Studies regularly cite emergency medical services as among the most dangerous jobs.The risk for EMS crews starts the moment they receive the call and hit the road. They have to travel at high speeds and navigate traffic to reach the emergency site.

When that emergency site is on the side of the road, the danger continues for EMS workers. When EMS personnel respond to a crash site, they're charged with assessing scene safety before they can get to work. 

There's a chance they'll have to deal with  hazards, including wreckage, hazardous material, fire, and noxious fumes while they try to assist with the medical emergency.

At the same time, EMS workers have to investigate the crash site upon arrival. They must deduce the cause of the accident, evaluate the passengers' positions in relation to the crash and extrapolate the cause of injury or death, and recall the location of debris moved or altered by necessity to get to potential survivors. 

All the while, EMS personnel must deliver pre-hospital triage medical care for all crash survivors. This helps to ensure local resources will not be overwhelmed, as a result of the crash.

More often than not, EMS workers must perform all of these vital duties on the side of the road, while the motoring public speeds past them.  Motor vehicle incidents are ranked the fourth most common cause of injury among EMS workers. Although they may not be the leading cause of injury among EMS workers, the rate of motor vehicle incidents is 20 times higher than the average rate for all other occupations.

Lights and sirens alone are simply not enough to protect EMS personnel on the road. Their ambulances are in constant risk of getting struck by a speeding vehicle, which puts the lives of EMTs in grave danger. If an ambulance is damaged in a collision, it must then be taken out of service and repaired or replaced. This comes at a great cost to the department and the community. Crew members can be injured or even killed.

Risk is synonymous with being an EMT. However, some of the risks that these emergency responders face are completely avoidable. EMT put their lives on the line to keep the community safe — they deserve that same level of protection on the road. 

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Tips for EMS workers to stay safer on the job

Establishing a culture of strong on-scene safety should be of the utmost importance to all EMS agencies. Emergency responders are dispatched to 12,200 roadway responses every day in the United States. According to the Responder Safety Institute, an estimated 11 EMS/Fire personnel lost their lives in struck-by accidents in 2022 alone. As many of these incidents go unreported, that actual number is likely higher.

It's the most crucial thing to ensure that everyone gets home safely at the end of the day. Here are some tips to keep all EMS workers safer while responding on the road. 

• Observe your surroundings: While this may seem like a given, EMS workers need to constantly observe their surroundings at a crash site. Take a moment to examine the scene upon arrival and take note of the potential risks that will remain as you work. Keep your head on a swivel to keep yourself, your crew, and your patient safe.
• Coordinate with local law enforcement: If you're ever in a violent situation, reach out to local law enforcement for assistance. Communicate with the on-scene officers openly and respectfully. They'll help create a safer space for everyone on site. 
• Park ambulances at a 45-degree angle: When arriving on scene, EMTs should park their units at a 45 degree angle with wheels facing the road. Public Safety Group says this tactic ensures that if the vehicle is struck, this will push it towards the shoulder and away from moving traffic.
• Develop a strong demobilization process: Even when work at a road incident is wrapping up, EMS workers need to remain vigilant and aware to prevent additional accidents and injuries. Public Safety Group says, "this includes having an organized system in place for removing temporary traffic control devices, protecting any workers who need to remain on-scene (such as law enforcement or tow truck drivers), and opening up any closed lanes." 
• Wear personal protective equipment: The Federal Highway Administration requires that all first responders wear high-visibility vests with five-point breakaway features while responding on or near a highway. This will help ensure that EMS workers can be clearly spotted by drivers passing the scene. 
• Implement digital alerting: Digital alerting systems can notify drivers of an emergency vehicle's presence so they can slow down and move over. Digital alerts have been proven to reduce the risk of collision by 90 percent, compared to traditional lights alone. These emergency vehicle alert systems aid drivers earlier in making safer, smarter driving decisions. 

How digital alerts protect EMTs on the road

A digital alert system is an electronic notification that is sent directly to a driver. Any alerting vehicle, such as an ambulance, can be equipped with digital alerting technology. These notifications inform drivers that there is a nearby or upcoming emergency vehicle they need to slow down and move over to give responders clearance to safely do their jobs.

Digital alerting systems have been proven to reduce the risk of collision for all roadway users. They aid drivers earlier in making safer, smarter driving decisions when EMS workers are responding on the side of the road. This makes digital alerting a key component of roadway safety for first responders. 

Why digital alerting systems matter

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Digital alerts were created to help improve Move Over law compliance, as these laws were created to prevent road collisions and protect first responders on the job. The first Move Over law was enacted in South Carolina in 1996 after a paramedic was struck by a passing vehicle and was found to be at fault. 

Move Over laws require drivers to slow down and move over to allow safe clearance to emergency personnel, roadside workers, and other incidents and hazards on the road. Digital alerts provide motorists with audible and visual warnings that can help them avoid collisions and safely follow their state’s Move Over laws — and they’ve been proven to work. 

