ONGOING SAFETY TRAINING - A Case for Emergency Medical Preparedness - BY ANTHONY CURCI

After a two-year investigation of today’s emergency medical response systems and emergency rooms, researchers at the Institute of Medicine found 911 centers are sometimes unreliable, patients get turned away due to overcrowding and emergency rooms are lacking in the resources needed to treat victims. Such findings make it more important than ever for individuals to safeguard themselves and others with emergency preparedness education and ongoing training.
The Institute of Medicine’s findings echo other studies that are a reminder of the need for emergency medical preparedness and ongoing training.

Whether assigned to a CEO, company president, safety officer, or human resources employee, safety training and implementation should be ongoing business. A First Aid/Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation or Automated External Defibrillator class or a rigorous hands-on training can help minimize workplace risk. However, preparedness and safety is more than a class taken once a year. Such variables as retention rates, access to immediate information and EMS response time must be considered when planning for workplace safety.

Studies demonstrate that retention rates for CPR are dismally low. In one study, only one third of trained participants could effectively perform CPR six months after their initial training. In fact, rates of retention have been shown to drop off dramatically after just a few weeks. Such findings support the argument for having more than one trained person in each department. Across the country the response time of EMS ranges from seven to 20 minutes. The first four to six minutes are the most crucial after an emergency and in those minutes, the victim’s life may be in the hands of a lay responder until professional help arrives. Time is of the essence. When a bystander performs CPR, a victim’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest can be doubled or tripled.
According to OSHA, approximately 400 workplace deaths from cardiac arrest occur annually. Along with personal impacts, these injuries have an economic effect; recent statistics show workplace injuries cost Americans $156.2 billion—which is an average cost of $1,120 per worker.
The National Safety Council is one of many non-profit advocacy groups that recommend all adults learn CPR and first aid techniques in order to be competent to give assistance when injuries occur.
Solutions

• Provide an extension of formal training. Preparedness and training starts with a class, but does not end there. Recognize the need for ongoing training and for more than one person —or even one person per department—to be trained in the workplace.
• Make everyone accountable. Encourage employees to keep skills fresh and provide incentives when they demonstrate skill mastery.
• Provide a variety of accessible education resources. People learn and retain information through a variety of methods. Utilize Web sites, pamphlets, videos/DVDs, emergency instruction devices, charts, pictures and audio-visual resources.
• Schedule unannounced drills. In school, children learn the importance of being prepared for fire, tornado and earthquake drills. Run drills with different scenarios.
• Make learning first aid/CPR a part of new employee training. Foster an atmosphere from the beginning that sets the tone for safety responsibility.
  

In addition to increasing first aid retention skills, ongoing training can foster a safety aware environment and culture and that nurtures confidence for responding effectively and quickly during a medical emergency situation.

FSM - Anthony Curci is the president and CEO of SafetyMate Corporation. Based in Irvine, California, SafetyMate Corporation developed SafetyMate, a verbal, emergency instruction/training device with the most common emergency protocols. SafetyMate offers information in both English and Spanish and is also available to the commercial and education sectors. SafetyMate is designed to help individuals learn the procedures for handling a medical emergency and give them confidence to take appropriate action.