Habersham County Emergency Services (HCES) personnel spent Tuesday trying to better prepare themselves and Habersham Quarry employees for responding to emergencies at the Demorest facility.
“At the request of Heidelberg Materials management at the Habersham Quarry, Habersham County Emergency Services was requested to come take part in their Safety Week,” said HCES Capt. Matt Ruark, training officer for the agency.
Emergency Services personnel discussed emergency response, Stop the Bleed, and important information to provide to E-911 dispatchers in the event of an emergency.
“Quarry employees then took the time to practice tourniquet application and took the delivery of 4 Stop the Bleed kits to be placed strategically throughout the quarry,” Ruark said.
Following the brief training sessions, quarry employees and Emergency Services personnel went to the area where the processing machines are located.
“Then with assistance from City of Gainesville Fire/Georgia Search and Rescue TF-1, Emergency Services members simulated a mock rescue,” Ruark said. “During this rescue, members simulated a worst-case scenario with a worker on top of one of the machines in cardiac arrest. Crews accessed the victim, placed a Lucas CPR device on him, and performed Basic Life Support while crews were setting up a lowering system to bring the victim down. All this was accomplished in under 20 minutes.”
(Photo courtesy Habersham PIO Rob Moore)