Why people forget to call 112 under stress

It sounds unbelievable, but it happens every day: during an accident in the workplace, someone does all sorts of things — performing CPR, tying off bleeding, offering comfort — except the most important thing. Nobody calls 112.

Stress switches off your thinking brain

In an emergency, your body floods with adrenaline. Your heart rate rises, your field of vision narrows and your brain switches to survival mode. That is a healthy reflex, but it has a downside: tasks that are normally obvious suddenly disappear from your memory.

Everyone knows the number 112. But knowing the right moment to call, the right sequence of actions, the right information to pass on — that requires thought. And thinking is precisely what stress makes difficult.

The most frequently forgotten step

Ask emergency responders what most often goes wrong in the first few minutes, and you will always hear the same answer: professional help is called too late. People start providing first aid on their own initiative — commendably — but in doing so, forget that every minute counts before the ambulance is on its way.

That is why calling 112 is a fixed step in the sequence of actions on every ActiBox action card. Not because people do not know the number, but because under stress you must leave nothing to chance.

Guidance instead of memory

The solution is not to learn more theory, but to remove the need to think. An action card you pick up tells you step by step what to do — including when to call 112 and what to say. This keeps knowledge accessible, even when your brain is temporarily focused only on survival.

Because in an emergency, you do not want to have to remember what you once learned. You simply want to be able to take the right action.