Purdue University published a study in 2021 to measure the impact of digital alerting-equipped queue warning trucks on hard-braking events. The researchers’ goal was to discover if warning drivers of upcoming work zones earlier through digital alerting would reduce hard braking events on highways. 

After 3 months of research and 370 hours worth of observation, the study determined that queue trucks with digital alerting decreased hard braking events by 80 percent. This research goes to show that when drivers receive advanced warning from digital alerting systems, they'll have more than enough time to move over and prevent near misses.

Safety Cloud® by HAAS Alert is the world’s leading digital alerting service. It is an advanced collision prevention service that sends real-time digital alerts from emergency vehicles to drivers and connected cars via vehicle dashboards and infotainment systems, and leading navigation applications.

How is a digital alert different from emergency vehicle preemption?

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While they have similar purposes, digital alerting should not be confused with emergency vehicle preemption (EVP) technology. EVP was created to help first responders on the scene faster and safer. These solutions give responding units a green light on their approach to an intersection while providing a red light to conflicting approaches. EVP-equipped vehicles are given the ability to communicate with traffic lights through a piece of hardware or direct integrations. 

EVP is a lifesaving technology, just like digital alerting. Since vehicles equipped with EVP have the power to change traffic lights, it greatly reduces the chance of emergency vehicle-related collisions at intersections. 

It’s important to note that digital alerting on its own has nothing to do with traffic lights. Emergency vehicles equipped with a digital alerting system like Safety Cloud communicate with other vehicles on the road instead of traffic lights. When an emergency vehicle broadcasts a digital alert, it simply notifies nearby drivers to temporarily slow down and move over, instead of stopping for a red light.

However, there is a use case for EVP and digital alerting to come together as an innovative vehicle-to-everything solution. Take the partnership between HAAS Alert and LYT.emergency. LYT activates green lights for equipped ambulances and Safety Cloud notifies civilian drivers when that responding apparatus is nearby. This integration provides EMS workers with the best of both worlds — they’ll be able to alert drivers of their presence while activating green lights en route to an emergency situation.

How digital alerting has helped real EMS agencies

Digital alerting has been proven to protect all roadway users. Safety Cloud is the best solution to provide that extra level of protection. It is the leading advanced collision prevention service that sends real-time digital alerts from emergency vehicles to drivers and connected cars via vehicle dashboards and infotainment systems, and navigation applications. Over 3,300 agencies and departments use Safety Cloud digital alerting to keep their crew safe. Take a look at what some of them have to say.

DC Fire & EMS

Collisions with civilian drivers are a looming threat to first responders, but so are those with other responding apparatus. First responders, like firefighters and EMS workers, must travel at high speeds when they are actively responding to an emergency. Other local agencies with responding units will also be traveling at equally high speeds. Responding units may approach the same intersection quickly, meaning there’s a high risk for a collision between those vehicles.

Between 2019 - 2020, HAAS Alert partnered with NHTSA and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services to demonstrate the benefits of digital alerting to public safety agencies. The project sought to improve collision prevention between fire apparatus and civilian vehicles, along with aiming to reduce the collision risk between emergency fleets responding to the same incident.

Over the testing period, 84 EMS and fire vehicles were equipped with Safety Cloud. Those apparatus sent out 633,592 alerts. After the data was analyzed, the results were clear — 95 percent of the time, first responders notified of another approaching emergency vehicle will begin to slow down their speed.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical

The Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical (LDCFM) provides services to about 120,000 people in Douglas County, with a mix of small-town and big-city elements. The county is home to the University of Kansas, which adds an influx of 28,000 - 30,000 students during the school year. That creates extra congestion on the roads, making it harder for the department to navigate the surrounding surface streets on the way to a medical emergency.

Members of the department note while advances in automotive technology have improved safety in some ways, it's also become a detriment in others. With more distractions, drivers can't always hear sirens coming.

Approximately 65 - 70 percent of the department's responses are for emergency medical services, which means it's crucial for LDCFM to get to scenes quickly and safely. Kevin Joles, Division Chief of EMS, constantly worries about his team's safety. While he can't buckle their seat belts or turn on breathing apparatus, he notes that solutions like Safety Cloud is one thing he can control to enhance their safety.

Digital alerting improves safety for EMS workers

The state of EMS safety on the road leaves a lot to be desired. While providing medical assistance in high-stakes situations comes with inherent risk, the dangers that these brave emergency responders face start on the road. When they have to respond to crashes or medical emergencies on the side of the road, EMS personnel are constantly at risk for struck-by collisions. 

There are a number of best practices that EMTs can abide by to stay safe while responding on the road. One of the most cost-effective and immediate initiatives that can better protect them on the road is technology solutions like digital alerting.

When responding or on-scene ambulances can alert the motoring public to their presence, civilian drivers will have more time to take action to give EMTs the clearance they need to safely do their jobs. With that extra space, everyone will go home safely at the end of each day. Check out the Safety Cloud for EMS guide to learn more about what digital alerting can do for your fleet.