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Why First Aid at Work Training is So Important

First Aid at Work training is an integral part of any business – literally, it’s the law. Businesses must have at least one appointed first aider, who’s responsible for calling 911 in an emergency and making sure the first aid kit’s fully stocked. Some businesses are required to have a trained first aider who’s completed an approved course. Whether or not it’s mandatory depends on the business… but it’s something ALL businesses should consider. And here’s why:

On average, it takes 8 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

Eight minutes is a long time in a life or death situation. And that doesn’t account for getting to the phone and making the call in the first place.

A blocked airway can kill someone in less time than that.

A blocked airway can kill someone in 3-4 minutes. Clearing somebody’s airway is not a complicated task, but it is an incredibly important one, and it’s something many people don’t know how to do, or even that they should do it in the first place. A first aid course ensures people know what their priorities should be in the event of an emergency – and clearing the airway is right up there.

Up to 150,000 people die every year, who could’ve survived with first aid treatment.

That’s a lot of people dying unnecessarily. Do you want your employees to be among them? Even if your workplace is a relatively safe place to work, accidents can and do still happen, and some of them are life-threatening. By training more employees in first aid at work than the absolute minimum legal requirement, you could potentially help save lives. And not just those that work for you either – once your employees have first aid training, they can use it anywhere.

200,000 injuries occur in workplaces every year.

Although life-threatening emergencies may not be common in the workplace, minor and major injuries are.  When you think about it, a lot of time (and therefore money) could be saved if you have somebody on hand who can provide the correct treatment. And that’s where your employees trained in first aid come in: depending on the injury, they could negate the need for outside assistance at all.

59% of employees wouldn’t feel confident trying to save someone’s life.

This is a big deal. If only 41% of employees feel confident enough to try and save someone’s life in an emergency, you should hope they’re around when something goes wrong. Or should you…?

A third of employees would carry out first aid without proper training.

Feeling confident about carrying out life-saving first aid treatments, and actually having the ability to do so are different things entirely. And doing the wrong thing could actually make matters worse.