Acid Accident Treatment What are the general ways to treat an accident involving highly concentrated or similarly dangerous acids?

I have a lab instructor who recently debated with our group about treating an acid spill on the skin. According to him, one should immediately rinse off the acid with running water for about 15-20 minutes. He says that one should never apply bases to the site because an Acid-Base is highly exothermic and would only increase the damage.

However, I clearly remember learning once that one should apply baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to a bee sting or ant bite in order to neutralize the acid and relieve the burning. 
I also know that the dilution of an acid in water is done by adding the acid slowly to the water containing vessel because of the heat released in the process. And especially when preparing a dilute solution of sulfuric acid, one wears safety goggles and gently stirs the solution to prevent splashing.

So which is it? And does it depend on the severity of the burn or type acid?
My Lab First Aid book$^{*1}$ tells the following:


  The local therapy mainly consists of the instant, intense rinsing (at least 10 minutes) with tap water (ideally 15 to 20 °C). Don't try to neutralize the chemical burn, because the heat generation could lead to further tissue damages.


This means, that your lab instructor is absolutely right.

The rinsing water should wash the cold water away faster than the heat from the acid base reaction could harm you. It's not for nothing that there are emergency showers and eye douches in every lab.

I have a friend who is a chemical lab assistant and once had to carry concentrated sulfuric acid in a big glass beaker. Suddenly the bottom of the beaker broke off and all the acid poured over her etc. She not even thought of anything else than getting out of her clothes and under the next emergency shower.


$^{*1}$ The book is: R. Rossi, Erste hilfe bei akuten Notfällen - Begleitheft zu Jander - Blasius, S. Hirzel Verlag, 2005, p. 11f.. The text is in german and I translated it.