What is the most important piece of equipment any employer can install in their business?
Answer – a defibrillator!
For a lot of businesses, having a defibrillator on the premises is actually mandated by law. But for others it’s an option. But if you have a choice as an employer, then remember having a defibrillator readily accessible by your employees and even your customers, could prevent Australia’s No. 1 killer from happening in your workplace.
Yes, Cardiac Arrest happens to over 250,000 Australians every year. When it happens outside of a hospital, the survival rate is only about 10%.
But there is one thing that can dramatically increase that survival rate – a defibrillator. This increasingly common piece of equipment delivers a shock to reset the heart.
When someone has a Cardiac Arrest, CPR can be critical to keeping them alive. So, if you have someone trained in CPR in your workplace that will definitely help a lot.
But CPR is really only a stopgap measure on Cardiac Arrest cases, until real help arrives in the form of an ambulance. It’s no substitute for a defibrillator. The difference is dramatic.
When a person has a Cardiac Arrest, their chance of survival reduces by about 10% for every minute they don’t receive defibrillation. But if a person does receive the life-saving shock of a defibrillator within 3 minutes of their cardiac arrest, the survival rate can jump from 10% to up to 75%. Clearly, it’s a matter of life and death.
Defibrillators work by effectively “resetting” the heart. (Remember a Cardiac Arrest is an electrical problem with the heart. A Heart Attack is a blockage in the blood flow through the heart and can lead to a Cardiac Arrest. So in both cases a defibrillator may be required.)
Many Workplace Health & Safety laws strongly recommend installing an Automated External Defibrillator known as an AED. It’s a decision that once taken, no business ever regrets as it’s critical to the provision of a “safe workplace” which all employers must do.
AEDs are simple and easy to operate, even without training. These days you switch them on and they tell you exactly what to do. If you need one, talk to us at Results First Aid today.