How to Carry an Injured Person on a Litter During First Aid

When professional medical care is far away, you may have to evacuate an injured person by litter. After securing the injured person to a litter (see "How to Secure an Injured Person to a Litter"), carry the person to safety using the following steps.

Things You'll Need

• Litter

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Instructions

• 1

  Position one rescuer at the head to serve as leader and to monitor head and neck stability.

• 2

  Position the other rescuers along the sides of the litter, at least two to a side, trying to keep people of roughly equal height opposite each other.

• 3

  Grab the litter through the appropriate hand-hold. Use whichever hand is appropriate to the direction you'll be walking.

• 4

  Lift on the leader's call: "Lift on 3 - 1, 2, 3!"

• 5

  Adjust each rescuer's lifting height as necessary to keep the injured person level.

• 6

  Begin moving on the leader's call: "Move on 3 - 1, 2, 3!"

• 7

  Walk for as long as you can before resting, following the leader's calls, commands and warnings at all times. Leader: be scanning ahead for obstacles and dangers, as well as monitoring the stability of the head and neck and issuing commands as necessary to keep the injured person level.

• 8

  Stop when necessary (to monitor injuries, to re-secure knots, or to rest): notify the leader that you need to stop and follow the leader's calls: "Stop on 3 - 1, 2, 3!" and "Down on 3 - 1, 2, 3!"

• 9

  Attend to any injuries that require monitoring.

• 10

  Re-secure the ropes wherever they may have come loose.

• 11

  Readjust the padding as necessary, especially under the buttocks and under the heels, since a spine-injured person will not sense a cutoff in circulation.

• 12

  Repeat the above steps in order when you're ready to start again.