Surely Someone Else Knows What to Do?
Alarming trends on the lack of lifesaving training in the workplace
What would happen if one of your employees needed First Aid? How would your employees react if a co-worker showed signs of a heart attack or worse, went into a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)? Would they be able to give CPR?
Two recent surveys by the American Heart Association (AHA) suggest that most employees don’t know how to handle a cardiac emergency and have no training in First Aid, CPR or AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators).
The findings led the AHA to launch a new campaign in 2017 to promote awareness of the problem and encourage employers to provide training in these vital skills.
“Such training has the potential to save thousands of lives, considering there are 10,000 cardiac arrests in the workplace annually,” reports Facility Executive.
Key findings in the American Heart Association survey
The AHA survey included over 3,000 employees in a variety of fields, including corporate offices, hospitality, schools, industry/labor, and 1,000 safety managers in industries that are regulated by OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration). Among the findings:
- More than half (55%) cannot get First Aid or CPR+AED training from their employer. And when employers do offer this training, it’s often either one or the other.
- Half of all U.S. workers cannot locate the AED at work. In the hospitality industry, that number rises to two-thirds (66%).
Safety managers and OSHA-regulated industries are pushing to have employees offer more frequent training to better prepare their workers to handle emergencies.
“The data suggests these untrained employees may be relying on their untrained peers in the event of an emergency, leaving employees with a false sense of security,” according to the American Heart Association.
How First Aid, CPR, and AEDs save lives
CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) is designed to help save lives when someone has stopped breathing or their heart has stopped. It combines breathing into the mouth and chest compressions to keep oxygenated blood flowing to the brain and other organs until help arrives. “CPR can double or triple chances of survival after cardiac arrest,” according to the American Heart Association.
An AED is a device used to help anyone who may be experiencing cardiac arrest (the heart stops beating) or loses its normal rhythm. An AED is “a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use medical device that can analyze the heart’s rhythm and, if necessary, deliver an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm.”
Training employees how to perform CPR or use AEDs is critical because it can – and does – save lives.
- 33% said lives have been saved at home and at the workplace as a result of First Aid, CPR, and AED training provided at work
- 78% said injuries or medical conditions have been treated in the workplace with this training
- 73% consider First Aid/CPR/AED training as equally important as other safety training
Sadly, when training is offered in the workplace, it’s often done in response to an incident. By then, it may be too late for someone. The study also showed that younger workers are also less likely to take part in training, which may be due to the mistaken belief that they are at decreased risk. Still, it’s important for workers of all ages to be trained in these techniques since anyone might be called upon to save a life.
Join the movement to provide First Aid, CPR and AED training to your employees. Find out more about the different training options that are available from One Beat CPR + AED.
You can read the original article here https://onebeatcpr.com/surely-someone-else-knows-what-to-do/.