Abstract
The emergency medical personnel in Thailand are always challenged by the task difficulty in working
with limited resources and spaces, as well as the high risk of encountering traffic accidents. This study
aims to elaborate situation and analyze the causes and factors of the ambulance crash in Thailand.
This was a retrospective analysis of all fatal ambulance crash on Thailand public roadways in 2014, from the secondary data in three main sources, including the database of Information Technology for
Emergency Medical System (ITEMS), the records of surveillance ambulance accident of EMS from
January to December 2014, and the report of ambulance accident investigation collected from the local
network in 2014, using the Haddon’s matrix approach. The study was conducted from January to March
2015. The results are presented using descriptive statistics
According to the ambulance accident surveillance data, 61 ambulance accidents occurred in 2014,
resulting in 130 injured victims and 19 deaths. The accidents happended more frequently during June to
August (25 times). The accident rate was 0.05 with the mortality rate of 0.02 per 1,000 operations. From the
nine accident investigation reports, factors related to accident and safeness of the ambulance could be
concluded into human factors, vehicle and equipment factors, and road environment factors. Human
factors included lack of ambulance driving training, unfastened seat belts, and high speed driving exceeding
90 km/hr. Unregistered ambulance and missing GPS installation contributed to the lack of vehicle
standard. The disparity in each local road environment such as speed curve, crowded site, and missing
directive signs led to higher risk of accident.
This study found that ambulance accidents was increased, resulting in an increasing of injury and
death in emergency medical personnel. The causes of ambulance accidents and risk from the above three
factors were still prevalent. Therefore, it is necessary for the related organizations to implement new policies
and take actions towards preventing future ambulance accidents.
