You have staff on your team, and it can seem like an additional expense to have to send them on a life support course, especially if your business is not associated with healthcare.
It’s worth noting at first glance that basic life support skills save lives every day, and if you yourself, as an employer, were to fall ill suddenly, you would probably want your staff to be trained in this area!
Having your entire team trained in basic life support offers other advantages too. It will make your workplace safer, it will train them how to react quickly in emergencies, and it will also ensure that even if you are not on-site if an emergency occurs, there will be somebody on hand to potentially save a member of your staff’s life. As well as this, having staff members trained in basic life support is also ideal if you are looking to reduce the number of sick days and recovery time from potential injuries that occur on the job.
But what exactly would your staff members learn on such a training course? This article seeks to set down some of the basic principles behind these courses, so you can understand exactly what is involved with them and the benefits of having staff members trained in them.
Resuscitation (CPR)
Most people are familiar with CPR and know what resuscitation using CPR looks like.
When it comes to basic life support training, resuscitation or CPR is a huge part of what will be taught and involves teaching your staff how to perform CPR on people who are older, younger, or even on babies.
It will also teach them safety surrounding CPR and a general awareness of hazards. So, if you’ve had a member of staff, for example, who has been electrocuted and has fallen to the ground, your other members of staff will be trained in how to approach them safely to perform CPR without also becoming electrocuted themselves. They will also be taught incredibly important techniques like how regularly to do chest compressions and when they should stop.
External Defibrillation Use
In your workplace, you should have a defibrillator in the event that someone on your staff or a member of the public has a heart attack. It’s an essential piece of kit to have on hand, but if you don’t know how to use it, it’s pointless.
So, a life support course will teach your staff how to use an external defibrillator effectively and safely. Remember, defibrillators should only be used in cases where CPR has failed, and it is always advisable in such scenarios for your team to contact emergency services, even if they are fully trained in using an external defibrillator, to follow guidance on how to use the device, especially if they saw the reason for the other staff member collapsing.
How to Deal With Choking
One of the most common incidents that occur relating to life-saving tips is that of helping somebody who is choking on food or other objects.
While it may sound easy to learn the pelvic thrust procedure, dislodging food from the throat may be complicated if the person who is choking is also panicking. Your staff will be taught how to perform this treatment quickly and effectively, which can save the life of the person choking. If the pelvic thrust procedure does not work, your staff will be taught about the next stages of dislodging the food or object.
How to Eliminate Hazards
It is impossible in almost every workplace to remove all of the hazards, especially if you work with animals or if you use machinery. But one core piece of advice that your staff will learn when they are on a life support course is how to eliminate hazards in the workplace. This may involve them needing to move objects such as wires, ensuring that all of the wirings in your workplace are safe, ensuring that you have an up-to-date first aid kit, and that the essential on-site defibrillator is working. This will help to keep your workplace safer for everybody.
How to Respond Quickly
When somebody collapses to the floor for seemingly no reason, there is a window of response time that can save their life, and this is one of the core concepts that need to be taught and identified in a basic life support course. If a person who is having a heart attack falls to the floor and is not found, their chances of survival are slim. Similarly, if they are not given the correct life support techniques, their chances of making it through also reduce.
