A First Aid Qualification Might Save the Life of Your Employees or Customers

The thing about an emergency situation is that it is an emergency – a situation that you did not predict or anticipate. Perhaps a customer in your shop is having a heart attack or a seizure? Perhaps there has been an equipment malfunction on a worksite that has caused an employee to fall and sustain a head injury? Perhaps a vehicle has struck a worker and they have been badly injured? Maybe a natural disaster such as a fire, flood or storm is putting everyone on the worksite in danger?

Some injuries and accidents around the workplace can be avoided or prevented with the proper safety equipment and procedures, but not every emergency can be anticipated or avoided. Due to human error, natural disaster or pre-existing medical conditions sometimes an emergency situation arises despite our best efforts to prevent it. Even if your workplace is relatively safe, there are accidents that can and do still happen and sometimes these accidents can be life threatening. What is the best thing that we can do to ensure that we deal with these emergency situations and ensure our chances of survival?

One of the most important things to do is to ensure that the employees of your company have a first aid qualification or at the very least introduce employees to basic first aid.

Why is a First Aid Qualification So Important?

Most workplaces will require a first aid qualification as a prerequisite for work, especially those jobs such as working on a construction site. However, the fact that this training is required is not why it is so important. A first aid qualification means that your staff will be able to respond appropriately when an emergency situation occurs and will have the skills to administer first aid if needed. Here are a few reasons why a first aid qualification will be so important to your staff:
  • A first aid qualification will help your employees to recognise the signs of danger before they happen.
  • Having the training to know what to do in an emergency situation will help your staff to overcome the initial urge to panic or freeze. Instead, their training will take over and they will be able to deal with the situation in a calm and appropriate way.
  • Having the right training means that employees will not give the wrong treatment in any particular situation, which might actually make injuries worse for the victim.
  • The average time that it takes for an ambulance to arrive is 8 minutes. A lot can happen in this time and the first aid actions that are taken can make a big difference in life or death.
  • According to statistics from the Health and Safety Executive, there are up to 150,000 people who die every year who could have survived if they had received first aid treatment. You don’t want your customers or your employees to join this number.
These are just a few of the reasons why a first aid courses and qualifications can save lives in your workplace.