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May 14, 2013

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SHE2013: The future of first aid in the workplace

An interesting picture of the role of first aid in the workplace was painted by Richard Evens, commercial training director of St John’s Ambulance (SJA), in the Health & Wellbeing Theatre.

Concentrating on the benefits to business of having trained first-aiders, Evens outlined the important role they play as the first line of defence in an organisation. Given that a person can be deprived of oxygen in three to four minutes if they have a blocked airway, and that the average time taken by an ambulance to reach them is eight to 14 minutes, it is clear how vital the life support provided by first-aiders can be.

With 6000 accidents and 1.2 million people suffering from work-related illness every year, the cost to business is a huge £13.4bn each year, 60 per cent of which arises from ill health, and 40 per cent from injury. 

As well as dealing with emergency situations at work, such as choking, slips, trips and falls, cuts, burns, fractures, heart attacks and strokes, first aiders also handle pre-existing health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure and seizures, and carry out their skills into the wider community.

Evens described how SJA advocates employers to think very seriously about sending some of their employees on comprehensive three-day first-aid-at-work training courses. SJA has told the Government and the HSE that first aid in the workplace has done a very good job, but that health and safety is potentially under threat from the 35-per-cent cut in the HSE’s budget, political rhetoric and Daily Mail-type headlines.

“The key point is maintaining the progress made in the last decade in making the workplace a safer place,” he stressed.

Regulation changes
The existing First Aid at Work Regulations have been in place since 1981, and while still fit for purpose, they do not add value in the approval and monitoring of training providers by the HSE. There is also a lack of flexibility in the structure of first aid-at-work training courses to meet employers’ needs, said Evens.

The consultation on changes to the Regulations ended this month; they will go before Parliament in June and may be implemented in October 2013. However, warned Evens, the changes may be derailed in Parliament because of the “turbulence” around the Lofstedt Report.

HSE proposals
The HSE proposes to continue to regulate the role of the first aider in the workplace, but will produce clearer guidance to steer employers towards using training providers based upon their clinical and training standards, so giving employers access to an unregulated market. This means that employers will have to undertake due diligence in their choice of training organisations, said Evens.

The HSE also proposes to upgrade its advice on:
€ᄁ The nature of the workplace and its inherent risks;
€ᄁ Lone workers and members of the public at the place of employment;
€ᄁ Pre-existing conditions; and
€ᄁ High-risk industries.

For more information and to sign up for training newsletters, see www.sja.org.uk


 

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

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