CPR - Safety Training Pros

Planning for Emergencies in the Workplace

Posted on by Trainer in AED, CPR, CPR for Business, General, Rescue, Training Leave a comment

Emergencies happen when you least expect it, however the more prepared you and your facility are to deal with these types of incidents and accidents the safer everyone will be. Various documents have been produced by OSHA, FEMA, and other government agencies to help businesses prepare for emergencies. Does your company have an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for a Fire, Medical Emergency, Bomb Threat, Chemical Spill, or a Shooter on Site? Would you or your co-workers know what to do?

The purpose of an EAP is to facilitate and organize employer and employee actions during workplace emergencies. At Safety Training Pros we are committed to making sure businesses are more effective when it comes to Emergency Planning, In-Service Training, and much more. We want to make sure that your staff is safe in case of an emergency.

FEMA has established the Ready Program that includes five steps to prepare workers for emergencies of all types. Well-developed EAP’s give employees the understanding of how to respond in a variety of emergency situations, they know where to go, how to keep safe, and what equipment to take and/or use. With proper training this means that they are able to respond quicker and safer thus reducing injuries and fatalities. Below are the five steps of the Ready Program from http://workplaceemergencyplans.com/

1. Program Management
• Know the regulations that govern your business emergency action plan
• Organize an Emergency Action Team to implement the development and administration of your emergency program

2. Planning – The Practical Considerations of Developing an Emergency Plan – Planning must include:
• What to do in the event of an emergency
• Steps to take to prevent emergencies
• Ways to limit the business impact of emergencies

3. Implementation – What the Emergency Action Plan Must Include
• Resource Management
• Emergency Response
• Crisis communications
• Business continuity
• Information technology
• Employee assistance
• Incident management
• Employee Training

4. Testing and Exercises
• Testing and evaluating the emergency plan
• Differentiating between different types of exercises
• How to conduct exercises
• Evaluating the exercise results to know effectiveness of the emergency plan

5. Program Improvement
• Determine when the emergency plan needs to be reviewed
• Evaluate the emergency plan
• Make changes and improvements to the plan

It is important to remember to include both management and employees in creating an emergency action plan. Create a Safety Team that meets on a regular basis. Make sure to review the plan and assess it so that necessary developments and changes can be made. It’s also important, of course, that you write up this plan and provide copies to every employee in your workplace.

Remember, you don’t come to work expecting an incident or accident to occur, but the more prepared you are the safer everyone around you will be. For more information on safety training such CPR, First Aid and AED please contact Safety Training Pros at 844-900-SAFE (7233).


10 Ways to Make Your Workplace Healthier

Posted on by Trainer in Articles, CPR, CPR for Business, General, Training Leave a comment

Having a happy and healthy workplace can increase productivity and moral. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey, people spend nearly nine hours on work-related activities during their day. With so much time spent at work, it goes without saying that a positive work environment is vital to your wellbeing. Below are 10 tips on how to make your workplace more positive.

  1. A happy employee is a productive employee. People who enjoy their jobs are likely to engage more thoroughly with their work.
  2. Keep the Office Clean and Organized. Adding plants can help create a pleasant environment as they’re both visually appealing and help clean the air.
  3. Get healthy. Encourage yourself to get healthy. Join a gym or take a walk during lunch. Reduce the amount of unhealthy foods and snacks you eat throughout the day.
  4. Stay home when sick. Enough said.
  5. Team building. Keep relationships within the office healthy by scheduling teambuilding activities.
  6. Be positive. Present an attitude of positivity and approachability.
  7. Have a good work and life balance. Don’t let work be your number one priority.
  8. Bring your pet to work. A growing body of evidence suggests that pets in the office can have positive health benefits.
  9. Lighting. Proper lighting is essential for a healthy work environment. Natural light is best.
  10. Relax. Take a deep breath.

Here at Safety Training Pros we know the importance of creating a safe and happy workplace. We strive to make sure that all of our clients maintain an environment that is healthy in a variety of ways. Understanding how to protect yourself and others from diseases, knowing how to assist in an emergency and taking CPR and First Aid classes, are just a few of the ways we try to help. For more information on classes that we provide please contact us at 844-900-SAFE (7233) or visit our website.


Workplace CPR, AED & First Aid Training

Posted on by Trainer in AED, CPR, CPR for Business, General, Training Leave a comment

save-livesIs your workplace prepared for an emergency? Emergencies can happen anytime and anywhere. Workplace injuries and illnesses cost our economy 198 billion dollars a year. Many businesses are required to train their staff in workplace safety using Injury and Illness Prevention Programs. Others see the value in training their employees because they know that training could have a huge affect on reducing the number and severity of workplace injuries. Getting trained is easy and our professional instructors will ensure your employees have the knowledge and skills to respond to real-life situations.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), approximates that 10,000 cardiac arrests occur while victims are at work, and when CPR and First Aid care is provided within the first five to seven minutes of an incident, a victim’s chances of survival can increase by 60 percent. CPR and AED training is a hands on course that teaches students how to provide care for victims of sudden cardiac arrest along with the safe use of an automated external defibrillator.

