First Aid Basics
In a large emergency, the ambulance may take much longer than usual. For the first minutes, sometimes the first hour, the help is whoever is standing there. A few simple actions save most of the lives that can be saved. This page is a reminder, not a replacement for training: take a first aid course and repeat it every few years.
1. Before
- Take a first aid and CPR course with the Red Cross or another recognised organisation.
- Keep a first aid kit at home, in the car and in each go-bag.
- Find the nearest defibrillator (AED) to your home and workplace.
- Keep a written list of each family member's medicines, allergies and conditions.
2. In any emergency
- Check for danger to yourself first: traffic, fire, gas, electricity, falling objects.
- Call 112 (or 911). Say where you are, what happened and how many are injured. Put the phone on speaker and follow the operator's instructions.
- Help the most seriously injured first: people who are not breathing or are bleeding heavily.
3. Severe bleeding
- Press hard and directly on the wound with a clean cloth or your hands. Do not let go.
- If blood soaks through, add more cloth on top and keep pressing.
- If the bleeding from an arm or leg is life-threatening and pressure does not stop it, use a tourniquet above the wound if you have one and know how. Note the time.
- Lay the person down and keep them warm.
4. Unconscious but breathing
- Turn the person onto their side in the recovery position, with the head tilted slightly back so the airway stays open.
- Stay with them and check their breathing until help arrives.
5. Not breathing normally: CPR
- Call the emergency number and ask someone to fetch a defibrillator.
- Push hard and fast in the centre of the chest: 5 to 6 cm deep, 100 to 120 times a minute.
- If you are trained, give 2 rescue breaths after every 30 compressions. If not, keep doing compressions without stopping.
- When a defibrillator arrives, switch it on and follow its spoken instructions.
- Do not stop until help takes over or the person starts breathing.
6. Choking
- If the person can cough, encourage them to keep coughing.
- If they cannot breathe or speak: give up to 5 firm blows between the shoulder blades, then up to 5 abdominal thrusts. Repeat.
- If they become unconscious, call the emergency number and start CPR.
7. Burns
- Cool the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes. Do not use ice.
- Remove rings and loose clothing near the burn, but not anything stuck to the skin.
- Cover loosely with cling film or a clean, non-fluffy cloth. Do not apply creams or butter.
- Get medical help for large or deep burns, and for burns on the face, hands or genitals, or on children.
8. Cold and shock
- Keep every injured person warm with blankets or coats, and off the cold ground.
- Talk to them calmly. Do not give food or drink to someone seriously injured.
First aid kit
- Sterile dressings and compresses in several sizes
- Elastic and gauze bandages, triangular bandage
- Plasters, wound closure strips, medical tape
- Disposable gloves, scissors, tweezers
- Wound cleanser or saline
- Burn gel dressings
- Foil emergency blanket
- Pain and fever medicine, and your regular medicines
- Thermometer
- A tourniquet, if you are trained to use it
See also Home kit, Terrorist attacks, Losing heat in winter and all risks.
Sources
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: First aid
- European Resuscitation Council
- NHS: First aid
Educational material, not medical training. Always call the emergency number and follow the operator. Last reviewed: November 2026.