from Hacker News

I Am Well Versed in Active Shooter Training. What About First Aid?

by bespokedevelopr on 3/29/22, 2:21 PM with 79 comments

• by mikece on 3/29/22, 2:38 PM

  This is a good point. The US Army increased it's level of first-aid training to soldiers during the 90s and the result is that during the GWOT the percentage of soldiers who die from battlefield injuries has dropped to the lowest of any conflict on record. Whether it's training on how to apply a tourniquet or how to initially treat a sucking chest wound (eg: being shot) the average soldier today has more medical training than a lot of WW2 combat medics had.

  Bringing this back to the work place: it's far more likely that the average office worker will come across an opportunity to use medical/first aid training than whatever passes as active shooter training. Moreover, if I am working in an office where I know my coworkers have a general idea how to apply a chest dressing or stop bleeding and generally stabilize injuries until EMTs arrive I'll be more likely to charge an active shooter to try to end the threat knowing that even if I'm hit in the process my chances for survival are good.

• by tobyjsullivan on 3/29/22, 2:46 PM

  > By the time we enter the corporate world we are accustomed to this training. This is the training we receive in school. It starts in elementary school and nearly every school teaches some form of active shooter training

  What. The. Fruit.

  Where is this normal??? I have never once received active shooter training. It’s been a few years since I was in grade school (class of 2004, baby!) and two years since I worked in an office but, still, this sounds extremely foreign.

  I’ve lived and worked in Canada and Australia but not the US. Is this actually normal in the US?

  Forget first-aid kits. How could anyone be okay with this being normal?

• by maxehmookau on 3/29/22, 2:43 PM

  This whole concept is just bizarre to me as a Brit. I get the US is a different country with its own culture around firearm ownership but how on earth did widespread "active shooter training" become a thing and society went along with it?

  At least the author recognises this in the first sentence, but it still blows my mind.

• by ruined on 3/29/22, 2:38 PM

  a stop-the-bleed kit is about a hundred bucks, buy a few. keep one in your home, one in your car, and a small one in your personal bag. there are groups in every city that offer free training, oriented mainly towards activists and firearms hobbyists, but it's available. the training is useful for many kinds of bleeding, not just gunshot wounds.

• by happytoexplain on 3/29/22, 2:55 PM

  There are a couple comments confounded by the normalization of active shooter training, but (as is often the case with these comments), I can't tell from the wording if they disagree with the practice or are merely upset (understandably) that such a thing is even necessary.

  I guess the answer in both cases is the same, though: An unfortunate reality is still a reality.

• by hkchad on 3/29/22, 3:04 PM

  There are First Aid courses offered everywhere that cover CPR, AED and even how to provide oxygen. I take them every 2 years to stay fresh and get some sudo practice. Nothings stopping you from doing this on your own!

• by nimbius on 3/29/22, 3:18 PM

  the articles author seems to conflate the context and purpose of either. Active shooter "training" is designed solely for self-preservation in an emergency situation and shouldnt be combined with first-aid as it by definition means youre at imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm. Its the same reason the emergency protocol for a gas alarm is to evacuate. you cant help people when youre dead.

  that having been said check out your local YMCA or library for first aid/red cross events that will teach you CPR/AED/O2 administration as well as the heimlich maneuver and how to properly use a fire extinguisher. your facility safety coordinator (if your company is large enough) should be hosting volunteer trainings for the AED devices, but if not your local fire department likely hosts a fire safety event that includes the devices as part of CPR training.

  get into the habit of identifying exit signs and make it routine to use the stairs at work so you can guide others to safety in a fire. locate extinguishers and familiarize yourself with emergency numbers at your office but be prepared to take down information to relay to responders such as the nature of the event, victims age, any medications they consume as well as any environmental hazard that exists.

• by brightball on 3/29/22, 3:15 PM

  Totally agreed. I've long believed that first aid should be taught in school at every level and that every graduating high school student should come out first aid and CPR certified. IMO it just makes sense to create a better society all around.

  Personal Finance + First Aid/CPR should be an expectation of everybody that graduates high school in the US but for some reason, neither are.

• by mbrd on 3/29/22, 3:10 PM

  I grew up in the UK so never had anything other than fire drills, but I’m in the US now it’s pretty sad when your kindergartner tells you they had to pretend there was a lion in the corridor and the teacher locked the door and asked them to hide in the corner of the classroom.

• by kerblang on 3/29/22, 3:32 PM

  I've worked in the USA at numerous companies for 30 years and never was sent to "active shooter training". I have had anti-harassment training, suspicious person training, security training, safety training, and then some but not active shooter, ever. Not that it would bother me, but then again what exactly is there to learn? "Duck"?

• by GlenTheMachine on 3/29/22, 3:15 PM

  Without identifying my workspace, I will relate the following:

  - We are required to complete an active shooter training course annually

  - No training in first aid is offered, even after employees requested it

  - We are forbidden from purchasing first aid kits using company money, the reason being that none of us is certified in first aid

• by mgarfias on 3/29/22, 3:47 PM

  More than first aid, you need trauma classes. Stop the bleed, things like that. Then you need eq. Does your org have TQs? Israeli bandages? Celox? Rolls of gauze to pack wounds with?

  If things get awful, you need all those things.

  Personally, I carry a TQ, and have taken trauma classes.

• by mhb on 3/29/22, 3:04 PM

  I recently watched this video about assembling a first aid kit for a shop (https://youtu.be/A0EmfREhgRw) and I bought many of the suggested items. Some of the links no longer worked - here is what I bought:

  Israeli Bandage - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0166NR1OM

  Super Glue - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ESG4TK8

  Alcohol wipes - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O9XEDES

  Burn cream - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084GX1JO

  Eye Wash Cups - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072FH7V5H

  Non-Adherent Pads - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017JT0MP2

  First Aid Cabinet - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FA085W0

  Elastic Stretch Gauze Rolls - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K2FL98H

  First Aid Tape - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TSJ8XC

  Tourniquet - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Outdoor-Portable-Tourniquet-First...

  Scissors - https://www.walmart.com/ip/PRE-51-5-5-BANDAGE-SCISSOR/226474...

  Wound seal - https://www.walmart.com/ip/WoundSeal-Powder-4-Each/347523589

  Clotting gauze - https://www.walmart.com/ip/QuikClot-Advanced-Clotting-Gauze-...

  Liquid bandage spray - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nexcare-No-Sting-Liquid-Bandage-S...