Multiple emergency crews rescued a man who had tumbled down a ravine in Wintergreen Gorge, a canyon located in Harborcreek Township, Erie County in the US state of Pennsylvania.

They left behind an IV bag, tubing with blood in it and other items of clinical (medical) waste. Emergycare officials say they are quickly cleaning up the mess and investigating the reason as to why this mess was left.

Well, perhaps one reason would be the focus of attention on care of the injured person rather than the niceties of waste disposal.

In a team effort, there might be many pairs of hands to deal with waste clean-up after an incident, though I daresay that each of the emergency services think it is someone else’s task and responsibility.

Those who might complain could do well to think of their own wellbeing in the event that they are involved in a serious incident. What would they prefer?

And the rest of us? We might give some thought as to why, at the scene of a serious incident, is there so often an odd number of discarded gloves?

Perhaps there are more one-armed ambulance staff and paramedics than we might imagine!