But is it? Is workplace first aid regarded as important because it is required by law, or is it because it is generally understood that an immediate response to a medical emergency is crucial?
Whether it’s due to efficacy or compliance, and hopefully both, workplace first-aid is universally available, except for the most dangerous workplace – the road network. Which begs the question, if the importance of an emergency medical response, prior to the arrival of paramedics, is clearly understood, why is its absence from the road network so devastatingly obvious?
There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that first aid, delivered by bystanders before the emergency services arrive, can be the difference between life and death at the scene of an RTC. A 1994 study, by Hussain and Redmond, of pre-hospital deaths from accidental injury reported to the coroner in North Staffordshire found “at least 39% and up to 85% of preventable pre-hospital deaths may be due to airway obstruction”.
Death from an obstructed airway occurs within 4 minutes, well before the ambulance target time of 8 minutes! In fact, an estimated 50% of deaths caused by road traffic collisions occur within the first few minutes at the scene, before the arrival of paramedics.
Even an ambulance responding to an RTC within the NHS eight-minute target may be too late to preserve life. And smart motorways and the potential for gridlock following an incident can often result in even longer response times by the emergency services.
And though accidents can also result in serious physical injury, the same study reported that, “The injury severity scores indicated that only a fifth of those who died before reaching hospital had injuries incompatible with life. The death of those who died before reaching hospital was potentially preventable in many cases”.
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, states “you must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all employees while at work.” Health and Safety Regulations apply equally in law to all workers, but in practice, drivers are experiencing far greater danger than their non-mobile colleagues.
There are no stated exceptions to the Health and Safety First-Aid regulations requiring employers to provide workplace first-aid equipment and facilities. And the regulations apply to drivers or anyone else for whom the road network is a place of work.
So, who are the workplace first aiders on the road network? Who provides the sick and injured that immediate response, ahead of the emergency services, that fixed workplaces offer?
Is it time for individual businesses to take collective responsibility for all drivers, not just their own, and train a significant proportion of their drivers to respond effectively at an RTC? Working in partnership with DFA to create this cohort of trained responders, can mean achieving equality in first-aid provision for on-site workers and drivers becomes a realistic goal.
There were 1,608 reported road deaths in Great Britain in 2021, a substantial number of which might have been saved if the basic first-aid response that is freely available in fixed workplaces, was also available to drivers.
The opportunity to save lives and minimise the seriousness of injuries for our driving workforce is clear. DFA has created a strategy to ensure every element of the health and safety regulations is made available to drivers.
It’s time to take action. It’s time to level up!