Page 36 - OHS, September 2022

DEFIB & CPR
recommendations on training plans, policies and procedures or evaluating the use of an AED to recommend improvements.
Next, choose an AED and ensure that any manufacturer with whom you work offffers suffifficient support:
Technical support. Is there an 800 number to call for questions and are people available to respond in a timely fashion? Program implementation. This may include placement of the
device, medical authorization, registration and special training. Ongoing maintenance. You want the AED to work when it is needed, so regular inspections are a must. A staff member could assume this responsibility or you could hire a service that
monitors your AEDs for operational readiness.
Finally, develop a training plan and use it to raise awareness
of the AED program. Employees should know the locations of all AEDs.
Second Nature
The importance of CPR and AEDs is not lost to the employees of Shelby Electric Cooperative in Illinois. On May 8, 2018, forestry foreman Kevin Carlen lost consciousness while hanging mid-air as part of a pole top rescue training. His fellow linemen sprang into action, calling 911, beginning CPR and getting the AED.
The AED restarted Carlen’s heart to a normal rhythm.
“I’ve seen how people are doing the training year after year
aftfter year—it was second nature to us when it did occur,” said
ThThThad France, manager of line-worker development for Shelby
Electric Cooperative. “As I started yelling instructions, everybody was already doing everything I was yelling.”
It took the ambulance three and a half minutes to arrive, during which the years of training and access to the right equipment kicked in. Being prepared made the difference in the most important three and a half minutes of their stricken colleague’s life.
Luke Brown, an apprentice at Shelby Electric, summed it up: “If you can just save somebody, why wouldn’t you?”
Dom Tolli is senior vice president for product management and platform development at the American Red Cross.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/osha3185.pdf 2. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OSHA3317first-
aid.pdf
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34223355/ 4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26215481/
5. https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2021/cpr- aed-awareness-week-every-second-counts.html
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