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Business Profile

St John Ambulance

EACH year around 141,350 accidents are reported in workplaces in Britain, so how would you and your colleagues cope if there was an emergency in your office, school or warehouse?
First aid is often not seen as a priority by many business owners. However, few are aware of the huge fines handed out by the Health and Safety Executive each year to businesses which have failed to provide adequate first aid provision for their employees. It is only once an accident has already happened that the importance of having trained first aiders becomes apparent, but St John Ambulance is trying to change this attitude by encouraging businesses to be prepared.
In the last 12 months St John Ambulance has expanded the range of courses it offers in the West Berkshire area to include not only first aid at work and appointed people but also fire marshal, health and safety, moving and handling and basic courses for the general public.
Legislation relating to health and safety and first aid is constantly being changed and updated, so St John updates its training to reflect the changes and help its customers keep up to date with the law.
Since fire regulations changed in 2006, all business owners are now required to carry out their own risk assessment of their premises to establish what must be done in the event of a fire. St John fire marshal courses teach those appointed as fire marshals in their workplace how to carry out risk assessments as well as how to plan evacuations, prevent fires and treat small fires. Steve Pye, who runs the course, said: "We have seen quite a demand for fire marshal courses in the last year or so and have received very positive feedback from those who have attended them. In addition to the theory work everyone gets the chance to let off a fire extinguisher too, which is good fun, but also something that most people have never had the chance to do before."
Moving and handling training is also something which more companies are providing for their staff either as part of an induction or as a regular refresher. Back related problems are the second most common cause of long term absence from work in the UK and it is not always those with manual lifting jobs who suffer. Office workers can experience back trouble too caused by sitting on a wrongly adjusted chair, bending down, reaching up or simply by carrying a small box of paper. St John’s moving and handling course is three hours long and teaches the correct way to lift and bend when at work or at home to prevent long term and short term damage.
All of St John Ambulance’s scheduled courses in West Berkshire are held at The Arlington Arts Centre in Snelsmore Common and trained by St John’s team of professional trainers, who bring a wide range of personal experiences and knowledge to their training.
Courses are very practical based and hands on in order to keep theory work to a minimum and equip learners with lifesaving skills that they can then replicate at a later date should they need to do so. In addition to the scheduled courses, any course can be run ‘in house’ on a customers own site for groups of between six and 12 people which can save both time and money as employees spend less time away from their working environment.
For information on any of St John Ambulance’s courses contact their county headquarters on (0118) 933 5500, email info@berks.sja.org.uk or visit their website www.sja.org.uk/berks