Patient handling and injury
Use available lift equipment, request help early, plan the route, communicate the move, keep equipment maintained, and report pain or injury promptly.
Six hazards to plan for
Follow your employer's policies, training, exposure-control plan, PPE program, driving standards, and reporting process. This page is a planning aid, not an operational protocol.
Ambulance and roadway risk
Use restraints, minimize unrestrained patient-compartment work, drive for conditions, use high-visibility protection as required, and maintain situational awareness around traffic.
Violence and scene risk
Stage when indicated, identify exits, monitor escalating behavior, avoid preventable entrapment, request law enforcement according to policy, and document threats or assaults.
Infection and exposure
Use standard precautions, appropriate PPE, safe sharps practices, cleaning procedures, vaccinations offered through occupational health, and immediate exposure reporting.
Hazardous substances
Do not enter uncontrolled environments beyond your training and PPE. Use dispatch information, placards, monitoring, decontamination, and specialized resources according to local plans.
Fatigue and behavioral health
Track sleep impairment, near misses, mood changes, substance use, intrusive symptoms, and isolation. Seek qualified support before a pattern becomes a crisis.
Personal safety plan
Selections save only on this device. Review the plan after an injury, exposure, assault, near miss, schedule change, or new assignment.
After an exposure, injury, assault, or near miss
Control the immediate hazard
Move to safety, obtain patient or responder care, and request additional resources.
Notify and document
Use the agency's time-sensitive reporting route. Record objective facts while they are fresh.
Complete follow-up
Use occupational health, exposure protocols, medical evaluation, equipment review, and supervisor follow-up as applicable.
Learn without blame
Identify equipment, staffing, environment, communication, training, and system contributors—not only the final action.