HSE People - Health and Safety Community

Respected Readers,

Road traffic crashes (commonly RTA – road traffic accidents) kill nearly 1.3 million people every year and injure or disable as many as 50 million more. They are the leading cause of death among young people aged 15–29 years.

In October 2005, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution which calls for governments to mark the third Sunday in November each year as “World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims”. The day was created as a means to give recognition to victims of road traffic crashes and the plight of their relatives who must cope with the emotional and practical consequences of these tragic events.

First Aid to Save a Life Pakistan encourages our young generation and respected parents to support safe driving behavior and through education and training before any young child get access to any type of motor like bike or car. They should also adopt correct behavior to ensure occupants (passenger, children and/or infants) safety and must have proper restraints for them too.

Road traffic crashes are among the world’s largest public health issues:

• Traffic fatalities are the leading cause of death for people ages 15-45 worldwide, resulting in 1.3 million deaths per year.

Road traffic crashes are robbing communities and developing countries of their future – the young generation:

• Globally, more than 40% of all road traffic deaths occur among the 0 to 25 age group; &
• 85% of traffic fatalities and 96% of child traffic fatalities occur in low- or middle-income countries.

Road traffic crashes place extreme financial strain on developing economies:

• For many low- and middle-income countries, the cost of road crashes represents between 1-2% of GNP (GDP);
• In some cases exceeds the total amount they receive in international development aid; &
• Many road traffic crash victims are the primary income generators for their family. The injury or death of these victims negatively impact the standard of living for their entire family.

Road traffic crashes are predictable and can be prevented

People who survive the initial crash frequently suffer brain damage that impedes their ability to continue as an income generator for their families, and in fact may require a lifetime of personal care that can drain resources from already impoverished families. Helmet use makes a difference.  Appropriate helmet use reduces the risk of fatality by an average of 42% and of severe head injury by 69%.

A recent case study of motorcycle accidents from Los Angeles and Thailand similarly found that that un-helmeted riders were two to three times as likely to be killed and three times as likely to suffer a ‘disastrous outcome’. Of survivable crashes, universal helmet use would have prevented about 80% of fatalities and brain injuries.

The goal of training programs offered by First Aid to Save a Life Pakistan is to help you gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to manage a medical emergency until more advanced help i s available.

Emergency First Aid does not require you to make complex decision or have in-depth medical knowledge. It’s easy to learn, remember, and perform.

Being volunteer is very good and our social and ethical responsibility to help victims and provide first aid (if trained to do so) but have to remain extremely careful if you are providing first aid on or near a roadway. Each year, many people are struck and killed by motor vehicles while providing assistance.

On this World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, let us mobilize all possible contributions; knowledge and experience; to improving road safety. Let us honour those who have lost their lives on the world’s roads by acting to save the lives of others.

 

To Your Health & Safety,

Faisal Javed Mir

http://firstaidtosavealife.com

A Very Warm Welcome to Our Respected Readers,

The use of technology and social media for effective advocacy and awareness was a key topic in recent times. But in Pakistan one of our minister who may be don’t know IT Technology and How Internet Traffic Works wants some of the social media giants to be shutdown in Pakistan. I don’t know why but he has expressed his intentions publicly. On the other hand, other nations are conducting surveys to know how people use social media in emergencies.

The Social Good Summit was held in New York from Sep 19 – 22, 2011 to know the role of social media when natural threats and disasters warnings are passed out. The Social Good Summit also highlighted a range of ways in which technology is improving our ability to get messages out.

Remarkable innovations done in the recent past history has changed the face of the earth we know and know we call it global village. Here, I would also like to pay a high tribute to Mr. Steve Jobs (Died Oct 5, 2011), for his innovations in information technology those have major contributions in today’s silicon chip life.

Let me share with you some of the facts those will reveal how we use social media in emergencies.

1:- Online news is the 3rd most popular source for emergency information.

2:-18% use facebook to get information about emergencies.

3:- 24% would use social tools to tell their loved ones that they are safe.

Also, there are devices built and programmed for purpose to locate the nearest AED devices in public areas, shopping malls, sports centers etc.

All above are positive and encouraging signs for those who thinks social networking sites are of no use/benefit. In the end, I would like to include one quote of Mary Engelbreit.

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change they way you think about it.”

To Your Health, Safety & Prosperity,

Faisal Javed Mir

 

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As-Salam-o-Alaikum Respected Readers,

Today we will share with you one new topic which is Psychological First Aid (PFA). When terrible things happen in our communities, we want to reach out a helping hand to those who are affected. Although everyone is affected in some way by these events, there are a wide range of reactions and feelings each person can have. Psychological first aid has been recommended by many international and national expert groups. PFA should be offered to people in severe distress after being recently exposed to a traumatic event.

