The Jaws Of Life

The SES is the largest provider of road rescue services in the State of Victoria, with some 130 road rescue units spread far and wide. As such these units are equipped with advanced equipment to enable them to cope with just about any situation they make come up against. One of these tools is the Jaws Of Life. Some people believe that the jaws of life is a single tool and in the early days it was just that. But now most modern units comprise several different components ranging from extremely powerful spreaders ( top right ), shears ( bottom left ) and a ram ( bottom right ). These tools are able to spread, crush, stretch and cut, just about every component of a vehicle. In some cases it maybe necessary to totally disassemble a car to get a casualty out. These tools allow us greater flexibility in the methods we use to remove casualties from wrecks. Specialised training is required to operate these tools and currently in Victoria you are required to be accredited to be a road rescue team member.