World First Aid Day is taking place on Saturday 12 September, helping to raise public awareness as to how first aid can prevent injuries and save lives both in everyday and emergency situations.
Organised by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the theme for this year’s World First Aid Day is teaching children and young people basic medical skills through a variety of interactive activities. This is in line with the IFRC’s belief that first aid is accessible to all and that everyone should be entitled to receive basic training, knowledge and educational resources.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact everyday life across the globe, it is more important than ever to ensure that employees have the appropriate training and skill sets in place to be able to deal with a host of medical-related incidents. To find out more about how you can apply first aid while remaining compliant with current COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, click here.
According to a report by the British Red Cross, someone will be attending the scene of a medical emergency before the emergency services have arrived 96% of the time, but first aid is only attempted in half of these cases. Therefore, a major aim of World First Aid Day is to improve general awareness and confidence to apply first aid in a medical emergency, making sure that individuals are equipped to:
- Understand the necessary actions required to save the lives of injured persons
- Handle the condition of an injured person by providing first aid and trying to avoid infection
- Take the patient immediately to the hospital prior to any mishaps.
SOCOTEC’s Health & Safety Consultancy offers a wide range of training courses dedicated to first aid and wellbeing, all of which are available to purchase via our online Shop. To show our support for World First Aid Day, SOCOTEC is offering a 10% discount on private Emergency First Aid at Work courses throughout September – simply use the discount code FIRSTAID2020 at the checkout to qualify. However, please note that to qualify for the discount, the training course must be completed by the end of 2020.
For further information on World First Aid Day, visit the British Red Cross website.