Most offices are well stocked with fire safety equipment like fire blankets and fire extinguishers but understocked in the area of medical equipment. This can have devastating consequences if an emergency does occur when prompt intervention saves lives. Here’s a quick rundown of the supplies that every office should contain.
#1 A first aid kit
A well-stocked first-aid kit is vital for any safety-conscious office. First aid kits do exactly that – they’re your first port of call in the event of an injury. They contain all the medical paraphernalia that you’ll need to dress wounds, staunch blood, and generally take care of a person until trained medical staff arrive. First aid boxes usually contain some assortment of bandages, gauze, tweezers, and antiseptics. Although these boxes are a common sight in offices around the world, they’re checked infrequently, and missing items aren’t always replaced. Inspect your first aid box regularly and make sure that everyone knows who the trained first aider is.
#2 Defibrillators
Defibrillators are one of the most important medical devices ever to be invented because they quite literally save lives. If a person suffers cardiac arrest and their heart stops, they only have a matter of minutes before their brain is deprived of oxygen, causing death. Defibrillators restart the heart by delivering a jolt of electricity. Best of all, most modern defibrillators can be used with no training and no medical knowledge. They’re applied to the chest using stickers and then deliver shocks automatically if and when required. All businesses should have a defibrillator, which can be sourced via a medical supplies marketplace like medical-supermarket.com. Here you can compare suppliers and prices to find the right equipment for your needs.
#3 EpiPens
Food allergies are becoming more common with every passing year. While some are nothing more than mild intolerances, others can be deadly. A nut allergy, for example, might trigger an anaphylactic shock in a person. This condition causes the tongue to swell and the throat to close: it can even be fatal. Fortunately, anaphylaxis is easy to treat with the administration of adrenaline from an EpiPen, which is injected into the patient. Although these pens should only ever be administered in a medical emergency by a trained first aider, there’s no doubt that they save lives. Having some on-site can be the difference between life and death.
#4 CPR pocket mask