Custom essays on First Responder Equipment: Jaws of Life

More that 90% of all road accidents are collisions, frontal crashes and turned over vehicles, while the frequency of fatal outcomes and injuries in such types of accidents is significantly higher than the overall frequency of lethality and injuries in all other types of accidents counted together. This shows that the issue of the right choice of equipment and methods for eliminating the consequences of road accidents is very important (“A descriptive analysis of light vehicle-heavy vehicle interactions using in situ driving data”, 2007).
The job of rescuers in the case of car accidents consists in deblocking the injured people, their extraction from the damaged car and providing the first aid treatment to them. In this aspect, the effectiveness of the rescue operation is often depends on ability to provide the direct access o victims; therefore the maximum disbanding of the crashed vehicle might be required in order to clear the space necessary for the first aid treatment, fix the injured person when additional displacement is dangerous and extract the victim from the car. All this can be successfully executed with the help of Jaws of Life (AAOS, 2004).
Jaws of Life are hydraulic rescue equipment, which consists of rams, spreaders, and cutters. Earlier rescuers used to often apply circular saws for vehicle disengagement, but they had several serious disadvantages. Cutting metal saws generate sparks, which creates a risk of starting a fire, produce loud noise, which can cause a greater stress for the victim, and they often cut too slowly, while time might be a decisive factor in rescuing. An alternative to circular saw in pry opening the doors of the damaged vehicle could be crowbar or halligan bar, but they do not guarantee the stability of the vehicle and may cause additional injures for the victim, for example, by unintentional activation of the car airbags (Allman, 2008).
In comparison to the abovementioned tools, hydraulic Jaws of Life is quieter, quicker, and multipurpose: they can be used to cut, open, or even lift a vehicle. This rescue tool is power-driven by a hydraulic pump, which in turn can be powered by hand, foot, or engine that is sometimes built into the tool. Hydraulic rescue tool might be either single-function, where hydraulic pressure moves the cylinder in one direction only, and the return to initial position is executed by a pressure-relief valve and spring system, or dual-function, where hydraulic pressure provides both opening and closing the cylinder. The most known manufacturers of the Jaws of Life are Hurst, Genesis, Weber, Phoenix, Amkus, TNT, Holmatro, Lukas (Moore, 2002).
The cutter is a metal cutting hydraulic tool – a hydraulically powered scissors. It is often called a crab-cutter, because of its shape and the arrangement of its blades. Due to the specific capacity of the tool to cut a solid circular steel bar, the cutter is most often used to cut through a car’s construction in a disengagement process. Cutting edges are replaceable, and their development progresses together with the vehicle technology because it has to be able to deal with the latest vehicle protection technologies.
The hydraulic spreader is a tool equipped with two arms that are joined in a narrow head; the hydraulic pressure is used for separating or opening out the arms. The head of the spreader can be installed into a narrow hole between two vehicle parts (for instance, between the doors, or between a fender and a door); when the spreader is activated, its arms are opened, moving apart the metal sections of the car. The tool might also be used to detach car doors from the hinges (Holmatro Rescue Equipment, 2000).
Although both a cutter and a spreader tools are designed for separate particular functions, there is also a combination tool, or combi-tool as it is often called by the fire department, which combines the cutting and spreading applications of two different tools into a single one – spreader-cutter. In practice, the edges of the tool’s blades are fixed into a joint or gap, such as around a car door, and the device connected. The hydraulic pump, which might be built into the tool or as present a separate part, activates a piston that stretches the blades apart with great force and separates the joint. After the joint is separated, the open blades are relocated around the metal. The tool is powered in reverse and the blades narrow, cutting the metal. Repeating this action gives a rescuer an opportunity to quickly make a gap wide enough for pulling a trapped victim out. The force of the blades spreading or cutting may reach several tons or kilonewtons, and their edges are able to spread up to a meter.
This action can also be executed by separate cutting and spreading tools, which are specifically designed for their particular functions and may be necessary in some rescue operations. Combi-tools are sometimes less effective if compared to the special tool (for example, have a smaller spreading scale) but they might be very useful in cases when there is not too much space on rescue and fire vehicles (Anderson, 2004).
