Blood on the Ice

[FigureSpins]

No, not the title of a new murder mystery - just an inquiry.

What does your rink do if someone bleeds on the ice? 


I just found out that our rink simply runs the zamboni over the spot - the "hot water" will sanitize it, the operator said.
True or false?

[Skittl1321]

For blood or urine, they put a cone near it to alert people (aka: attract children), then they wait for it to freeze, and scrape it up with an ice scrapper, leaving a small divot.  I suppose if it was all over, they would zam, but usually not.

This is one reason to NEVER let kids eat the ice.  I've only seen a few spots of blood in the past 5 years, but I've seen at least 10 kids have accidents... (so I imagine many more do!)

[MimiG]

Ours does the same as Skittl1321's - let it freeze, scrape it off, run the zamboni at the end of the session as usual. If it left a particularly large divot, they'd slush it, too.

[MadMac]

Have seen several rinks in this area cone off and guard the area until the blood freezes, then don protective gloves, scrape it up, and dispose of the blood and the gloves in a biohazard-safe container. All equipment used for clean-up is then cleaned with bleach.

[fsk8r]

Another rink which scrapes the blood up once it's frozen.

However, I did once skate a competition where the girl before me bled all over the ice (cut her finger on a catch foot or something). She didn't realise until she got off, and the helpers fussed over her and didn't think about looking at the ice. I got sent out to skate. I didn't realise quite how bad it was until I'd started my program. I wasn't sure about the protocol for dealing with these things, so carried on skating although was trying to avoid going anywhere near the blood, and told all the helpers afterwards. Zamboni was then sent out.
I was really annoyed when I was later told I should have just spoken to the judges and not skated. But I still don't know why the helpers didn't think to get the ice checked when the other skater got off. She had a hand print on her tights there was that much blood.

[MadMac]

Should have been the head judge or referee's job to check the ice before you skated.

[sarahspins]

I did the "cut myself and not realize it" thing once, and they called everyone off and resurfaced.. it was on a public session and there really were drips *everywhere*.  I had no idea I was bleeding until someone said something to me, but by that time I had probably been skating (and bleeding) for at least 10 minutes.

The other times I've seen someone get hurt and bleed a lot, it's been relatively contained, and they coned it, let it freeze and scraped it off.

Hot water will not "sanitize" the blood though.  The zam water is "hot", but I guarantee it's not anywhere close to 165˚ by the time it hits the ice.

[Schmeck]

Our local rink would spray something on the spot, let it freeze, and dispose of it by biohazard method.  Other rinks would just wait until zamboni time, ewww!

[Sk8tmum]

Hmmm ... this is right up there with "what happens when the skater in front of you barfs during their program".  With vomit, usually, scraped off and then a zamboni ... but, for blood ON the ice, it's usually just - there - until the next flood. Where it drips around the rink, then, the whole bio-hazard blood-absorbing powder plus swabbed down with some kind of antiseptic.

My DD had to follow her friend on the ice after the friend cut herself on a catch foot spiral (note: skaters need to practice anything that involves catching the blade BEFORE competitions WITHOUT gloves so they know whether they are catching safely) - she said she was so worried about her friend, and was watching to make sure she didn't skate into the blood spots, that she had a fantastic skate; it distracted her from any type of nerves ...

[Qarol]

This happened before synchro practice the other night, from the hockey game just before. They get a shovel and dig out the spot.

[AgnesNitt]

You guys have such exciting rinks!

[Sk8tmum]

Slightly OT ... but ... on one LTS session a kid peed on the ice. So, the pylons were carefully set to either side of the spot so that skaters wouldn't skate over it.

But, a whole bunch of little boys see the pylons, and see WHEEE !!! Gates to race through.

oops.