Collision Scene Management

Question 1

Identify the initial considerations when attending a road traffic collision or roadrelated incidents including the ‘CLEAR’ initiative.

Answer 1

The CLEAR acronym stands for:

• Collision – Collisions and other incidents can close carriageway lanes, which adversely affects the economy
• Lead – Effective leadership needs to be established to co-ordinate the incident
  response
• Evaluate – Understanding the scale of the incident ensures a proportionate response
• Act – All incident responders act in partnership, recognising and respecting differing organisational priorities
• Re-open – carriageway lanes are re-opened ASAP to reduce the impact of incident closures on road users and the economy

The CLEAR principles were devised through collaboration between the Dept for Transport, Highways England/Welsh Govt, and the emergency services (police, fire and ambulance) to help improve the understanding of the roles and priorities of the organisations that respond to incidents on the UK road network and therefore improve the way they work together.

Question 2

Describe the initial actions when attending a road traffic collision

Question 3

Explain the roles of the police in the resolution of road related incidents.

Answer 3

When deployed to the scene of an incident on the road; the broad responsibilities of the police are described in brief, below:

• Preserving life of anyone involved, where practicable and preventing any condition from worsening
• Assisting with the co-ordination of the emergency response with members of other agencies
• Securing and preserving the scene to protect anything of evidential value for use in any subsequent investigation, which should be conducted within appropriate timescales
• Achieving a swift handover of the scene to Highways England or local highways authority, depending on location of road
  * Ultimately, acting on behalf of HM Coroner.

The police will lead (have primacy) when an incident on the strategic road network involves:

• Death or injury including collisions and suicides
• Suspected, alleged or anticipated criminality
• Threats to public order and public safety
• Occurrences where the powers in law or skills of a constable are required

Question 4

Explain the roles of the supporting agencies in the resolution of road related incidents.

Answer 4

1. Traffic Wales - Operates on the strategic road netwrok and has primacy at incidents that do not require a police response.

The main function of the Highways Agency in the event of an incident is to:
* Provide appropriate traffic management and information to keep traffic moving
* Restore the strategic road network capacity through incident management
* Implementing diversion routes
* Coordinating the emergency response with the other core responders and
supporting the lead agency
* Clearing the scene (of debris etc.) after the police have handed it over
* Planning for and implementing the restoration of the road

2. HazMat Officer -Officers specially trained in identifying hazardous materials and advising on their appropriate handling – e.g. cordon distances.
3. Welsh Ambulance Service - The main function of the Ambulance Service at an incident is that of saving lives and ensuring the initial health needs of those people who have suffered physical injury or mental trauma.

They support the joint effort by:
* Accurately assessing and triaging calls received
* Providing triage, treatment, stabilisation and care of those injured at the scene
* Treating and responding to individual needs of those involved
* Arranging for the most appropriate means of transporting those injured to the
receiving and specialist hospitals (this may involve Air Ambulance, so landing/takeoff zones should be considered)
* Providing a focal point at the incident for all medical resources (doctors etc.) in
attendance
* Nominating and alerting the receiving hospitals for injured people.

4, Fire & Rescue Services - The main role of the FRS in the resolution of incidents onthe roads is that of extinguishing fires and rescuing people.

They support the joint agency approach by:
* Carrying out search and rescue tasks, including hazardous searches
* Responding to specific tasking involving hazardous materials
* Assisting with casualty handling
* Ensuring the health and safety of personnel deployed withi

Question 5

State the important information to make a note of when attending an incident

Answer 5

• Time of report
• Informant details
• Time and location of collission
• Number of vehicles/ persons involved
• Injuries
• Witnesses
• Supervisor/ control room

Question 6

State the mneumonic used when determining the sequence of actions at collision scenes

Answer 6

ACECARD

Approach
Caution
Examine the scene
Casualties
Ambulance
Remove obstruction
Detailed investigation

Question 7

State the mneumonic used for major/critical incidents can be used to assist officers in determining initial actions and as a prompt for the relaying information back to the control room

Answer 7

METHANE

Major incident declared?
Exact location
Type of incident
Hazards present or suspected
Access - routes that are safe to use
Number, type, severity of casualties
Emergency services present and those required

Question 8

Explain using caution and making the scene safe

Answer 8

Wherever possible, when working in a road traffic environment you should:

• Always wear high visibility clothing
• Position Police Vehicles correctly
• Use hazard/roof lights
• Make use of cones/signs
• Try to create a safe zone and or sterile zone using police vehicles and cones/signs.
• You should posistion the police car about 50 metres infront of the vehicles involved in the collission.
• Keep the blue lights flashing to warn other vehicles
• Place cones from the front of the police vehicle to the vehicles involved. This will create a 50 metre ‘sterile’ area in which to work.
• If you have sufficient cones place them in a diagonal line from the side of the road, at a point approximately 100 metres from the police vehicle
• When placing cones you should walk out from the rear of the police vehicle,
  facing oncoming traffic and place the furthest cone first.
• Walk backwards placing cones until you reach the rear of the police vehicle.
• DO NOT turn your back on on-coming traffic.
• If you have one place a traffic sign at the beginning of the accident scene.

Question 9

Identify the importance of securing and preserving the scene and potential evidence in the investigation of Road Traffic Collisions and road related incidents.

Answer 9

• The quality of the initial investigation into a collision or other incident is a significant factor in gathering material that assists the police in identifying how it occurred.
• The ‘Golden Hour’ is a term for the period immediately following the commission of an offence when material is abundant and readily available to the police.
• ** The first opportunity to locate and gather material may be the only opportunity. **
• Scenes that are not properly secured will deteriorate quickly, witnesses who are not identified and interviewed immediately may discuss events with others and thus contaminate their recollection of the event, or may leave the area and be impossible to trace later.

Question 10

Explain the golden hour principles with relation to an RTC

Answer 10

Victims - You will need to identify victims and preserve the scene quickly so that evidence is still fresh and undisturbed.
Scenes – Identify, preserve, assess and commence log. For example, blood stains, foot prints etc. may need to be covered in poor weather conditions.
Suspects – Identify, arrest and preserve any evidence. For example, weapons they have used, blood stained clothing.
Witnesses – Identify, support and prioritise. They will need to be interviewed while their recollections are still clear in their mind. Record first account and any descriptions of suspect(s) provided.
Log – Decisions and rationale, circumstances, resources and conditions
Family/Community – identify, inform, primary support (needs, concerns, expectations, sensitivity)
Physical evidence – preservation (CCTV), public transport, escape routes, ambulances, hospitals
Intelligence – identify, prioritise, maximise, exploit and consider
Prevent contamination – victims, scenes, witnesses, suspects
Lines of responsibility – identify, inform, brief, coordinate and review

Positive action in the ‘Golden Hour’ minimises the risk of evidence being lost or tampered with and therefore maximises the chance of securing evidence that will be admissible at subsequent court hearings

Question 11

Having made the scene safe and assessed the situation at an RTC there are three things that must be considered. What mneumonic is used?

Answer 11

C – Casualties – persons injured
O – Obstruction – danger or hindrance caused by vehicles, debris or injured persons
W – Witnesses who can say what happened

Question 12

Outline the purpose of Post-incident de-briefing.

Answer 12

The post incident review is carried out to :

1. Examine and review information/actions at incident
2. Operational practice to inform lessons learned which will contribute to actions being improved for use in the future
3. Any health and safety and welfare issues that have arisen from being involved in the incident,
   including:
   * The effects of stress and how to identify and deal with it
   * Information on where to seek assistance and advice if required.