There are a number of safety event and incident reporting tools for EMS providers. Some reports are mandated by Regulation, others are tools for EMMCO West or the Commonwealth Bureau of EMS to help identify potential hazards or work toward minimizing accidents.

The EMS regulations, §1005.10(e)(i) requires ambulance services to report, in a form or manner prescribed by the Department, to the appropriate regional EMS council an ambulance vehicle accident that is reportable under 75 Pa.C.S., and an accident or injury to an individual that occurs in the line of duty of the ambulance service that results in a fatality, or medical treatment at a medical treatment facility. This revised form has been adopted by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, EMS Office to meet the requirements of the regulations. The link to the right will take you to the EMMCO West vehicle crash, near miss, and personal injury reporting site. You will be asked 3 questions which will determine whether the incident is reportable under the EMS Regulations, in which case you will be directed to the Commonwealth EMS Vehicle Collision and/or Personal Injury Report Form. Otherwise, you will be directed to EMMCO West’s anonymous vehicle incident reporting tool. This is used to try to identify the types of vehicular incidents which are occurring in the EMMCO West region which are not reportable to the Bureau of EMS. This along with our Drive Cam project allows us to identify types of behaviors which adversely affect safe driving.

The second link is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania EMS Safety Event Reporting System. This system collects anonymous reports of EMS system safety events for the purpose of preventing future events across the system. The reports that are submitted through this website will be used as part of the regional and statewide quality improvement plans to make changes to the system that will reduce or prevent future similar events.

CO Detector Program
Special CO Detector Project Announcement
Download Form Here

EMMCO West, Inc. in 2009 began to issue disposable CO gas detector monitors to every licensed EMS agency vehicle within the EMMCO West region.  The CO detectors are placed on the first in bags and have a 3 year activation cycle.  The purpose of the CO detector is to alert EMS crews of potentially hazardous enviornments due to measurable levels of CO gas.  CO gas is a byproduct of some form of combustion type sources (engines, furnaces, stoves, etc…).

CO poisoning has similar signs to certain medical conditions.  Headache, breathing difficulty, dizzyness, confusion, and unconsciousness/apnea/cardiac arrest in severe exposures are often reported .  In reported cases of CO detector activationsin the EMMCO West region, over the 3 years the CO detectors have been used, a variety of healthcare and EMS crew exposure risks have been documented.  Patient’s exhibiting “flu-like” symptoms have been discovered to have been exposed to CO gas.  EMS crews have discovered furnace CO gas leaks within their crew quarters. The CO detectors have had a significant patient care and crew safety affect!

EMMCO West is asking any participating EMS agency to complete the following online CO Detector Activation Form.  This online form asks some basic information about the type of patient, EMS crew, location of the incident, any confirmations of CO levels by gas company or fire department, and the pt response to treatment during and following the event (if this is known). Click here to enter the CO Detector data. NOTE- To submit online, use Internet Explorer ONLY.  Google Chrome or Mozilla can be used to Print the form and then fax to 814-337-0871.