# Mass-Casualty Incidents & Triage

## Mass-Casualty Incident

A mass-casualty incident is an incident in which a significant amount of personnel have been injured and gone unconscious within the same general area. The priority during the initial response to a mass-casualty incident should be to triage the wounded and determine who needs what care, when.

## Triage

Triage is split into 4 classifications:

| Class     | Color  | Description                                                                       |
| --------- | ------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Immediate | Red    | Needs immediate qualified medical care to prevent loss of life.                   |
| Delayed   | Yellow | Needs immediate qualified medical care to prevent loss of life.                   |
| Minor     | Green  | Personnel who need minimal care. Often class 3 can treat themselves if conscious. |
| Expectant | Black  | Treatment would be to the detriment of others. E.g. Class 5 blood loss.           |

Triage depends on several factors, such as the patient's role; medics are always prioritized above all others though.