Health & Safety.
We take the health & safety of our volunteers seriously. With that in mind, we have been working on a Health & Safety Policy which we hope will be formally adopted shortly. This will require us to do some new things at work parties, like sign in.
First Aid kit
We have also replaced our group’s ageing first aid kit. When I found it in a corner of our tool store and prised it open, I found that some of the “use by” dates for the contents had expired 15 years ago. You could tell by the yellowing bandages that it wasn’t in the best condition! We disposed of it, and have now bought St John’s Ambulance first aid kit (shown right) and have mounted it on a bracket inside the tool store, so it is highly visible. This will be brought to each working party at the same time as we collect our tools. We have also bought an accident record book, which sits beside the first aid kit, and we sincerely hope that it never needs an entry….
First Aid training
We have checked how many trained first aiders we have among our regular volunteers, and following this, we decided that myself and another CEG volunteer should immediately book ourselves onto a first aid course. This is ensure we know what to do in case a medical emergency arises during one of our work parties (fingers crossed that never happens, but we must be prepared). The one-day training course was given at a sports venue in Chesham by the charismatic Ian Scott (“Scotty”) of Proactive First Aid Training – which we can thoroughly recommend.
The day kicked off with each trainee introducing themselves to the rest of the class (there were around a dozen of us), and saying which was their favourite film! This also revealed something about our age, as you could imagine (my choice was 2001 A Space Odyssey, where 2001 was set far in the future when it was originally released in 1968). After this ice breaker, we began a packed day of learning and practical exercises.
The first half of the day was classroom based, covering many types of injury and illness, with Q&A encouraged after each section to ensure we had taken in everything.
The second half of the day was more practical based, working in pairs to play the role of casualty and first aider. This included making the incident area safe, assessing the casualty, placing the casualty in a recovery position, enlisting the help of others where possible, making an emergency call, and how to support the emergency services. We also learned how to use equipment such an automated external defibrillator (AED), how to apply CPR and how to administer rescue breathing using a pocket mask.
Following the training, all trainees were sent a certificate with a 3-year validity period, which will serve as a reminder to go on a refresher training course when that time is up! Additionally, as a reference and reminder of what we had learned on the course, I have invested in the official St Johns Ambulance First Aid Manual (published by DK).
I hope that we never need to make use of our training. So do take care out there!