The British government has put rules and regulations in place through various health-and-safety authorities to ensure the safety of staff in different work environments. These health-and-safety measures are monitored and policed regularly to guarantee that employers are establishing safe workplaces no matter what the sector or nature of work.

Regulations vary between industries, but they are most visible in high-risk environments such as construction, education, and even offices (to an extent). Although these working environments may present immediate risks, health-and-safety authorities continue to ignore the very real and unpredictable risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) – including the post-SCA treatment that is necessary to save a victim’s life.

SCA can happen to any person at any time – and without CPR and early defibrillation, the victim will not survive. Despite this, health-and-safety authorities are yet to make life-saving AEDs a requirement in the workplace.

Construction Work

Whether you’re a construction worker or just a visitor to a construction site, you’ll have to make sure that you tick all the health-and-safety boxes before you enter. Different sites have different rules based on their individual assessments, but generally you’ll have to wear the following:

• Hard-hats. Falling objects can result in potentially fatal head injuries, making hard-hats an essential piece of safety equipment.
• Safety footwear. Heavy (and sometimes sharp) objects might fall onto the feet, and steel-toe-capped boots provide protection from injury.
• High-vis jackets. Heavy machinery and large vehicles can be potentially fatal, making visibility an essential part of construction-site health and safety.

Construction-site safety doesn’t just involve wearing protective gear: it also involves the installation of safety equipment such as specialist fixed alarm systems that alert staff in the event of fires. Typical fire-alarms don’t work on construction sites, and depending on the size of the site, these alarm systems may require several different alarm units, which can become an expensive yet necessary safety precaution.

On construction sites, there will often be exposed and live wiring, from which an electric shock can send a person into sudden cardiac arrest. This makes construction a high-risk job where SCA is concerned, yet life-saving AEDs are still not a mandatory health-and-safety requirement on-site.

Education

Parents entrust schools to take care of their children, and this duty of care has (quite rightly) resulted in countless health-and-safety regulations that are designed to keep children safe. Schools must have…

• Proper ventilation to ensure that children do not suffer from breathing difficulties.
• Approved furniture to ensure that children aren’t injured as a result of poorly designed furniture.
• Sign off on all electrical devices to ensure that there is no risk of electrocution as a result of faulty electricals.
• Fully trained first-aiders to ensure that each school has a staff-member who trained in first aid and who can respond in the event of an emergency.

270 children die in the UK each year after suffering SCAs in schools, and despite the numerous health-and-safety regulations that are already in place to protect them from various other risks, schools are not legally required to invest in life-saving AEDs.

Other Work Environments

Employers – just like with schools and their pupils – have a duty of care to their staff. Although health-and-safety regulations aren’t as stringent in office environments as they are in construction and education, there are still plenty in place to protect workers from injury:

• Manual handling training. If a job requires heavy lifting (even if it is only occasional), proper training must be given in order to prevent back injury.
• Slips and trips. Health-and-safety professionals have to assess the risk of employees slipping or tripping in the workplace, and, if deemed a risk, preventative measures must be put in place.
• Appliance testing. Offices will often have appliances such as kettles and toasters, which must be tested to ensure that staff are safe from electrocution.

Roughly 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the UK each year, and the only way to save an SCA victim’s life is through proper CPR and early defibrillation. Despite this, employers aren’t required to purchase defibrillators – and many don’t, telling themselves that it won’t happen to anyone in their workplace. But what if it does? Every single minute counts in the event of a cardiac arrest, and easy access to an AED could potentially save a life.

Keep Your Workplace Safe

If you’re a business owner or a health-and-safety professional without access to an AED, your staff could be at risk. Investing in life-saving equipment and proper training is the best way to ensure their safety in the event of a potentially fatal SCA.

defibshop are committed to equipping everyone with the skills and knowledge to save a life. Speak to one of our Product Specialists on 0161 776 7422 or fill out our Contact Form. 

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