What is Psychological First Aid?

Psychological first aid (PFA) describes a humane, supportive response to a fellow human being who is suffering and who may need support. PFA involves the following themes:

• providing practical care and support, which does not intrude;
• assessing needs and concerns;
• helping people to address basic needs;
• listening to people, but not pressuring them to talk;
• comforting people and helping them to feel calm;
• helping people connect to information, services and social supports; &
• protecting people from further harm.

PFA also involves factors that seem to be most helpful to people’s long-term recovery. PFA is for distressed people who have been recently exposed to a serious crisis event. You should not force help on people who do not want it, but make yourself easily available to those who may want support.

It is very important to act in ways that respect the safety, dignity and rights of the people you have decided to help. There is a lot to say on PFA and we will continue this service in better interest of our readers.

To Your Success,

Faisal Javed Mir

http://firstaidtosavealife.com

As-Salam-o-Alaikum Respected Readers,

Today we would like to throw light on corporate responsibility and social sustainability system. Many organizations act responsibly towards the people, their employees, and communities to contribute to social development in the areas where they live and work. They think that it is the essence of their commitment to their corporate social responsibility and they are very right but there are some organizations those doesn’t live up to the expectations even more fulfill their regulatory requirements. 

Basic life saving first aid skills is one of the subject one should consider is their responsibility to provide life saving skills to their employees and to contribute to communities where they live and work. In order to respond immediately and effectively to emergencies/disasters, which may occur during work timing or commuting to/from home to office and vice versa.

As most of the organizations collectively embrace the need to improve their impact on the society but the concept of sustainability is no longer just an investment in some of the occasional events, while I applaud increased efforts by number of organizations toward sustainable design and worker safety. There are some organizations those take responsibility of their services and products as well as invest in development of personal safety skills of their employees.

First Aid to Save a Life Pakistan’s community training programs are also one of the service where we share basic life saving first aid skills at large-scale and not for profit. At large-scale and especially at corporate sector, we should consider this and contribute/volunteer towards our community and society such program those can make difference in the lives of the families of our employees, communities and our fellow citizens.

First Aid to Save a Life Pakistan also share the same sense of responsibility and have developed community training programs and currently working on many more programs and school safety program and AED implementation program are part of those efforts. Despite the fact that many organizations neglect this aspect in their corporate social responsibility we will remain active in incorporating personal safety awareness and life saving skills, to truly protect the future, protecting the lives of workers and serve to community and our fellow citizens.

With this First Aid to Save a Life Pakistan also wishes our fellow citizens, a very happy Independence Day. Long Live Pakistan.

To Your Prosperity,
Faisal Javed Mir

Welcome Respected Readers,

Today we will update you on “Use of Aspirin in chest pain (sign of cardiac arrest)”.

Use of Aspirin while suffering with chest pain was not addressed in 2005 guidelines but it is now included in the latest guidelines.

Courtesy to American Heart Association (AHA) for sharing with us that evidences from two large, randomized studies clearly demonstrated that the administration of aspirin within the first hours of onset of chest discomfort in people with acute coronary syndromes reduced mortality.

Let see how it is drafted in the latest guidelines.

2010 Guidelines: “While waiting for EMS to arrive, the first aid provider may encourage the victim to chew 1-adult (not enteric coated) or 2 low-dose baby aspirin if the patient has no allergy to aspirin, other contraindication to aspirin, such evidence of a stroke or recent bleeding.”

It is very clear from the above excerpt that first aid provider may encourage and not states that he/she should himself/herself can administer (if semi-conscious then it is already late for this). Meanwhile, first aid provider should also (if appropriate) ask patient of any allergy to aspirin or other contraindications if he/she knew and could be of great help for EMS personnel as well.

To Your Success,
Faisal Javed Mir

http://firstaidtosavealife.com/2011/07/24/use-of-aspirin-in-chest-pain/

Respected Readers,

We hope that you are finding our posts regularly and we will do our best to continue this service to you. Today we would like to share with you the results of an independent survey conducted in the United States of America. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive® on the usefulness of first aid kits/cabinets in workplaces.

This telephone based survey was conducted in March-April this year targeting the adults and older. 68 percent of those surveyed said they would be more productive at work if provided access to a first aid kit or cabinet.

The senior director of the company said that the results of this survey has put more emphasis on the first aid kits/cabinets and largely related it to the overall productivity as well. He further stated that the increasing number of absences due to employee illness further makes the case for on-site first aid kits or cabinets in the workplace. He further added that ensuring that employees are equipped with the first aid supplies necessary to combat minor illness and injury in the workplace is essential to maximizing productivity and reducing costs for businesses.

