Mansfield college students' coping skills tested in mock emergency situation

The level-three extended diploma students took up roles as paramedics, police officers and fire crew as they responded to mock road traffic accident, which had fellow students acting as casualties – one unconscious and not breathing, one conscious and cut and another trapped in a car.

Utilising their skills from recent tabletop exercises in the classroom, the group conducted a full scenario starting with a 999 call being made, the casualties being stabilised, and first aid administered.

The group also learnt about issuing a Methane – Major incident, Exact location, Type of incident, Hazards, Access, Number of casualties, Emergency services – report, which is an established reporting framework providing a common structure for responders and their control rooms to share major incident information.

Students who took up the roles of police, set up a cordon and used radios to communicate between departments, while fire crew members were shown how to safely remove casualties from the RTA site.

Wayne Hall, UPS teacher, said: “This group worked really well together and coped well under pressure.

“The fire and rescue team threw in a few surprises, such as one casualty going into crash, just to highlight how quickly situations like this can change.

“It was great to see natural leaders shine at this activity and they all learnt a lot about the importance of inter-service communications.”

Student Zuzanna Soltys was acting as overall commander for all crews during this activity.

Zuzanna said: “It was a difficult role as there was a lot of pressure coming from members of all the other emergency services.

“As this was our first time experiencing such an activity it was a bit stressful but thanks to my supporting team members, we got through it very well.

“The thing I enjoyed the most is to see how people were supporting each other together and having fun and having a great experience at the same time and being able to develop my leadership, teamwork and problem-solving skills.”