Responding adequately to any emergency situations can make a difference between life and death.

This is according to John Erasmus, Assistant Director for Safety Engineering in the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison.

Erasmus was speaking during a workshop for stakeholders on road incident management, held on the N4 Toll Road near Tenbosch towards Komatipoort on Wednesday.  The workshop commenced with the staging of a crash, whereby various stakeholders responded as if they were attending the actual crash scene.

It was attended by stakeholders who include Department of Transport, Department of Health, SAPS, Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), Nkomazi Local Municipality, TRAC N4 and emergency personnel from Mozambique.

According to Erasmus, the workshop further enhanced participants’ awareness of various protocols each needed to observe from incident detection, mobilising of response of other required services, situational analysis, scene management and recovery and rehabilitation stages.

Erasmus also indicated that Mozambique emergency practitioners were critical stakeholders because many South Africans frequently visit Mozambique and it was important that there was a common way of responding properly to crashes even in both countries.

“We need to approach crash scenes in a uniformed manner to eliminate unnecessary loss of lives due to inadequacy in how emergency situations are sometimes responded to. Proper management also contributes to reduction of secondary incidents and severity of injuries,” Erasmus emphasised.

He explained that the workshop was critical in order to avoid confusion and ambiguity that often compromises those who have been severely affected by the crashes. After the crash simulation the stakeholders met for a debriefing where they identified other areas where they believe they needed to improve.

Delegates from Mozambique welcomed the exercise saying they will implement what they have learned from their South African counterparts in their own country. They however added that they will appeal to their authorities to allocate more resources to emergency personnel in order to respond adequately to road crash scenes.

Click on the below image to read about: Mpumalanga MEC in car crash with taxi.