Paddle Sport Entanglement Safety Survey - Please Respond

[Fish]

Tina Aldrich, a U of A grad student in outdoor recreation who is interested in paddling and paddling safety, is doing research on the use of cutting tools (knives, hooks, shears, etc.) used to free paddlers from entanglements. I've met with her when she was in the planning stages since it is an important issue to me and the rest of the paddling community. She's collecting data now, and has prepared the survey below to get the info she needs. I've already filled one out and I told her I'd post it here for others to fill out as well I didn't know what trauma shears were so I had to look it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_shears" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Best way to do it is probably to copy it here, paste it into an email, fill in your responses below each question (I did mine in all caps to set it apart), and then email it to Tina at taldrich@uark.edu. And please pass it along to anyone else you think would be interested in participating - it would be great if she could get some responses from around the country (just point them to this thread). You don't have to include any personal info., but if you let her know how long you've been paddling and what type of paddling you do, I bet that would be helpful to her as well.

Thanks for your help,
Fish

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Paddle Sport Entanglement Safety

Survey Questions

I. Do you carry a tool to help free you from entanglements with ropes and rigging, etc…?

If no, please go to the A questions below.

If yes, please go to the B questions below.


A questions:

A. 1. If you do not carry such an implement, why?


A. 2. Do you think it is necessary? Why or why not?


A. 3. Have you heard anything that would lead you not to carry such an implement?


aa. 3. If yes, what have you heard and who/where have you heard it from?


A.4. What paddle sport training have you received? How were you trained? When were you trained/how long ago?


A. 5. What tools have you seen or know of being carried?


aa 5. Of those tools, what do you believe to be the most popular?


A. 6. Do you know of pros and cons of the tools being carried by other paddlers?


A.7. What folk knowledge (word of mouth), if any have you heard about carrying or not carrying a tool?








B questions:


B. 1. If you do carry a tool, what tool or tools are they?


ba 1. If you know of or carry more than one tool, what are the pros and cons of each?


B. 2. Why did you choose to carry the tool or tools above?

ba 2. About the tool or tools you carry:

What are the features you like best?

What are the features you like least?

B. 3. Have you used the tool? Please explain your use, if any, of the tool/tools and for what purpose?

B. 4. Are there other uses these tools are good/used for?

B. 5. What training/practice have you engaged in for the purpose of freeing a paddler from an entanglement situation using a tool?


B. 6. How did you come to learn of such tools?


B. 7. What tools have you seen or know of being carried?

ba 7. Of those tools, what do you believe to be the most popular?

bb 7. Why do you believe it to be so popular?


B. 8. How did you learn of safety techniques?

B. 9. When did you learn of safety technique? year/month,

B. 10. Have you ever heard of folks using trauma sheers?

B. 11. What do you think of trauma sheers as an alternative?

[okieboater]

I got interested in trauma or medical shears after being present at an accident years ago at 31st and Riverside Dr - old Tulsa Wave parking spot. This was before the traffic light was installed.

A Car suddenly turned left and stopped, the following car hit the brakes and skidded sideways and the third car hit the second car rear end at speed and started rolling over and over. Third car was a baby blazer with window open and driver not wearing a seat belt. All this took seconds from start to finish.

I watched the driver sail out the window and hit the pavement head first face down in the middle of the road.

Traffic stopped and I immediately dropped my kayak and stood over the guy waving my arms to alert other cars as traffic stopped. First thing was he was not moving. I visually examined him, asked his name (no response) and could not see anything going on and was afraid he had a broken neck. A motorcycle policeman came up and wanted to flip him over. I said no as I could see the injured man was breathing and told him what I had seen. EMT pulled up a few minutes later.

I told them what I had seen and they were glad the man was not rolled over.

Now the real purpose of this post.

While one EMT visually examined the man, another took out his trauma shears and like pulling a zipper, cut up both legs of the mans new levi pants to just open them up. In a flash he did the same to the tee shirt. In seconds they had this guy exposed for physical diagnosis. I was amazed at how fast this happened and they never moved him during the examination. EMT's put neck braces etc on the guy, got him on a back board (if memory correct they put him on face down and they were gone to the hospital in a flash.

Anyway, the gentleman was taken to the hospital and later passed away there.

Based on what I saw, I believe boaters should consider carrying a pair of these shears as part of their rescue tools. The shears can zip thru a spray skirt in a flash and not cut the boater as happened on the Ocoee a few years ago.

