Identify your First Aiders

First aid at your workplace is a must – you are required to have someone readily available and your workplace must have adequate first aid supplies readily available.

Some workplaces are large or spread out – add on the complexity of shiftwork, multiple departments or new staff and it can become increasingly difficult for a worker to know who to go to if an incident occurs that requires first aid treatment.

To save precious seconds in an injury emergency, make it easy to identify your first aid trained workers. Here are some tips on how to make your first aiders stand out so precious seconds aren’t wasted looking for the right person to administer first aid.

• Consider supplying first aid t-shirts or patches for uniforms, but keep in mind the worker will need changes of clothing.
• An arm band is an alternative because it can be worn with any clothes.
• Hardhats of a special color or bearing first aid decals are also possibilities and so are high-visibility vests. Be sure you do not introduce any hazards with your identification system, such as modifications that compromise the effectiveness of hardhats or neck chains that pose a danger of entanglement in machinery.
• Some workplaces issue nameplates for the person’s workstation in green and white, marked with a green medical cross.
• Pictures and names of trained personnel can be posted outside the first aid station. You can also introduce first aid attendants at your safety meetings and make announcements whenever someone else is certified or upgraded.