Additionally, First Aid training provides information about how to assess and respond to medical and trauma situations includes bleeding, shock, head and spinal injuries, stroke, anaphylaxis, and much, much more.

Employees in any occupation can benefit from being prepared to respond to an emergency in the workplace. Safety Training Pros can help ensure that your company is up to date with safety regulations and best practices. We offer an assortment of convenient, competitively priced training options. For on-site training information request a quote, contact us at info@safetytrainingpros.com, or 844-900-SAFE.


How to care for an Unresponsive Person with an Obstructed Airway

Posted on by Trainer in CPR, CPR for Business, General, Professional Rescuers, Rescue, Training Leave a comment

Have you ever asked yourself, what is the rationale behind the steps for caring for an unresponsive person with an obstructed airway? The American Red Cross has done a great job of explaining this below.

Since the evidence evaluation process in 2005 with a re-affirmation in 2010 and 2015, the care for a person with an obstructed airway that is (or becomes) unresponsive is to perform CPR.  Part of the rationale is based on principles of education and part is based on the science (medicine and physics).  From an educational perspective it is easier to learn and remember fewer skills and by teaching trained responders that when a person is unresponsive and not breathing to perform CPR.  It simplifies the process and increases the likelihood that a responder will remember (and hopefully) be more willing to act.  Because the evidence supports the delivery of chest compressions (chest thrusts) to relieve an obstructed airway, the process of CPR with a slight modification if a breath will not go in is the new standard of care.

I am often asked, “Will the attempt to give a breath push the object further downward?”  The general answer is no, but if it does go far enough it may not immediately matter.  Air will travel the path of least resistance and when a person becomes unresponsive often the muscles in the airway that may be closed or in spasm when the person is awake will relax allowing an attempted breath to pass by the object and provide at least some oxygen or the object may move or be dislodged when the person is lowered to the ground.  The amount of pressure or force to deliver a breath should not be able to move a lodged obstruction, but if it were able to move the object further downward and the object was small enough to pass beyond the vocal cords (the narrowest portion of the airway) it may relieve the complete obstruction or move the object out of the trachea (windpipe) and into most likely the right bronchus allowing air to pass into the left lung (while not ideal, certainly affords time for the problem to be corrected by a healthcare professional).

The other component relates to a person who was unresponsive with an unknown obstruction.  If you were unable to ventilate a person initially and felt there was an obstruction and changed the procedure to skip ventilations all together, it could prove to be a critical error. There are several reasons that a trained responder may be unsuccessful providing ventilations, with an airway obstruction being only one and perhaps the least common.  Proper opening of the airway and seal are common errors that are correctable and should be attempted when a breath does not go in.  Immediately switching to no ventilations would sacrifice the ability to provide oxygen after each set of 30 compressions (30:2 is still considered the standard of care for trained responders over hands-only CPR based on the science (and especially with an airway or breathing cause)).

Are you in need of CPR or First Aid Training? Is it time to get re-certified? Safety Training Pros is the premier safety training experts for individuals, groups, businesses, and government agencies. We provide professional training with high quality safety training materials in an engaging atmosphere so our clients have the life saving skills and knowledge that they need in an emergency. As a Licensed Training Partner of the American Red Cross, ASHI, and Medic First Aid, the leading providers of health and safety training, we can easily and efficiently provide the quality professional training required by all our customers. To speak with a safety expert please call us at 844-900-SAFE or visit us at www.safetytrainingpros.com.

 


October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month!

Posted on by Trainer in AED, CPR, General, Rescue, Training Leave a comment

Did you know that sudden cardiac arrest takes the lives of over 300,000 Americans each year? According to Mary Newman, SCA Foundation president, “About 500 Americans suffer sudden cardiac arrest every day and only 30 survive.”

What is Sudden Cardiac Arrest?

According to Heartsine.com, Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a malfunction of the heart’s electrical system, which causes it suddenly and unexpectedly to begin to beat rapidly, then erratically, and finally to stop altogether. When this happens, the heart cannot pump blood effectively. As such, blood flow to the brain is compromised and the victim quickly loses consciousness.

What can we do to increase the survival rate?

  1. Get CPR/AED Certified
  2. Have better access to AED’s

Where can I get this type of Training?

Safety Training Pros is the premier safety training experts for individuals, groups, businesses, and government agencies.We provide professional training with high quality safety training materials in an engaging atmosphere so our clients have the life saving skills and knowledge that they need in an emergency. As a Licensed Training Partner of the American Red Cross, ASHI, and Medic First Aid, the leading providers of health and safety training, we can easily and efficiently provide the quality professional training required by all our customers. This includes, but is not limited to, CPR and AED training. Please call us for more information at 844-900-SAFE or visit us at safetytrainingpros.com.

