The chairman of Craig’s Heartstrong Foundation has shared a message of the importance of having and maintaining a defibrillator.
This comes as data shows 22.4% of cardiac arrests in England, over 6,500 incidents in 2024, occurred in workplaces, gyms, or schools.
Paul Healey BEM said a common concern from managers is not whether a workplace needs an automated external defibrillator, but whether their staff will use it when it really matters.
He emphasised that AEDs are designed for lay rescuers, with designs that “save critical seconds, and those seconds improve survival outcomes”.
“Companies like ZOLL and Phillips have spent decades refining intuitive design elements that save critical seconds, and those seconds improve survival outcomes,” Paul said.
“You might not have had a cardiac arrest at your workplace. But you also haven’t had a fire, and you still have extinguishers on every floor. You’re statistically more likely to need an AED than a fire extinguisher.”
He added that maintaining the machines are as vital as having one, simply put, you should treat it “like the life saving machinery it is”.