Today's Tourniquet Lesson: Use a Designated Trainer for TQ Practice (Update 12/26)

Preparation, Preparedness & Prevention Emergency First-Aid
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It is a common recommendation to keep tourniquets exclusively for either emergency use, or training and practice. Repeated application of tension stresses components in a device that is designed and intended for a single, critical use. Some TQ designs will have a higher tolerance than others for wear and tear from training, but heeding this caution is best practice.

This TQ is a genuine North American Rescue Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT) of known and vetted origin. It is an older generation, but was NIW when pulled from stock for classroom use. It was used in a training environment for two sessions, with approximately ~20 applications of tension. That is far more use than most TQs will ever receive, and it’s failure is not an indictment of the CAT as a product. It does demonstrate the point nicely, however. Had this TQ had 19 training applications, the 20th would have left a casualty or their medic to improvise. This particular failure point not only holds the overall strap body to the buckle, but the internal band as well, on which the windlass is mounted to apply tension.

Practice with your TQs, but practice with designated trainers.

And if one TQ in your IFAK is good, two is better.

2

Solid advice.
Our SWAT medics are recommending these…
http://www.liveactionsafety.com/sof-wide-tactical-tourniquet-black/?gclid=CJHV9aeLn8UCFQpk7AodHigApA

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I have the blue ones for practice, and the orange for carry.

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Thanks for sharing. Definitely a lesson best learned in the classroom and not in the field. I have used the both the CAT and the SOF-T with a head nod to the SOF-T. As long as its the newer version with the quick attach clip. The older version with the screw was a bit of a PITA to use under stress.

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The CAT is great and easy to use. Definitely a life saver. I recommend everyone take a TCCC course.

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The buckle is a common failure point. After running quite a few CLS/TCCC courses I can safely say that your assessment is spot on. I have rarely had a CAT make it through 20 rotations without showing significant signs of stress / failure. The plastic pressure point located directly under the windless commonly became warped as well in my experience.

SOF-T TQs are a great piece of kit so long as they are the “wide” variant. That being said I have found the caveat with this model is the amount of training it take for efficiency. Many of the joes that Ive worked with greatly prefer the CAT for its straight forward design (no screw / clip / multiple securing points).

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Thanks for sharing. Were these just regular applications, or were there any instances of additional stress? I.E. cinching it down on a leg, and then moving around, adding even more stress to the TQ?

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We use orange for training black for duty.

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Failure of the CAT in the photo was during classroom applications to arms and legs with tension, no lifting or moving.

10

Interesting. I have never seen it fail there. I don’t know if its due to our issued tourniquets being different or not, but our training ones get way more then 20 uses.

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For our second installment of why you should use a designated training TQ, we look at the the SOFTT-W.

These are genuine product of known origin, late 2014 production, placed into service in a large batch of designated training kits. Through the year each kit was used by multiple students, and the TQs were applied with various levels of tension 100-200x each. While restocking, I found those below to be good examples of typical wear patterns.

The first and most obvious point of wear is at the hook and buckle interface. With repeated removal and reattachment, the finish wears to a silver shine that shows with even light handling and manipulation. This wear is cosmetic. This buckle is typically tight when new, and I recommend it be worked a bit before placing in service to ensure it can be unbuckled one handed.

Another common sign of wear is also found at the buckle. Note that the latch is bent downward to conform to a limb. I’ve found this to be most common on SOFTT-Ws that get more aggressive use, particularly on smaller circumferences.

L, normal / R, bent

While commonly seen with extended use, I’ve not yet had the latch fail. The amount of bend seems to limit itself to that required for the limb. I have bent several of these back to flat and pinched the gap closed, but it’s a temporary fix. With enough working of the metal, it will weaken and break eventually.

The next wear point is at the strap retaining the triangle. The proximity of the triangle to the windlass is adjusted along its length, and it’s stitched at each end onto the sleeve. Wear here is a good indicator of repeated tension and aggressive application. Typically, one of the corners nearest the windlass begins to break free, then continues to pull its stitches with repeated application. Ultimately, it breaks free from the sleeve and allows the windlass and strap to unwind. How long that takes varies. One SOFTT-W went ~150 full-tension applications in a specific exercise before that failure.

L, corner starting to break free / R, no sign of wear

No sign of wear on the L. The SOFTT-W on the right had lost half its hold, then later came undone from the sleeve. After removal, pulling on the loose string finished it off. I have not tried to repair these, though there is likely a stitch or rivet repair that could keep a trainer going for more reps.

The SOFTT-W has excellent durability and longevity in training use for me. However, best practice is still to keep a designated trainer for practice, and a new unit for life support use. Many find that choosing different colors for those purposes is helpful as well.