I have been using shears that look like trauma shears from Home Depot but would surely like to be able to order a pair of stainless steel real EMT shears if anyone has a lead on where to get the real deal, please post.

[Fish]

Can those things cut through a throw rope? How well/fast?

- Fish

[okieboater]

Have not attempted that.

Will find a old spectra rope and make a test

my guess is they will cut it, I know they cut hoopie well

[okieboater]

I had a old retired throw rope in the shed.

Disclaimer: My shears are the el cheapo ones from Home Depot garden department. I did not cut the throw rope with one shear - took a total of two shears as the rope cut most of the way thru on the first shear but turned a bit side ways and it took another shear to do a clean cut.

That is the reason I would like to get real EMT shears hopefully stainless steel maybe with a seratted edge part way.

I bet the real deal EMT pro versions cut most anything.

[Eric Esche]

I do have and carry in my lifejacket a set of stainless steel EMT type snips. I have used them to cut through ropes when knotted past undoing, and twice for entanglements. Have used them to cut through the boot of someone whose foot was pinned and crushed as a first responder. Even seen them cut through light metal at an airplane crash. They do great on seat belt webbing and any clothing. Carried a set in my both my big first aid kits too until they grew legs twice. Guess I need to replace them again.

I got mine from a dive shop web board when I was diving - brand is Sea Snips and they are made of 420 SS except for the center rivit which I have to oil about once a year. Most of the EMT's I knew got this brand, because they were stronger and lasted longer. Sea snips come in 6 colors (I prefer the yellow, orange, or lime green, but they also have black, blue, and pink) and they have 3 options on their case fasteners, but Sea Snips are only sold through Inovative Scuba Concepts dealers and not all of them stock all the varieties of colors or sheaths. Orange color is very rare for some reason. They really retain their sharpness well. I recommend getting snips or shears with florescent handles and a nylon case because they have a habit of walking off and they can open without a case. I keep mine in a pocket of my life jacket with a coiled leash with a safety/snap release so I can pass it to someone else if need be or keep my hands free and not lose it. Won't say they will always cut a big throw rope in one pass, but neither will some knives. I've cut 1/2" static line with mine in one slice in the past when I had to in the water.

Someone also makes SS cable cutter type shears today which look like crossing hook bill blades that really are better on ropes, but they are heavier and not as multipurpose. They will go through barbed wire which the EMT shears will not. Again, someone liked mine better than I did, and I never replaced them. Can't remember who I got them from, but I think it was an electrical supply house as I was doing construction back then and they were about $40 in the 70's. Here is a link to a non SS set sort of like them
http://cableorganizer.com/outlet/CTG-19 ... tion+Tools+" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]+Strippers+%26+Cable+Cutters&section=5

Lot of knock offs out there, particularly on the internet. Buy a good set to be happy with it, but remember, like a good knife, it's only yours until you lose it or it develops legs.

Here a link to a place that has the Sea Snips in black for $7.88 plus shipping -
http://www.divesports.com/ScubaMax-Sea- ... x-lc02.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hobbytoolsupply on ebay had EMT shears for $5.99 plus shipping without a case

Here the Sea Snips are in yellow for $12.95 plus shipping
http://www.reefscuba.com/add4.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This place had them in 5 colors (no orange) for $12.99 plus shipping
http://www.crazyscuba.com/pd_sea_snips.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This place has EMT shears for $6.00 with no case and before shipping and they had them in 4 colors including orange and camo.
http://www.tacticalresponsegear.com/cat ... ts_id=2342" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow, and this place has EMT shears for $4.99 in 14 colors
http://www.candfsupply.com/index.php?ma ... cts_id=49s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here are a set of orange EMT shears (aka trama shears) for $8.13 without shipping or sheath. These are smaller in size at 5.5" than the Sea Snips which measure 7.5" at their longest point out of the case. I might get these for the first aid kit replacements and keep the Sea snips for my PFD.
http://www.amazon.com/Atwater-Carey-EMT ... B000E324YI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eric

[RandyJ]

Fish, have Tina check out Survey Monkey (http://www.SurveyMonkey.com. Might be worth it for her to do a one-month subscription for $20. You can build pretty nice on-line surveys. Might get better results than the responses-embedded-in-email approach, and could be very easily be linked/broadcast to other popular paddling web sites like BoaterTalk, MountainBuzz, etc.

[okieboater]

Eric, ordered 2 sets of shears from DiveSports

dave