Survey results included these:

• 88 percent of those surveyed agreed employers should be required to provide a first aid kit or cabinet at each office or workplace;
• 74 percent of employed adults think employers should be required to provide at least one at each work site.

The common cold is the leading cause of missed workdays, resulting in an average loss of 8.7 work hours per cold episode, which cited for the estimated economic cost of lost business productivity due to the common cold as approaching $25 billion, most of which is attributed to on-the-job productivity loss.

I would like to mention one example from my personal experience where employer was keen to distribute helmets and personal first aid kits to their employees in every Friday meeting based on their inputs of hazard identification reports in a week time. I have observed remarkable improvement in their employee's approach towards personal safety through this incentive program. I hope someone may want to implement this idea in their company as well.

Also, see our earlier post on “Summary of achievements of first 10 years of 21st century” as well.

Note: This post is only posted on HSE People and not yet posted on our website. This will be released Sunday, June 19, 2011 on our website.

To Your Success,

Faisal Javed Mir

First Aid to Save a Life Pakistan 

As-Salam-o-Alaikum and very warm welcome to All,

In our today’s post we will share with you what is most important and generally speaking first thing to be looked after before we do any help.

Your (responders) personal safety is the most important step in first aid scenarios. We have to remember that emergency scenes can be dangerous or there may be associated hazards. We may or may not be in position to highlight all the existing hazards where this incident occurred but we have to be careful to ourselves.

Put your future in good hands – your own.

We should make sure that emergency scene is safe for ourselves and there are no visible hazards present or developing situations exists, those may harm us. Once you are sure your personal safety is intact, you can anticipate rescuing the victim.

Don’t feel shame because this is not ethically wrong. You have every right but first to secure yourself, and then help with a cause to save victims’ life. If the scene is not safe, you should think about yourself. If you failed to think about your safety at first and jumped into the situation, then rescuers may have to recover two victims from scene instead of one.

All organizations like American Heart Association (AHA), European Resuscitation Council (ERC), Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK), British Heart Foundation (BHF), Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC), American Red Cross (ARC), Red Cross and others emphasizes the needs of personal safety in their published guidelines.

There we also have some supporting stories from all around the world to avoid secondary accidents. One of the American Road Traffic Safety organizations states that 32% of road accidents (in America) are listed in the category where injured were rescuers those rushed to save lives of others but put themselves in dangers. Here we cannot put our head in the sand and have to educate ourselves and made our students more and more conscious during training sessions about the priorities; rescuers safety is first priority.

Let me share one example with you where one road side accident (secondary accident) occurred, when an ambulance hit one pedestrian in LACHI; a small town; nearby Kohat city. An incident occurred at remote site area where qualified doctor was deployed, who decided to evacuate the patient to CMH Kohat. On their way to hospital they ambulance hit a pedestrian, an old man, and now the doctor gave him first aid to take him in the same ambulance to CMH Kohat. Just imagine what could have gone wrong which caused driver to adopt unsafe behavior and he hit a pedestrian. In this case, they lost time, they were in anxiety and wasted time on road side with bystanders (who could not understand the whole situation and involved in firefighting with the driver and doctor and started inquiries about the victim in ambulance), how could they have managed the 2^nd patient in the ambulance (as generally in Pakistan ambulances can transport only one patient at one time), more stress after the secondary road side accident, medical expenses of second victim, communication expenses, local authorities inquiries, company wide road accident investigation and associated costs. You might recall the hidden cost of accidents iceberg to the above mentioned accident as well.

Generally in industry we only consider some of the cases very dangerous, for example; explosives environment, radioactive materials, toxic gases and other hazmats, and only have SOP in place to see if it is safe to enter the scene to rescue instead to have generalize approach.

“Accidents don’t have holidays”.

We should also have broader approach to cover all the misunderstandings those can harm you, if you missed your chance at first hand. And now when we have make sure the scene safety, we have to make sure we also have barriers against infectious body fluids and blood.

In the end, I just want to finish it that always use your common sense and never approach a scene that is not safe.

 

 

Thanks & Best Regards,

Faisal Javed Mir

I wonder if their are many people  who work in our area that belive that it is not nessery to maintain the levels of first aid  training in an organisation every three year as is required.I belve its always important as treats change as more research is done. Once we were told head back for a nose bleed now the advise is head forward.Anyone rememeber other changes eg putting a spoon into the mouth of a person having a fit?

Robert Acheson
http://www.fad.ie