Photo: Peggy_Marco
Workplace incidents can happen anytime. Its impact to the business, workers and community can be devastating so getting ready for the unexpected is always ideal.
According to recent statistics, around 117 Australian workers have been killed at work this year. Unfortunately, only 13 percent of organisations are confident they can use their first aid training to act decisively in case needed.
St John Ambulance Australia is calling on business leaders to join the events for the National Safe Work Month and ensure that their procedures and employees are up-to-date with their first aid skills.
“Managers need to be aware of their responsibilities when it comes to the safety of their employees, contractors and other people in the workplace,” said St John Ambulance Queensland CEO Alex Hutton.
“Workplace safety undoubtedly becomes a larger issue as a company grows and it is necessary and essential for managers to assess their operations regularly.
“Many organisations focus on increasing their efficiency but to do that completely they need to look at more than just their bottom-line, they also need to maintain workplace safety, so their staff is ready for the unexpected, risks are minimised, and people have a safe workplace.”
Mr Hutton said that many companies are not up-to-date on their first aid training skills.
“It’s disturbing and quite scary, knowing 85% of the Australian workforce has a knowledge gap this serious,” he said. “Many people head to work each day and take their return home safely for granted.
“The reality is an estimated 117 Australian workers have been killed at work this year, and each one of this could have been prevented in as little as five minutes if the right training and first aid skills were readily available during that person’s work activity.
“Every person deserves to go home safely at the end of each day; safety should be the number one efficiency in every workplace, and it will put business leaders at ease knowing their employees are prepared for the worst case scenario.
“There’s nothing worse than knowing you could have done something to help if you knew what to do.”
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Some statistics that you might not have been aware of from St Johns. We need to improve these statistics across Australia and Canberra and the only way to do that is by getting our employees trained in a first aid course. Canberra First Aid can offer you a great first aid course in Canberra at a fraction of the cost of other providers. We give everyone a free first aid manual when they ycomplete their first aid course with us and we also provide you with a cpr first aid course mask.