Would you know what to do if you were bitten by a snake?

The crew of about nine employees from Challenge Community Services gathered in a Tamworth garage on Tuesday, October 31, for a workshop on what to do if someone is attacked by a snake.

The lawn crew regularly works outdoors, cleaning up or gardening in and around a snake's favourite cooling-off hiding spots, such as in long grass, shrubs, under tin or timber, even near an Esky.

"Stay calm and still and make sure you've rung triple zero. Panic is probably your worst enemy with snake bites," Ms Ayres-Kimball said, in an attempt to warn the workers in the midst of snake season.

The experienced paramedic said the poison runs through the lymphatic, not the blood, system, which is why cutting the skin at the puncture spot and sucking the poison out will not work.

"In the old Westerns [movies] they'll get the wire and crank it down on their arm to stop blood flow. We don't do that. That actually causes more damage to the limb," Ms Ayres-Kimball told her attentive audience in their high-vis lawn gear.

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She also warned against rinsing the area with water or other liquids, saying the next best step is to instead bandage up the entire limb and to make a splint, with a piece of wood or even a magazine, to keep the area still so the poison does not circulate.

"That way, you're also preserving any venom that might be on the skin, so when they [health staff] undo the bandage, they can take a swab of the poison," Ms Ayres-Kimball said.

She said being treated with the wrong anti-venom can cause more complications which is why it is important the correct type of snake is later identified via the poison.

And knowing when someone has been bitten by a snake is not always due to puncture wounds, she said, there could be nothing at the site, or swelling, a scratch, bleeding or bruising.

"Sometimes it's really bad abdominal cramping, headache, nausea, vomiting, irregular heart beat," Ms Ayres-Kimball said.

"Also, you might see that they start to appear quite weak, and possibly can either become a bit paralysed, sometimes in the limb, or sometimes it's just in general, everybody can react really differently."

Challenge Community Services team leader Clinton Parkes said he has seen a few snakes in his lifetime, has been bitten by a couple of non-venomous varieties and even has a pet snake at home.

"So some of these guys would be more confident knowing I have been around them for a long time," Mr Parkes said of his role in the organisation.

One of the most common snakes in Australia and especially in NSW - the brown snake - is also one of the most poisonous in the world, and comes in ten different varieties.

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