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Posted By Wazza
I have been tasked in reviewing the need for defibulators in the workplace. In the first instance I suggested that if my boss could identify the likelihood and potential of use, and that it was high, then perhaps its worth the expenditure. However, I am yet to be convinced.
Secondly, as I suggested, the likelihood of use is virtually nil, therefore the cost to train 13 employee's who are 1st aid qualified to operate said equip is also significant. What are the perceptions of general use of defib and is it worthwhile - I need convincing either way. Traditional 1st aid requirements for work environments are surely enough.
12 years in the services would support that 1st aid is the preservation of life and that the use of a defib is beyond these bounds. Personally, is it a job for the emergency services or do we move and purchase. What are your general perceptions and experiences?
Regards
Warren
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Posted By Paul Leadbetter
Warren
Would a defibrillator get a result where CPR wouldn't? If so , it's got to be worth saving a life.
Paul
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Posted By Ken Taylor
In the case of sudden cardiac arrest, it has been estimated that for every minute of delay in giving defibrillation a victim's chance of survival reduces by 10%. With immediate defibrillation about 90% survive. These devices are now so easy to operate that they are becoming more evident in places of assembly, sport, railway stations, airports and the like and being issued under the First-Responder scheme. We have purchased the Cardiac Science AED G3 Automatic for our sports centres. Training is given by the supplier along with a training CD-rom. basically you just have to lift the lid, listen to the voice, stick two pads on the casualty's chest and the machine decides whether to give the shock - so you don't even have to push a button.
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Posted By Len Newman
We did have a problem for the case of the defib. We checked the accident records and still this did not help. We put down our duty of care to our staff, visitors and a caring council to get the funding.
We have severn trained and positioned the defib in reception of a twelve storey building. The operators are scattered over a number of floors. We use the training disc on a monthly rota to keep the standard.
Len Newman
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Posted By Charley Farley-Trelawney
Warren
I have to agree with Ken and his comment, we have two at the company I am with, they to are idiot proof, switch on follow the digital instructions and hey presto you can zap away to save that life. When I first saw them I was alarmed. We saved a life with one recently, paramedics confirmed the person would now be dead if it were not for the defib so I am not alarmed anymore, so there we are, proof it worked, hope that helps.
Charles
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Posted By Sylvia Tyler
We purchased a defib and had a couple of people trained following a "near miss" where one of our staff suffered a heart attack - fortunately our first aider on the screen recognised he was having a heart attack and asked if he would take an aspirin , he agreed- the hospital reckoned this saved his life.
Afterwards we looked at the staff employed - mostly 40+, mostly male, mostly overweight and mostly unfit - it took the ambulance 15 minutes to arrive to our workplace - we decided a defib was worth the money and the training as the fact one of our employees lives was saved by quick action by the first aider, imagine if his heart had stopped beating and he wasn't saved because the manager didn't think it was worth training a few personnel and spending on a defib!
It's a moral dilema - but I think every workplace should have one and class it as a means of sustaining life as required by First Aid Regulations. (Costs over severity - reasonably practicable I would say).
Sylvia
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Posted By Wazza
Seems to me that you all seem to think that this is an extremely good exercise to adopt and that modern defibs are indeed 'idiot proof' (do bear in mind, there are a lot of idiots in employment). So I think I will take heed and suggest that one is now purchased.
Thanks all for responding.
Regards
Warren
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