What is “Neil Robertson Stretcher” on Ships?

The last thing any mariner would want to get involved in is an accident on ship, keeping in mind lack of proper medical facilities present onboard. But still accidents are prone to happen as ship is a complicated floating structure with several machineries, moving equipments, and compact spaces.

If an accident occurs on a ship, the life of the person greatly depends on the time taken to remove the person from the site of accident and transfer him to the ship’s hospital room, where the first aid and other medical procedures can be carried out. There are several medical equipments available on board and the Neil Robertson stretcher is the most commonly used one on board ships.

Neil Roberts on Stretcher

The Neil Robertson stretcher is designed for removing an injured person from spaces wherein access, doors, or hatches are too small to permit the use of regular stretchers. Spaces such as engine-room spaces, Cargo holds, Pump rooms, Boiler room etc. are few examples of such compact spaces on ship.

The Neil Robertson stretcher is made of flexible semi rigid canvas and can be folded easily when not in use or during accessing small spaces.

The stretcher is provided with strong straps which when firmly wrapped around   the   victim, give strong support to hold the person with almost negligible movement with respect to stretcher, which is very important when rescuing or transferring injured person.

The stretcher straps are such made that when tied up over the victim, it covers the person in mummy-fashion, giving sufficient support

Advantages

• The victim is tied up firmly with the stretcher, avoiding unwanted fall.

• Can be removed vertically from confined spaces like hatches etc, as victim is secured with the stretcher.

• When a life line is tied to the stretcher, unwanted swaying can be avoided.

• Easy to use and bring to the accident site.

• Light weight and ready to use

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Image Credits:

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