Dress code when volunteering

[Shepard]

No the WA State Good Samaritan Law DOES NOT cover volunteers. The minute you enter an official capacity your no longer a good samaritan, you are now a professional.

Additionally, OSHA identifies volunteer firefighters as employees and must have the same training regarding health hazards. This would also make a volunteer ineligible under the Good Samaritan law.

 

[Jon]

...
Lets use this as an example: lets say you are attending the Puyallup Fair. You walk into the farm animal display and slip in some cow poop. You think your fine, but after an hour of walking your ankle begins to hurt. You see a person walking around with a fanny pack and a t-shirt with a giant star of life on it. What would your expectation to this persons' level of training be? You would most likely think the provider was an EMT or medic right? I doubt you would even consider the fact that they might just be "first aid" trained.

Lets take it a step further. Lets say I am the one that is injured and your the provider. You say "oh you just need an ice pack" and you give me such. However, what if I slipped because of an underlying issue and the "cow poop" was just a coinicedence? What if the underlying condition, would have been something a Basic or Medic would recognize, and I now have complications because you didn't catch it. You gave me an ice pack and sent me on my way...

I think you're taking this a step far, but I understand your logic. It also depends on what your protocols/policies are for working an event, for example, where I work, if someone walks up and asks for a bandaid or ice pack, we give it to them and get their name. We don't perform an assessment, per se. When we DO perform assessments, we must also document a refusal.

What is this EMSA you keep referring people to? I think that may be a location specific acronym.

EMS Authority. Some places may have an EMS Region, Department of EMS, or EMS Council that does the same function. It would be the most local authority in EMS systems management, delegated from the state authority.

 

[Jon]

In reference to the OP's question. I have seen many larger events where "first aid" volunteers wore Event T-shirts (in red, of course) that just said "First Aid" or "Medical" on the back.