FEATURE CRITICAL RESPONSE
Is your workplace equipped to respond to a cardiac arrest emergency, asks Claire Vaughan, Director of People and Culture at St John Ambulance.
Health and safety professionals do more than ensure compliance; they create workplaces where employees feel protected and valued. But when the unthinkable happens and cardiac arrest strikes, many organisations are underprepared, putting the lives of colleagues, customers, and visitors at risk.
According to research from St John Ambulance, a quarter (25%) of UK adults have experienced a cardiac arrest incident in some way, whether as a first aider, bystander, or even as a patient themselves. And with more than one in seven (15%) of these incidents happening in the workplace, health and safety professionals must ensure staff are prepared and equipped to act.
Time is critical when someone is unresponsive and not breathing. This means their heart has stopped – and every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chances of survival by up to 10%, according to the British Heart Foundation. But with the quick use of a defibrillator – a device that delivers an electrical shock to the heart to get it beating again – survival rates can be as high as 70%.
Yet not enough workplaces have installed these life- saving defibrillators, despite needing to provide a duty of care to their employees if they fall ill or become injured.
A CRITICAL SAFETY INVESTMENT
In a medical emergency, people act based on what they have access to and what they feel confident using. For cardiac arrest, this means having a defibrillator visible, accessible and ready – and ensuring staff are confident in using it.
St John Ambulance’s HEART defibrillators are one of the easiest defibrillators to use, offering step-by-step guidance for rescuers. The sophisticated and affordable HEART One and Two defibrillators build on over 150 years of trusted first aid expertise. These small and lightweight devices can be used wherever an emergency occurs, while being robust and reliable to keep colleagues safe in those critical moments.
Although HEART defibrillators are designed to be used without training, some people are understandably nervous and need training to give them confidence. To close this gap, St John also offers workplace training in how to use defibrillators, either as a standalone or part of an essential first aid course.
COMBINING PROTECTION AND PURPOSE With a HEART defibrillator from St John Ambulance, health and safety teams are not just preparing to save a life at work, they’re helping to save more lives nationwide. This is because all profits from the defibrillator sales go back into supporting the charity’s life-saving work, helping to fund the training and equipment our volunteers need to keep our communities safe.
10
WWW.TOMORROWSHS.COM
At the same time, when a life is saved with our HEART defibrillator, the manufacturer will donate a new one to the local community and replace the pads of the one used – turning one life saved into many more protected.
BUILDING A WORKFORCE THAT CAN ACT While employees who can access defibrillators and know how to use them are able to act quickly and decisively in an emergency, our research found that almost two-thirds (65%) of UK adults don’t know how to use one. But they want to learn: nearly one in six (16%) believe mandatory first aid training sessions at work would most encourage people to help in an emergency, including using a defibrillator.
As professionals entrusted with safeguarding our teams, installing defibrillators and ensuring people know how to use them is one of the most impactful decisions we can make. HEART defibrillators protect workplaces and save lives, and when purchased through St John Ambulance, they help save even more people.
www.sja.org.uk/heart-tom
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42
