Venkatehswara
Occupational Health  Centers
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 (INDIAS FIRST OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES AN ISO 9001-2008 CERTIFIED SERVICES)

First Aid Policy

1. Policy Statement

It is Company policy that:

2. Responsibilities Under The Policy

  1.  Heads of Departments, Divisions and Centres are responsible for ensuring first aid needs within their areas of operation are assessed and addressed appointing a Co-ordinator to organise provision of first aid services across the department ensuring appropriate first aid cover is available for field work.
  2. Departmental First Aid Co-ordinators are responsible for Assessing first aid needs of their department ensuring sufficient numbers of suitably trained first aiders are available organising provision and replenishment of equipment recording any joint cover arrangements with other departments ensuring information on obtaining first aid is made available and is up-dated liaising with the Departmental Safety Officer and the Company’s central Health & Safety advisors on first aid issues.
  3. First aiders are responsible for responding promptly to calls for assistance within their area providing support with their competence summoning further help, if necessary reporting details of treatment provided .
  4. The Director of Occupational Health is responsible for advising on appropriate levels of provision of first aid providing guidance on implementation of the Company policy advising on the provision and content of first aid training maintaining records of departmental co-ordinators liaison with co-ordinators auditing arrangements for the provision of first aid in Company.
  5. The Safety Director is responsible for organising provision of first aid training organising recall of first aiders for refresher training assisting in the monitoring of first aid arrangements on medical campuses.
  6. The Security Manager is responsible for providing back up support to first aiders in departments on the AurobindoCampus .
  7. The Residences Manager is responsible for ensuring first aid cover is available in halls of residence during normal working hours providing first aid equipment for use in halls of residence .
  8. The Conference Office Manager is responsible for Ensuring first aid cover is available for conferences and conference and vacation residents in halls of residence.
  9. The Sport and Leisure Manager is responsible for Ensuring first aid cover is available at Company sports facilities whilst in use. 
  10. Wardens of Halls of Residence are responsible for providing first aid cover when Halls are occupied by students during nights and weekends ensuring wardening staff are trained in emergency first aid ensuring students are informed of first aid arrangement.
3.Selection of first aiders
  1. Personal qualities To be an effective first aider, a person needs to be reliable, able to stay calm in an emergency, have a good standard of person hygiene & be fit enough to rapidly attend an incident. The person must be willing to provide first aid to anyone at any time whilst at work and to attend training courses to obtain and retain their qualification.
  2. Recruitment First aiders should be selected from staff who can be easily contacted and who are usually based in the area for which they are providing cover. Staff who are likely to be long term employees should be selected for training in preference to staff who are likely to leave within two years of training. Students should only be recruited as first aiders where it proves impossible to recruit staff to meet a defined need.
  3. New members of staff should be asked at induction whether they are trained in first aid and willing to act as a first aider. If so, their details should be passed on to the department’s first aid co-ordinator. If subsequently appointed as a first aider, the Company Safety Unit should be notified so that the person can be enrolled into the Company first aiders retraining programme.

4.Policy summary

  1. It is Company policy to provide first aid support if someone is injured or becomes unwell in Company, or when involved in Company-sponsored activities, and to ensure that Company complies with the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1991. A prime objective of the Company Policy is that someone trained in basic first aid skills should be able to attend an incident within 3 minutes of help being requested during normal hours and within 10 minutes at other times.
  2. Departments are responsible for organising their internal first aid provision for their students and staff.
  3. The Company Occupational Health Service and Safety Unit provide advice to departments on first aid arrangements, organise training and are responsible for auditing the effectiveness of first aid arrangements across the Company.
  4. The full policy statement & details of responsibilities under the policy is available on OH web page .   

5.Equipment

  1. First Aid Boxes. At least one first aid box has to be readily available in a building whilst the building is occupied. In large buildings, or where a building is occupied by more than one department, each department should maintain its own box, unless a single box is held at a staffed reception desk for the building and can be quickly delivered to an incident. The contents of first aid boxes should comply with Appendix 1 of the guidance. Sufficient materials should be to hand to cover the usual maximum occupancy of the area covered. Company vehicles should carry a first aid box
  2. . Restocking. An individual— preferably the first aid co-ordinator or a first aider— should be made responsible for regularly checking and replenishing first aid boxes. The frequency of checks should be specified in the department’s first aid assessment. It should relate to the frequency with which supplies are used up. 
  3. Supplies for first aiders First aiders should each hold or have easy access to a stock of basic first aid dressings, gloves and materials for cleaning up after treatment of a casualty. 
  4. Adhesive plasters Adhesive plasters should be available within areas where persons may suffer minor cuts or abrasions e.g. workshops, kitchens, engineering laboratories or where covering wounds on exposed skin is a routine infection control measure e.g. bio-medical laboratories, clinical areas.
  5. Food preparation areas In commercial food preparation areas only detectable (blue) plasters should be available for use.  

6. Obtaining First Aid

  1. If someone is injured, or becomes unwell and needs help, the nearest first aider should be contacted, and asked to attend. The first aider will assess the situation, provide help, request assistance from other first aiders if necessary, and stay with the casualty until recovered or arrangements for further care if needed are made. Arrangements for obtaining assistance from outside of a department will vary between different Company sites. (Appendix 2- campus specific arrangements) .
  2. If attempts to summon a first aider fail, then casualty should be assisted to get to the nearest hospital A&E department. Failure to obtain an effective first aid response should be reported as a ‘dangerous occurrence’.
  3. Ambulances and crash teams should be called, if needed, in accordance with campus specific arrangements detailed in Appendix 2 .

7. Obtaining Further help

  1. Crash Teams: Help from hospital crash teams, where available, should be requested only where a casualty requires resuscitation i.e. where breathing or circulation is thought to have stopped.
  2. Medical support: When a first aider thinks that a casualty needs urgent medical treatment, the first aider should arrange for the casualty to be taken to the nearest hospital accident & emergency department. At Aurobindocampus, during normal hours, assistance can be sought from the Company Health Centre (Appendix 2).
  3. Ambulance: When an ambulance is needed to take a casualty to hospital, it should be called in accordance with guidance in Appendix 2. A first aider should remain with the casualty until the ambulance arrives.  

Most commercially available boxes will have contents similar to those listed in the table.

  1. Adhesive plaster dispensers  Where minor cuts & grazes are the most common accident, wall mounted dispensers may be useful. Most can be wall mounted and only allow a single dressing to be dispensed at a time, lessening pilfering problems. They can be easily checked & restocked. 
  2. Adhesive plasters for catering outlets Plasters available in food preparation areas must be of the high visibility (blue) type.
  3. Eye wash bottles Mains tap water is recommended when eye irrigation is necessary. Special eye wash bottles are only needed where this is not readily available. These should provide at least a litre of sterile water or sterile normal saline (0.9%) in sealed disposable containers Once the seal has been broken, the containers should not be kept for reuse. The container should not be used after the expiry date. 5.
  4. Spillage Kits A kit for clearing up and disinfecting spillages of blood or other body fluids must be available in every building. Kits should contain absorbent granules, a disinfectant (unless incorporated in the granules), gloves & a scoop for picking up the granules. A number of suitable kits are commercially available.