Member Article

Stockport’s Cardiac Science announce ground-breaking AED initiative

Carillion Construction Services has signed a ground-breaking deal with Cardiac Science to provide Powerheart® G5 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to each of its UK project sites, giving staff, contractors, and visitors easy access to the life-saving technology in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

Working closely with Cardiac Science, Carillion has already installed a minimum of one AED in all 150 locations across the country.

On many sites, an assessment of travel times has meant that more than one AED had to be purchased, so that the time taken from receiving an alert to deployment is kept to a minimum. As a result over 300 AEDs are now deployed.

To meet the changing needs as contracts start, ramp up, and come to completion Cardiac Science has arranged that the units, along with a range of accessories such as cold weather storage bags for example, can be bought or hired. Hiring has been a particularly popular way of deploying a device and is part of a range of access options from Cardiac Science.

Glenn Christiansen, Health, Safety and Sustainability Director at Carillion Construction Services, said: “Having the flexibility to buy or hire the G5 defibrillators is ideal for us, as the size of our teams and how and where they are deployed changes frequently, so we needed an arrangement that reflects this.

“It means each and every one of the people who work for us across the UK, whether based on a temporary or at one of our permanent sites, will have access to what we believe to be the best AED therapy available. AEDs are proven to save lives.”

In fact since the introduction of the AED policy there have been a number of non-work related cardiac arrests at Carillion Construction Services sites. Glenn again: “Emergency services told us we had, without doubt, saved lives as a result.”

Shaun Ingram, UK Managing Director of Cardiac Science, said: “Cardiac Science prides itself on providing not just the best AED equipment but also the best support and advice on introducing them into a business.

“We came up with a simple range of options for Glenn and his team to present to colleagues, including CardiAcademy, an easy to access online training programme to build confidence in using the equipment at site level.

Glenn again: “We have included the donation of several AEDs into our nationwide CSR programme, this year supporting Hospice UK. In recent months two hospices in the Midlands are also now benefiting from vital AED protection.”

The Powerheart G5 AED is the first defibrillator to combine real-time cardiopulmonary (CPR) feedback to the rescuer, customised patient therapy and fast shock times. It is designed to enable both experienced and first-time rescuers to provide quick and effective life-saving therapy to aid the victim of SCA before the emergency services arrive at the scene.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Souter .