Health Corner 4- Suspension Trauma

by: desertknightfm Rhojel

SUSPENSION TRAUMA

Suspension trauma (also known as “harness‐induced pathology” or “orthostatic shock while suspended”) is the development of presyncopal symptoms and loss of consciousness if the human body is held motionless in a vertical position for a period of time. It has been described in experiments of personal fall protection, and has been implicated in causes of death in mountaineering accidents, but it seems neither to be widely known about nor to have been presented to the medical profession.

PREVENTION!

Suspension trauma is probably an unrecognized condition in modern medical practice, as in the majority of cases where an individual is suspended vertically the workers or climbers can keep themselves moving using their legs as muscle pumps, and additionally are rescued relatively quickly. In those who are stranded, for example, on the top of a scaffold tower, other factors probably account for their collapse, including traumatic injury and environmental conditions.

Modern harnesses now use a sitting position with a waist strap and sub‐pelvic leg straps for support, which means a shorter vertical distance for blood to be pumped back from the legs. People using this equipment are also taught that if they find themselves suspended vertically, they need to do any of the following: adopt a sitting position, move themselves into a horizontal position or push their legs off from a hard surface to keep their muscle pumps active. Some harnesses also have foot straps to keep the legs mobile for the same reason (see Fig.1)

Workers using safety harnesses are not permitted to work alone at height so that a rescue plan can be activated promptly if they come into any difficulty, and so that they will therefore not be suspended for very long.