If an accident or sudden illness occurs, the first thing you should do is ensure the safety of all the individuals involved. Your workplace will have a health and safety procedure that will outline what you should do in an emergency. It is vital that you are familiar with it as well as the individual’s care plan. Knowledge of your workplace’s procedure and the individual’s care plan will ensure you know how to respond to an accident or sudden illness.
If you are not capable of helping the individual, then you should remain calm and contact or find someone who can. You should also stay with the individual until help arrives, observing them to ensure their condition does not worsen and to try and find out what happened. Once you get the opportunity, you should complete a full written report and follow the agreed ways of working to inform anyone who needs to know what happened.
You also may or may not have to provide first aid to the individual or individuals involved. We will cover what you are allowed and not allowed to do in terms of first aid in the next section.