Hi Everyone one,

As a former firefighter of 20 years,

I enjoy WAM like you do. However, at times I watch some extreme sploshing or pie hits through the lens of an emergency responder.

I often wonder if some of the big named sites like have someone on the set to act quickly if a model can't breath. I think of the many pie hits and the model has her mouth open and a pece of filling gets lodged in her throat.

I can think of one video example where the model opens a mailbox. She looks in and is hit in the face with a powerful blast of cream. At first you thing she mugging for the camera, but a closer look shows she is trying breath.

Same goes for the oft seen surprise pie in the face. Most of the targets are not models and are expecting to be pied. If the targets mouth is open, the potential for choking is real.


What ore your thoughts?

Easy183.

I remember UMD's own Candycustard talking about this in passing once.

It's kinda the one major risk of this whole dealio, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people into thicker substances like shaving cream have personal experience of struggling to breathe somewhere down the line. for solo play it's a hazard you're usually equipped to deal with-- if your hands are free to pie yourself, they're free to clear anything obstructing your mouth-- but with a partner (or multiple partners), it's another reason why it's essential to only wam with folks you can trust. (and who know the heimlich, just in case.)

Plus part of setup is taking health and safety into consideration, y'know? slippery surfaces, trip hazards, etc.

Flansomeman,

Thank you for your response. And sharing your thoughts.

I wonder if the models or company needs to carry insurance. Knowing the heimlich, is a plus, but at times you can see models trying to clear their mouth and nose of goop. I would hope they have pre discussed hand signals for help.

Yeah I had a dangerous situation in a session in 2009 I think. It was with foam pies and bondage. It's fine if you have either your hands free to clear your mouth or nose, or if the pie filling is heavy and falls right off

In this situation I was tied to a chair and the pie stuck to my face in such a way that I couldn't breathe or speak and my wriggling was mistaken for enjoyment. Eventually my body took over and just breathed in and I inhaled foam and choked, at which point they finally realised I was in trouble and untied me. Clearing my face first would have better but hey I was just glad to not be dying at this point

I had never considered the possible danger until then. Be very careful with bondage and wam everyone! Be holding an object you can drop or something in place of a safeword in case you can't speak

I worry when I see someone have a pie slapped on their ear, or worse still when someone stands behind them and slaps pies on each ear at the same time.

I've felt uncomfortable watching scenes a few times, worrying about how the model in able to breathe, especially scenes where the model is wearing a ball gag or similar. I hate force feeder scenes for the same reason, though I'm sure producers that do them must take appropriate precautions

Of concern: jumping or diving into mud without first checking for submerged objects such as stakes or rocks.

That's really good advice. I've seen a couple of other videos like that (e.g. the MostWAM Monarch likes having "pied with hands tied behind your back" as a potential forfeit), and holding an object seems like a very sensible precaution that's easy to implement.

Also, I'm glad that you were ok; that sounds like a really scary situation to be in.


Gadgets can be useful, but they can also be expensive (c. £1000 for an AED), and with an aspirator you need to know how to use it.

As a first step, I'd recommend that people do a training course. In the UK, you could go to St John Ambulance or the Red Cross:
https://www.sja.org.uk/courses/workplace-first-aid/emergency-first-aid/book-efaw/
https://www.redcrossfirstaidtraining.co.uk/courses/first-aid-at-work-courses-uk-mainland/scheduled-courses/emergency-first-aid-at-work/
(Those links are for the 1 day "emergency first aid" course. Both organisations also offer a 3 day course for the full First Aid at Work qualification.)

NB A couple of people mentioned the Heimlich manoeuvre (aka abdominal thrusts). However, for an adult who's choking, that's not the first thing to try. See:
https://www.sja.org.uk/get-advice/first-aid-advice/choking/adult-choking/
Basically, you encourage them to cough it out first, then you try back slaps, then you move on to abdo thrusts if the back slaps didn't work. You also need to check the mouth after each slap/squeeze.

If someone loses consciousness (but is still breathing), you'd need to put them in the recovery position while you wait for the ambulance, and that's another thing which is covered in the training course.

We might be talking at cross-purposes here. When I say "need", I'm not talking about a legal requirement, I'm talking in practical terms.

I've attached a picture of a manual aspirator (although it might take a little while for the mods to approve it). A couple of things to consider:

a) In my experience, these come disassembled, so you need to attach the various components together before use. If you've done it before, that's easy; if you haven't, you don't want to be puzzling over it while someone's choking in front of you.

b) In my training, they told us not to poke it into the mouth any further than we can actually see, to avoid the risk of pushing stuff further down the throat and making the problem worse. That might be obvious to you (as a paramedic) but maybe less obvious to someone who's never done it before.


Quoting from the NHS website:
"If someone is unconscious and not breathing normally, call 999 and start CPR straight away."
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/first-aid/cpr/

I.e. if they are breathing normally, you wouldn't do CPR. That might be unlikely after choking, but it is relevant in other scenarios, e.g. if someone slips over in a puddle of gunge, bangs their head, and passes out.

More generally, this comes back to training. If you're in a situation where someone's life depends on what you do next, I think you'd feel a lot more confident saying "This is what the instructor on the first aid course told me to do" rather than "this is what an anonymous person on UMD told me to do".

Another scenario which I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned, is the mud-dunking. I've watched countless videos where the 'bad girl' has perhaps tied up the victim and throws her in the mud, then proceeds to hold her head under. Sometimes it seems like a very long time passes before the 'victim' lifts her head from the mess, often smiling. But that to me is an accident waiting to happen. Often the victim's head is held under for a long while. What if something truly went wrong when she first went under? Passing out, inhaling mud, etc. and then she is still held under for a longer period of time. I'm thankful nothing serious that I know of has ever befallen a model on these shoots, and I hope it never does.