Emergency Action Plan

It’s a long-established practice. Youth and Minor hockey relies on coaches to be the trainer. But are you prepared? Do you have an Emergency Action Plan?

Our guess is probably not, but that’s ok. We will help you develop an Emergency Action Plan for your team, and provide you links to additional resources.

Emergency Action Plan for Hockey Teams

Hockey Canada

Hockey Canada’s Safety Essentials page has a list of downloadable, and printable, resources. The page include an EAP, wallet cards, incident reports and more. It is pretty thorough, and should be reviewed by all coaches, team parents and emergency action personnel.

Here is a list of Hockey Canada’s resources:

• HC–Emergency Action Plan
• HC–Responsibilities for Coaches and Team Managers
• HC–Arena Safety Checklist
• HC–EAP Wallet Cards
• HC–Player Medical Information Sheet
• HC–Player Injury Log for Teams
• HC–Player Down: Official’s Role
• HC–Safety Person’s Responsibilities
• HC–Safety Person Code of Ethics

USA Hockey

• USAH–Injury Management Resource Guide

Hockey Canada and USA Hockey take different approaches to player injury management, but their focus is the same… Keeping players safe!

Hockey Canada has several resources (links above), which combined make-up a comprehensive Emergency Action Plan. USA Hockey uses a consolidated reference sheet (link above), which has a modern info-graphic feel.

USA Hockey’s Injury Management Guide is broken-down to six steps:

1. First Aid Kit–Recommendations for a hockey first aid kit
2. Wound Care–Direct Pressure
3. Injury Evaluation–HOPS: History, Observation, Palpataion, Special Test
4. Initial Treatment–RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation
5. Emergency Action Plan–USAH recommends having an Emergency Action Plan
6. Concussion Resources–An abbreviated concussion management protocol

Developing your EAP this off-season will make you better prepared when the season starts. Using the resources we’ve provided from Hockey Canada and USA Hockey, you can develop a plan in just a few minutes. Take the time to do it now. When you need it, you’ll be glad you did.

Related

First Aid for coaches