Crowdguard, the specialist in counter terrorism risk assessment and hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM), has committed to providing emergency bandage kits as part of every temporary HVM deployment following a partnership with RAPAID, the emergency bandages charity.
The move is part of Crowdguard’s commitment to keeping people and places safer and comes as event organisers, venues and local authorities increase their focus on HVM in preparation for Martyn’s Law (the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill), which is expected to become legislation soon. The kits, containing military grade emergency bandages, surgical gloves, window stickers and a full set of laminated instructions, will be available at every Crowdguard temporary HVM deployment at no additional cost to the company’s customers, ensuring that anyone on the scene can stem casualties’ bleeding should an incident of any kind occur.
Deborah Ainscough, founder and director of Crowdguard explains: “Our mission is to protect people and places from vehicle impacts with expert specification and installation of HVM equipment, aligned to a vulnerability, threat and risk assessment. But we cannot protect people from all risks, and we wanted to make sure that, if the worst happens – whether it’s a vehicle attack, a knife attack, an accident or any other type of incident causing heavy bleeding – we have the equipment on site to reduce the consequences and save lives.”
It has come to light since the Manchester Arena bombing inquiry that several of those who perished as a result of the attack bled out. They might have survived had there been emergency bandages available to stem the bleeding.
Figen Murray MBE, who has campaigned for Martyn’s Law, following the death of her son Martyn in the Manchester Arena attack comments: “So much of what we want to achieve with Martyn’s Law is an approach to risk mitigation that joins the dots between preventing terror attacks and reducing the consequences. That’s exactly what’s happening with this partnership between Crowdguard and RAPAID, and I encourage others to follow this lead with collaboration and joined-up thinking.”
It takes between just two and five minutes for someone to bleed out following a catastrophic injury, and the most recent emergency ambulance (category 1) response figures from the NHS indicate eight and a half minute average wait times for an emergency ambulance in England and Wales.
“Having emergency bandages available that can be used by anyone without training could mean the difference between life and death for casualties,” Alex Chivers, founder of RAPAID continues. “We know that people on the scene during the Manchester Arena attack did everything they could to help the injured, but they just didn’t have the kit on hand to stop the bleeding until the emergency services arrived.
“Our partnership with Crowdguard will go a long way towards preventing this scenario from happening again, and we are delighted to be working with the company as part of our campaign to make emergency bandage kits available in workplaces and public environments to save lives following accidents, attacks or incidents.”
After donating to RAPAID, a charity that relies on donations from supporters to fund production and distribution of the emergency bandage kits, Crowdguard have already received their first RAPAID kits and starting deploying them at events across the UK. RAPAID emergency bandages kits can already be found in black cabs in five UK cities, along with at prominent visitor attractions, such as the British Museum.
Travis Frain BCA, National Chair of the UK Counter Terrorism Youth Advisory Group and a survivor of the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack, adds: “Our goal is to make emergency bandages as commonplace as defibrillators and fire extinguishers,” Alex adds, “to improve outcomes for injured people whenever, and wherever bad things happen. It’s brilliant that Crowdguard have chosen to extend their mission to protect people to include our kits and we’re confident that our partnership will not only boost safety, but awareness too.”