Emergency rescue procedures are guidelines, not rules.
Emergency rescue procedures involve humans, horses, sewers, buses, power tools and school children. Each emergency situation, whether a bus crash or a person in cardiac arrest trapped in a sewer, requires its own set of emergency rescue guidelines. Emergency rescue procedures are designed to save the maximum number of lives with minimal injury. The procedures for an emergency rescue exist not just for rescue personnel like police officers and fire fighters, but everyone involved in the situation, including the victims.
Confined Space Rescue
The Environmental Health & Safety Department at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania has a specific set of guidelines for confined space emergency rescue procedures. If someone is stuck in a confined space, be it a duct or a sewage system, a health and safety officer is to call 911 and stay in contact with the stuck person. In the event of non-threatening injuries, the officer is to take no action until the 911 emergency response team arrives. However, if the person has suffered a heart attack, cannot breathe, or is otherwise at risk of death, the health and safety officer will use a tripod with an attached cable and pulley to extract the person from the confined space, and tend to that person until an ambulance arrives on the scene.
School Bus Rescue
At the behest of the National Transportation Safety Board, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services created a 72-page document detailing the proper emergency and rescue procedures regarding school buses. The document suggests that when children are stuck in a school bus in an emergency and must be rescued via evacuation, the roof of the bus should be cut, because smashing the windows will shower the children with glass, and school bus windows are too small for multiple, simultaneous evacuations. Air vents on the roof can also be used for emergency rescue, and are equipped with exterior releases for easy entry. Most school buses are equipped with seat-belt cutting knives, for children who are stuck.
Equine Rescue
A consortium of veterinarians and scientists produced "Effectively Perform Emergency Rescue of Equines," which details proper emergency rescue procedures for horses in a number of situations. Materials needed include rescue-grade web and rope and a polygrid fence, which can be used to contain the horse after rescue. Most horse emergency rescue procedures, from pulling animals from mud pits to extracting them from fallen or flaming trailers, involve harnesses, ropes, and cranes. Placing a harness underneath a horse and attaching it to a crane can pull the animal from mud pits and similar traps. For horses that are trapped but capable of movement, the standard emergency rescue technique is to assist its forward movement with a harness and rope. If a horse is not ambulatory, it should be dragged backward, to minimize injury.
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