 

 

 


CPR Training in High Schools-Bill Passed

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“Students can be taught the fundamental life-saving skill of hands-only CPR in 30 minutes or less” EMS1 Staff 

In August, Gov. Jerry Brown was given a month to sign a new bill that would make CPR training a high school graduation requirement. Over the weekend, he signed that bill putting it into effect beginning the 2018-2019 school year. Below is an article, by EMS1 Staff at ems1.com, that discusses the importance of having this type of training in our schools.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1719 to teach CPR in schools into law Sept. 24. The new law makes California the 35th state to provide CPR training in high schools, along with Washington, D.C.

“As an Emergency Medical Technician for over 30 years, I know that CPR is one of the most important life skills a person can have,” Calif. Assembly member Rodriguez, author of the bill said. “By teaching CPR in high school, we are sending students into the world with essential, life-saving skills.”

High schools that require a course in health education for graduation will begin to offer instruction in performing CPR in the 2018-2019 school year. Students can be taught the fundamental life-saving skill of hands-only CPR in 30 minutes or less.

“I am so glad I learned CPR at a young age because it helped save my friend’s life,” said 13-year-old Skylar Berry, an American Heart Association volunteer who learned CPR at a camp organized by her local Sacramento Metro Fire department. “We should all be prepared to act in the case of an emergency and I’m happy other students will now get the chance to learn CPR.”

Berry was at a birthday party when a group playing in the pool realized one of their friends was at the bottom. As they brought him to the surface, Skylar, who was 11 at the time, remembered the CPR training she’d received and immediately sprang into action. Since then, she’s been a strong advocate for teaching CPR to her fellow classmates and created the “Stayin’ Alive” club at her school to convey the importance of learning the lifesaving skill.

With the passage of AB1719, tragedies like the loss of Debbie Wilson’s daughter can be averted.

“If someone who had been near my daughter at the time of her collapse had known how to conduct cardiopulmonary resuscitation, her life could have been saved,” said Debbie Wilson, AB 1719 advocate and mother of a 17-year-old daughter who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during tennis practice. “I want all students to have a chance to learn this life-saving skill so other families don’t suffer the same heart-break that ours did.”

Supporters of the bill included AHA, the American Red Cross, the California Professional Firefighters, the California State Parent Teacher Association, the California School Boards Association and California School Employees Association.

“So many lives have been saved because of the heroic act of bystanders who performed CPR. On the other hand, there are just as many stories of people who did not make it because no one nearby took action,” said Kathy Magliato, MD, AHA Western States Affiliate Board Member and a cardiothoracic surgeon. “With CPR in Schools, we have the opportunity to create a generation in which teens and young adults in California is trained in CPR as part of their health education and prepared to save lives. AB 1719 will add thousands of qualified lifesavers to our state.”

 


California New AED Laws Senate Bills 658 and 287

Posted on by SafetyPros in AED, CPR, CPR for Business, Rescue Leave a comment

An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a lightweight, portable device that delivers an electric shock through the chest to the heart. The shock can stop an irregular rhythm and allow a normal rhythm to resume in a heart in sudden cardiac arrest. Sudden cardiac arrest is an abrupt loss of heart function. If it’s not treated within minutes, it quickly leads to death. AED’s make it possible for more people to respond to medical emergencies where defibrillation is required. Because they are portable and easy to use, they can be used by nonmedical people. They should be a part of your emergency response plan that also includes the use of 9-1-1 and prompt delivery of cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

There are a variety of law regarding AEDs. Recently, California has enacted two, new AED laws (Senate Bills 658 and 287), the second of which was just chaptered into California law October 2, 1015.

S.B. 658 amends section 1714.21 of the CA Civil Code and section 1797.196 of the CA Health and Safety Code to substantially reduce the requirements placed upon AED owners to qualify for Good Samaritan protection in the state.  Most notably, the new law eliminates the need for a physician to oversee a company’s AED program. This will significantly drop cost of ownership as well as reduce the inconvenience factor of owning an AED. In addition, the new law reduces the frequency with which AED owners need to check their devices and pares back documentation rules.

S.B. 287 installs mandates across a sweeping array of building types (assembly, business, educational, factory, institutional, mercantile, and residential) that, effective 1/1/17, will require AEDs in all new construction, generally subject to an occupancy threshold of 200 people.

For more information about purchasing an AED for your workplace, or to arrange training for your staff, call 844-900-SAFE.


Halloween Candy and Choking-Related Incidents Among Children

Posted on by SafetyPros in CPR, General, Pediatric, Rescue, Training Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again! Danger is lurking for your little goblins.

