Trucker´s job involves direct physical contact with his cargos and all the mechanical devices that are necessary to carry out his loads and deliveries. Many times, they get hurt and have some kind of injury, either small or high risk.

It’s very important that they have knowledge about the care with a wound, because if it is not treated properly it can become an infection.

The main guidelines that truckers must follow:

1- Make sure it is not a serious injury

There are external wounds, which affect the integrity of the skin by contact with an object or internal wounds that do not bleed externally, such as a broken bone, caused by a blow or a fall.

An injury is considered serious when:

- There is a hemorrhage that cannot be stopped or even when it is stopped, it bleeds again.

- It’s not possible to clean the wound in the correct way or there is an object obstructing the cleaning. No attempt should be made to move or remove that object.

- If the depth of the wound is large or the wound itself has significant size.

- If it affects very sensitive areas such as the face and genitals.

2- How to stop the bleeding

First of all, truckers should wash their hands thoroughly to avoid infection. If there is blood in the wound, the truckers should try to stop the bleeding by applying pressure with a gauze until the wound forms a clot and does not bleed more.

3- Clean the wound daily to avoid infections

It is recommended to use saline water, running water or hydrogen peroxide. Do not use soap. The wound area should be carefully cleaned out, preventing dirt from accumulating.

4- What should be used to heal the wound?

Antiseptics should be applied, such as povidone iodine or chlorhexidine, ointments that have a fungicidal and disinfecting action. That you can find it in any pharmacy, Truck Stop, supermarkets.

5- You should cover the injury

An injury doesn’t heal better in the open, wounds must be covered to avoid infections caused by bacteria present outdoors. In addition to protecting from the sun´s rays.

6- Observe how the wound evolves

Truck driver friend, it is very important that you observe your wound between 24 and 48 hours after injury, to check that the treatment is helping the healing to progress correctly, you should observe the following signs of a possible infection:

- Hot

- Pain

- Redness

- Fever

- Pus

If you don´t have the aforementioned symptoms, wound healing is normal.