an accident must, where someone is injured, give first aid according to their abilities and call the ambulance. The Criminal Code (§ 150 and § 151) punishes anyone who fails to help although they could without danger to themselves or another. You do not have to be a medic. The law asks for what you can manage: call for help, make the scene safe, do the basic things.
Step by step
- Make it safe: yourself, the injured, the scene. Stop the traffic, switch off the ignition, put on the vest, set the triangle.
- Check whether the casualty responds: speak to them, gently shake the shoulder.
- Call 155 or 112 (ambulance; 112 is the single European number). Say where you are, what happened, how many are injured and in what condition. Stay on the line until the operator lets you go. The operator guides you on what to do.
- If they do not respond and are not breathing normally: start resuscitation. Place your hands in the centre of the chest and press down about 5 to 6 cm deep, at 100 to 120 compressions a minute. The operator will help you with the pace. If you can give mouth-to-mouth breaths, alternate 30 compressions and 2 breaths. If you cannot, keep going with chest compressions alone.
- Severe bleeding: press directly on the wound with a clean dressing or cloth, hold and do not let go. Do not remove a soaked dressing, add another.
- The casualty is breathing but unconscious: the recovery position on their side.
- Do not pull the casualty out of the car unless they are in immediate danger (fire, drowning). There is a risk of spinal injury. Do not remove a motorcyclist's helmet unless it is necessary to keep them breathing.
- Keep the casualty warm, talk to them and do not leave them alone.
The first-aid kit
A first-aid kit in the car is compulsory equipment (Decree No. 341/2014 Sb.). It contains dressings, a tourniquet and gloves. Check the expiry date and learn where it is. Disposable gloves protect you and the casualty.
A work injury while driving
Damage to your health caused, independently of your will, by a short, sudden and violent action of external influences while you carry out work tasks or in direct connection with them is a work injury (§ 271k of the Labour Code). A business trip and driving a company vehicle to a customer count. An injury on the way from home to work and back is not a work injury (§ 271k(3)). Travelling from home straight to the destination of a business trip in another municipality, one that is not where you normally work, is however treated as an act connected with work (§ 274a(2)).
Under § 106(4)(h) of the Labour Code you must report to your supervisor without delay a work injury, if your health allows it, and also an injury to another person that you witnessed, and cooperate in finding the causes. The employer keeps a register and an injury record and deals with compensation under the law. Do not leave treatment for later: report even a seemingly minor injury and have it recorded.
What can affect you after an accident
After an accident, shock, shaking, weakness or guilt often appear. Have a doctor examine you even after a "just minor" impact, because some injuries (neck injury, internal bleeding) show only later. Talk about how you feel with colleagues or your supervisor.
Summary
- When someone is injured, call 155 or 112 and give the help you can manage.
- If the casualty is not breathing normally, resuscitate: chest compressions, 100 to 120 a minute.
- Stop severe bleeding with direct pressure.
- Report a work injury while driving to your supervisor at once.