High Tensile Strength Increases Multifunctional Use of Survival Blankets in Wilderness Emergencies

Abstract

Introduction: Metallic survival blankets are multifunctional medical devices frequently used to provide thermal insulation in sport and leisure activities and in emergency care. To assess further properties of survival blankets, we investigated their breaking strength under laboratory conditions.

Methods: An experimental study was performed with 2 commercially available survival blankets used by emergency medical services. Breaking strength measured with a tensile testing machine was determined consecutively with 10 tests conducted per brand.

Results: Breaking strength (mean±SD) of the tested brands was 3.8±0.4 kN, (range: 2.8-4.1 kN) and 4.0±0.5 kN (range: 3.2-4.6 kN). When using the windlass of a commercially available tourniquet for the longitudinally folded survival blanket, the windlass bent at a force of 0.8 kN; when using a carabiner, the force exceeded 3.6 kN before failure occurred in both blanket brands.

Conclusions: Both brands of survival blankets show impressive tensile strength, indicating that they have the potential to serve as temporary pelvic binders or even as makeshift tourniquets when urgent bleeding control is needed.

Keywords: emergency medicine; pelvic binder; rescue work; tourniquet.