Ambulance Safety In Wintertime:What Precautions Do You Take?

[nycemt728 49]

Now that it has started snowing this season, I was just wondering what other places do to ensure saftey against the elements. What procedures do you have in place? When to snow tires get put on? Or a better question, does any company have a emergecny lights on at all times in snow policy? I have heard this several times but no one can tell me anything about it other than it is to increase the in snow visability of a what is with the exception of striping a mostly white vehicle. Does this decrease people's sensitivity to the lights or is a good saftey measure? Thanks and stay safe this winter!

[x129K 1,393]

Trust me on this one - don't try to do donuts in the Post 25 parking lot in the snow if you work for Empress....

And if you do.... pinning the accelerator down and both members rocking from outside the back - EVEN with the doors open to run through if it catches traction....is just a bad idea.

[Guest seanc]

x129k sounds like you know that from experiance? i to would like to know when snow tires should be put on and when are snow chains (the automatic kind that work off a switch of a button) not necessary and when are they helpful?

[xfirefighter484x 234]

i to would like to know when snow tires should be put on and when are snow chains (the automatic kind that work off a switch of a button) not necessary and when are they helpful?

I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend anyone who has those chain systems on their apparatus (fire AND/or EMS rigs) to use them AT LEAST ONCE before an emergency situation. Knowing "how they work" and knowing "how to work them" are 2 different things!!

[Guest]

i believe our policy is no lights, no siren during snow storms.

we have the "on-spot" chains like im sure everyone else has, and they only work UP TO 4"

anything over 4" of snow we have manual chains

as nice as it is to flick a switch and have the on-spots drop, i don't trust them. they have failed on me too many times, and always at the worst time it could happen. in 2005, they crapped out on me twice in one day

1st - i was going down a hill...never good!

2nd - we had a pt crapping out and i believe the disk broke

needless to say, manual chains are a pain to put on, but well worth it.

[Guest EFFP411]

well, i tried driving with and without the ONSPOT chains last winter, and honestly i would only use them if i thought i might get stuck. its easier for me personally to handle our ambulance with out the use of chains. It's a Lifeline E-450 mod. And, i DO leave the emergency lights on,and still drive SLOW!!! especially if i have to take route 9 to the hospital. But, thats just me, it makes me feel a little more confident that i won't have to slam on the brakes becuase someone cut me off, or jumped out of i side street. i do not know of a policy on it... the most important thing is to expect everyone to do stupid things, and remember that your bigger than everything else, and take forever to stop

[helicopper 1,050]

Now that it has started snowing this season, I was just wondering what other places do to ensure saftey against the elements. What procedures do you have in place? When to snow tires get put on? Or a better question, does any company have a emergecny lights on at all times in snow policy? I have heard this several times but no one can tell me anything about it other than it is to increase the in snow visability of a what is with the exception of striping a mostly white vehicle. Does this decrease people's sensitivity to the lights or is a good saftey measure? Thanks and stay safe this winter!

I hope you don't have an emergency lights on at all times in snow policy!!!

1. It's illegal - no emergency, no lights. (Seems simple enough to me!)

2. Yes it will increase people's insensitivity further than it already is!

3. People slam into emergency vehicles at scenes already - how is this going to make you safer in the snow?

4. Are you going to sit at a red traffic light with your emergency lights on? That's just going to confuse our already challenged driving population and very likely cause an accident or two.

5. The lights, especially at night, are going to blind the driver (and others) when reflected off the snow and back into the vehicle. Clear strobes especially should be used very carefully in snow.

6. I don't know of any study or credible report suggesting that this practice would improve safety at all.

So, if it wasn't abundantly clear, I'm not a fan of the idea.

If you really want to improve safety, get EMS drivers out on the road in the snow so they see how much different it is to handle an ambulance (vs their Nissan Sentra) in those conditions.

[louis 1]

Chris 192 is right with the emergency lights. In our Ambulance Corps we are lucky to have 2 Ambulances. Our Duty rig and our Back up rig. Which we rotate at least once a month. Drop down Chains suck. If you can have Manual chains have them installed by your village mechanic or yourself. IF the road conditions are really bad use the ambulance with the chains. The drop down chains maybe work in 2 to 4 inches of snow. Your best bet if your Ambulance Corps is in a village or Town. We usually ask the DPW of the village to give us a escort during a snow storm to the call. Ask your village or Town if that could be possible. The village of Irvington always comes through for us.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Headlights and marker lights suffice in any weather and are proven safer then emergency lights.

Not to mention all you do is cause an unsafe condition for the driver due to the reflection of the light off the snow.

On-spots pretty much help you go, they do not help you stop...and 4" my rear end. They are good up to about an inch.

[Guest EFFP411]

Oh yea, and if you have to go into a driveway, make sure you can get back out, try to avoid driving into unplowed driveways, you might just get stuck. In hevier snows, we tend to try and hve someone stand by with the district pickup with the plow on it, so if there is an unplowed driveway that we have to get into, they can clear our path... It can be really embarrassing calling county for a towtruck to tow your ambulance off someones property!

Edited December 8, 2007 by EFFP411

[ckroll 101]

Oh yea, and if you have to go into a driveway, make sure you can get back out, try to avoid driving into unplowed driveways, you might just get stuck. In hevier snows, we tend to try and hve someone stand by with the district pickup with the plow on it, so if there is an unplowed driveway that we have to get into, they can clear our path... It can be really embarrassing calling county for a towtruck to tow your ambulance off someones property!

Indeed. Don't go there. The reeve's stretcher or scoop make excellent sleds if properly padded. Consider putting some rope or better yet webbing cut to fit on your ambulance for retrofitting what you have with useful grips.

Once, we had a woman who anteriorly dislocated her hip falling hard in the middle of a steep and impossibly treacherous driveway. She got scooped, manually stabilized by a person riding behind her and we sledded to the bottom of the drive. The only problem was she was laughing so hard by the time we got to the bottom that she was having a hard time catching her breath.

Safety tip. You cannot drop a patient who is already on the ground.

I agree with those who find automatic chains useless. They are worse than useless if they give a driver the false security to drive beyond his/her abilities in deteriorated conditions. In treacherous conditions it is especially important to drive conservatively because, if you put a rig off the road and out of service, there may not be a second rig coming any time soon. If you require an ambulance for yourself or close a road, well that is a disaster. No matter how long it takes to get to the scene and to the hospital, it is a huge savings not to screw up with the first due rig.

Back to V and T law, the moment we use lights or sirens we accept full responsibility to move through traffic "so long as it is safe". EMS is held to a higher standard than the general public, in the sun and in the snow. Don't panic drivers who are already at or past their limits in bad weather.

And I'm a huge fan of taking the rig out to a vacant lot and doing obstacle work in the snow. Not only is it a lot of fun, almost everyone is shocked by how fast the back end cuts loose and how far it goes when it does.

It's also possible to crank the wheels on a stuck ambulance, gun it and swing the back end off the greasy stuff onto tractionable surface, but it's best to practice this before you have a patient on board.