Rams are not so frequently used in car accident rescues as cutters and spreaders; however, their function is also important. There are rams of various types and sizes, including single- and dual-piston rams and telescopic rams. Sizes usually range from 20” (50.80cm) to 70” (178cm), which are called extended. Rams consume more hydraulic fluid while functioning than cutters and spreaders; therefore it is important to ensure that the pump applied has enough capacity to allow the ram to fully extend (Burke, 2006).
To provide access to the victim the roof of the vehicle is removed or turned up to the back: all the bars of the vehicle are cut off with the hydraulic cutter and the roof is removed. In the case when the front part of the dismantled vehicle is under another vehicle, the roof is turned up to the front: back and side bars and lateral surface of the roof are cut with the cutter, and the roof is turned up with a ram. If the vehicle got a side crash and turned over on its side, or when there is no access to the entire surface of the roof, the roof of the vehicle is turned up from the side (Palanca, Taylor, Bailey & Cameron, 2003).
A partial access to the injured person is achieved by opening the door from the side of the lock with the help of the spreader, the tips of which are inserted into the door window to create a gap between the panels. Then the roof is completely removed with the cutter and the door is opened with the spreader from the side of hinges, after which the door can be removed.
To provide full access to victim’s chest, and partially legs, the front part of the vehicle is pushed away. First, the front bars are cut with the cutter and the roof is completely removed; then the door is opened from the side of hinges and removed with the spreader; after that, the front part of the vehicle is pushed apart from the victim with the ram. The front part can also be pushed apart with the spreader installed between the control panel and the transmission (Hazarika, Willcox & Porter, 2007).
To provide full access to the victim’s chest and legs the front fender of the vehicle is dissected. The front bars are cut or the roof is completely removed with the cutter; then the door is pry opened from the side of hinges and removed with the spreader; eventually, a part of the front fender of the vehicle is cut off with the hydraulic shears. At the same time the dashboard is pushed away with the spreader in order to eliminate the risk of additional clamping of the victim (Burns, Cone, & Portereiko, 2009).
To clear the space required to pull out the injured person the side wall of the vehicle is completely removed: first the roof is removed with the cutter, and the door is removed with the spreader; after that the bearer of the side bar is cut and removed together with the front and back doors. The back seat with the backs of the front seats are also cut off with the cutter and removed.
To clear the space while extracting the victim fastened with the seat belt in the overturned vehicle, the vehicle is fixed using low-pressure air bags. Then the back door is pry opened with the spreader to reveal the back seats, a board is pushed under the victim’s back and he is fixed on it. Then the front door is pry opened to free the legs, they are also fixed to the board and the back bar is cut. Then the roof is removed with the cutter together with the bearer of the side bar, back door and the back of the front seat. If necessary, the overturned vehicle can be additionally lifted with the help of the ram (the roof is removed when the victim is fixed, and when the roof is pressed to the bulk) (Anderson, 2004).
For the proper functioning of the Jaws of Life the hydraulic oil pressure of up to 720 bar may be needed, which should be provided by a power supply. Currently, there are three separate means of producing the pressure. The most frequently used method is using a separate power element, which is a small petrol engine attached to a hydraulic pump. The oil is pressurized in the pump, and under pressure transmitted through a pipe into the tool.
Other power sources are a small electrical pump built into the tool powered by a durable rechargeable battery, and a pump attached directly to the tool and powered by hand or foot. These types are applied during less difficult and prolonged rescue operations; they also require less storage space than those with the separate power source and assembled segments of pipe (Holmatro Rescue Equipment, 2000).

References:

AAOS. (2004). First Responder (3rd ed.). Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
A descriptive analysis of light vehicle-heavy vehicle interactions using in situ driving data. (2007, January 1). Accident Analysis and Prevention, pp. 31-39.
Allman, T. (2008). Jaws of Life. Norwood House Press.
Anderson, B.G. (2004). Vehicle Extrication: A Practical Guide. Fire Engineering Books.
Burke, R. (2006). Counter-Terrorism for Emergency Responders (2nd ed.). CRC Press.
Burns, K., Cone, D. C., & Portereiko, J. V. (2009). Complex Extrication and Crush Injury. Prehospital Emergency Care, 14(2), 240-244.
Hazarika, S., Willcox, N., & Porter, K. (2007). Patterns of injury sustained by car occupants with relation to the direction of impact with motor vehicle trauma — evidence based review. Trauma, 9, 145-150.
Holmatro Rescue Equipment. (2000). Vehicle extraction techniques (5th ed.).
Moore, R.E. (2002). Vehicle Rescue and Extrication (2nd ed.). Mosby.
Palanca, S., Taylor, D., Bailey, M., & Cameron, P. A. (2003). Mechanisms of motor vehicle accidents that predict major injury. Emergency Medicine, 15 (5-6), 423-428.