Heart attacks are one of Australia’s biggest killers.
Every year, around 34,000 Australians and New Zealanders suffer a heart attack outside of hospital. Without the assistance of a trained and qualified first aid officer, cardiac arrests frequently turn deadly – in fact, only one in ten victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests survive. Would you know what to do if someone at work suffered a heart attack?
Is there someone in your workplace that’s trained to help?
Maybe you remember a news story from January 2020 – Greg Page, the original yellow Wiggle, suffered a heart attack onstage while performing at an RSL, and survived. Greg’s survival wasn’t just a stroke of luck. Several members of the audience who were trained in First Aid jumped to his side and delivered life-saving CPR and administered a nearby defibrillator. Had trained first aiders not been present in the audience that night, Greg Page likely would not have made it.
Stories like this just go to show how important first aid training is.
Maybe your workplace doesn’t involve the use of heavy machinery, or chemicals, or it’s simply a very safe environment. That doesn’t rule out the unpredictable, deadly risk of health concerns like heart attacks – nothing can. No workplace is too safe or too small for a trained first aid officer to be present. Given that the American Heart Association estimates that at least 13% of heart attacks occur in the workplace, to rule out the risk of such an event is impossible.
Symptoms usually begin about 10 minutes before an actual heart attack occurs. A well-trained staff member, equipped with the necessary first aid supplies, will be able to recognise a situation like this, and prevent such a situation from turning dangerous or deadly. Staff should understand when to recognise a first aid issue and call for a trained employee immediately. Thanks to proper training, countless lives are saved across Australia every year.
Accredited and comprehensive First Aid Training is readily available nationwide. It’s not only vital as an employer that you have at least one first aid – trained staff member at the workplace at all times, it’s easy and affordable to get someone trained, and it’s very likely to save you and your employees from experiencing a tragic accident somewhere down the line.