A study published July 20, 2013 in the journal Pediatrics looks at nonfatal food choking incidents among children 14 years or younger in the U.S.

    • An estimated 111,914 children ages 0 to 14 years were treated in US hospital emergency departments from 2001 through 2009 for nonfatal food-related choking, yielding an average of 12,435 children annually and a rate of 20.4 visits per 100 000 population.
    • The mean age of children treated for nonfatal food-related choking was 4.5 years.
    • Children aged ≤1 year accounted for 37.8% of cases
    • Male children accounted for more than one-half (55.4%) of cases.
    • Of all food types, hard candy was most frequently (15.5% [16 168 cases]) associated with choking, followed by other candy (12.8% [13 324]), meat (12.2% [12 671]), and bone (12.0% [12 496]).
    • Most patients (87.3% [97 509]) were treated and released, but 10.0% (11 218) were hospitalized, and 2.6% (2911) left against medical advice.

This Halloween, are you prepared to come to the aid of a child in an emergency?

Trick or Treat

Choking can occur when a solid object enters a narrowed part of the airway and becomes stuck. Young children are particularly at risk for choking because of the small size of their air passages, inexperience with chewing, and a natural tendency to put objects in their mouths.

On inhalation, the object can be drawn tighter into the airway and block air from entering the lungs. A forceful abdominal thrust beneath the ribs and up into the diaphragm can compress the air in the chest and “pop” the object out of the airway. Direct compression of the chest over the breastbone can also create enough pressure to expel an object and is typically used for obese or pregnant victims with blocked airways.

An emergency care provider must be able to recognize the difference between a mild blockage and a severe blockage.

With a mild blockage, a child can speak, cough, or gag. This type of blockage is typically cleared by coughing. Encourage a child with a mild blockage to cough forcibly. Stay close and be ready to take action if things worsen.

When a severe blockage occurs, a child cannot dislodge the object on her own. Signs of severe obstruction include very little or no air exchange, lack of sound, and the inability to speak or cough forcefully. The child may hold her hands to her throat as she attempts to clear an obstruction naturally.

Please note: Abdominal and chest thrusts can cause internal injury. Anyone who has been treated for choking with these maneuvers should be evaluated by EMS or a physician to ensure there were no injuries.

To help prevent choking, Kidshealth.org has some tips to keep in mind during all the upcoming treat-filled holidays:

    • Encourage kids to sit when eating and to chew thoroughly. Teach them to chew and swallow their food before talking or laughing.
    • Be especially vigilant during adult parties, when nuts and other foods might be easily accessible to small hands. Clean up promptly and carefully, and check the floor for dropped foods that can cause choking.
    • Never let kids run, play sports, or ride in the car with gum, candy, or lollipops in their mouths.

Ready to give yourself a treat and learn a few tricks at a first aid, CPR, and AED class near you?


Who is Resusci Anne?

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We’ve all seen her, and many of us have learned our lifesaving CPR skills on her. You might ask who was the inspiration for that pleasant, yet enigmatic face on the Laerdal Resusci Anne manikin?

As originally reported by Kristine Rice of American Safety & Health Institute

It would seem that “Anne” came from the face of a French girl, found drowned in the Seine in Paris in the 19th century. The mouleurs (model-makers) were asked by a pathologist at the Paris mortuary to make a cast of the victim’s face, and it quickly became the mask-and-bust studio’s best-seller.

This little mask of the intriguing mystery girl has become fodder for poems, novels, and stories ever since, but the best use to which it was put came in the mid-1950s, when toymaker Asmund Laerdal used it for his first CPR manikin.

Snopes.com also weighs in on the story in their refutation of an urban legend about the origin of Resusci Anne’s peaceful visage. This often-repeated version credits Dr. Peter Safar, one of the creators of CPR, with modeling Anne after his own daughter, lost in a drowning accident.

Not quite, says Snopes. While Dr. Safar did unfortunately lose an 11-year-old daughter, it was not by drowning nor did he himself create a manikin. Our thanks instead must go to Laerdal for the creation that life-like manikin for CPR training still widely used today.

Safety Training Pros utilizes Laerdal manikins in all our CPR classes because of the realistic features, anatomically correct landmarks, audible feedback that reinforces the correct compression depth, and realistic chest compression resistance that allows our students to experience the amount of pressure needed to perform proper chest compressions in a real-life situation. Even though Laerdal manikins have one of the highest price points in the industry, the hands-on real-world simulation practice is worth it. Get rescue ready, get your CPR training from Safety Training Pros!


New Safety Training Pros Video

Posted on by SafetyPros in Aquatics, CPR, CPR for Business, General, Lifeguard, Professional Rescuers, Rescue, Training Leave a comment

We’ve been working hard on creating some new videos for your viewing pleasure and we’ll be rolling them out soon. Here is the first one! Let us know how you like it.

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