First Aid Training for Employees: Real Life Examples of Why You Need It

First aid training for employees may not be the highest priority on your list of training needs, especially if most of your people work in an office. We’ve all seen people goof around or hurt themselves when they weren’t paying attention. You may also have people who encounter different hazards while they work like machinery and chemicals. An extension of your safety training should include first aid.

Real-Life Examples of the Need for First Aid in the Workplace

• Box cutter slip: When I was 16, my first job was working as a cashier for a Ben Franklin dime store. A co-worker cut herself opening a box when the box cutter stuttered and slipped and cut her other hand.
• Hoverboard fall: Someone brought a hoverboard into the office to show to his co-workers. A new employee was apparently trying to bond with everyone and gave it a try. And failed. He immediately fell and broke his arm.
• Fainting spell: Someone from my web team was standing in a co-worker’s office having a discussion when she fainted. She fell to the floor, hit her head and fell awkwardly on her arm. She was unconscious for about a minute.
• Goose bite: I worked for company whose headquarters was a large campus with five buildings including a covered bridge over a major highway. A co-worker was walking along an outdoor path when he was chased and mildly attacked by a male goose. The bite was more of a pinch, but he could have easily fallen and injured himself. His ego really needed the first aid.

First Aid as Part of a Whole-Person Approach to Employee Training

We offer a wide variety of training topics to give you well-rounded, well-developed employees. We think beyond the walls of your workplace. How can we keep your employees safe or minimize stress in their personal lives so they can give you 100% during their work hours? Think about it. If an employee is dealing with challenges with their physical, mental, or financial health in their personal lives, they won’t be as productive in their professional lives.

First aid training is one of those topics that employees will find useful outside the workplace. Your outdoor maintenance staff needs to be trained on bug and snake bites but what about the parents standing on the side of the soccer field or participating in parent-child weekend at summer camp?

First Aid Training Topics

Here is a list of first aid training videos that HSI offers as part of our Business Skills Library that you will find are relevant to indoor office workers, laborers, and your outdoor maintenance team:

• Broken Bones: See hoverboard example above.
• Burns: Have you seen a co-worker open their bag of microwave popcorn and get singed by the hot steam coming out?
• Bites, Cuts and Scrapes: Have you seen someone struggle to use a dull, serrated kitchen knife to open a box in your office?
• Choking: I’ve seen co-workers hold a contest to toss M&Ms or popcorn in each other’s mouths from across the room.
• AED Training: What happens if someone has a heart attack and you’re unsure about your ability to operate one or where you would find the AED in your office?
• Seizures: Would you be prepared if someone had a seizure in your office?
• Diabetes: 10% of Americans have diabetes and more than 1 in 3 are pre-diabetic.
• Toxic Plants: Have you heard the saying “Leaves of three, let it be?”
• Bug Bites and Stings: My co-worker had frequent stink bugs and spiders in her old office. Luckily, she was never bitten but I could hear her scream from down the hall. I think that may have been one of the inspirations for our first aid series.
• EpiPens and Allergic Reactions: Peanuts and bee stings are common causes of anaphylaxis and require treatment with an epinephrine (adrenaline) autoinjector like an EpiPen.
• Strokes: There are two different kinds of strokes along with a subset of strokes knows as mini strokes. We should all learn the signs to recognize in our co-workers.
• Mammal Bites and Scratches: In a case of strange synchronicity, one of our writers who was working on this series had a bat in her house and needed to get a rabies shot.
• Snake Bites: Oh my goodness, I hope I never need to know what to do about a snake bite. The good thing is that only 20% of snakes in North America are venomous.

First Aid Training Videos and More

All these first aid training courses are part of our Business Skills Library. They are all microlearning videos that are 3-11 minutes long. Many of our clients open the library so employees can take any course they want. Others curate content into groups like this simply to promote employee interest in different training topics. One client promoted this as a summer training topic to support employees in their outdoor activities and vacations so they could be prepared and be safe. We support our clients with flyers on various topics like first aid, which you can use to encourage engagement from your employees.

We can offer expanded first aid training such as CPR, AED and first aid training programs designed for individuals and organizations to meet regulatory requirements. This includes in-person sessions, blended learning, and remote skills verification (RSV).

Additional Resources

• First Aid Training Topics for Employees
• First Aid Training Courses Contribute to a Healthier, Safer Workplace
• Safety Training Tips for Home and Work