Hi All
I have just completed creation of a compressed air training course for our employees.
Basic but covers enough to ensure they actually understand that if you mess with it, it will hurt.
Anyway a question has arose out of the training

Are there any specific first aid requirements for someone who may have been internally exposed to compressed air?

I know the obvious:
Try to keep calm
Recovery position if unconscious
ABC etc etc

But is there any specific treatment a first aider can do to help someone who has been internally exposed to compressed air?
I have searched but not come up with an definite answers
Any help would be brilliant

It's fairly common as a result of horseplay, and also as a result of operators using the compressed air nozzles to 'blow clean' dust, swarf etc from overalls / clothing. There are plenty of cases on the internet of air embolism from high pressure air injection under the skin, most of these are reported as fatalities, with a few indicating that the IP survived but there is little re: first aid measures.

I did come across something on the US Navy Safety Centre website describing the IP being put into a hyperbaric chamber and pressurised to dissolve the air bubbles then slowly decompressed.

I remember this from a couple of years back, which describes what first aid was given to someone:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/new...ld-asia-pacific-13537084

Good luck