First Aid at the Worksite
Crews may be separated by significant distances or obstacles that could delay or prevent emergency response (e.g., steep slopes, waterways, rock faces, or ravines). Employers must ensure that first aid equipment, supplies, facilities, attendants and services are readily available for prompt treatment and transport of injured workers. At the worksite, the first aid attendant must always be available to provide treatment as quickly as possible if a worker is injured. As an employer, this means you must not assign the attendant work tasks that could interfere with his or her ability to provide immediate first aid treatment.
To ensure timely and effective first aid services are always available in the workplace, key considerations are, attendants must be present in the area they serve even when workers may not actually be working, such as during lunch or coffee breaks.
Attendants, first aid equipment, and facilities must be ready to receive injured workers within three to five minutes of being called. At each worksite, the central first aid service should be within 10 minutes of all workers. The prime contractor must ensure a first aid risk assessment is completed and everything reasonably practicable is done to ensure first aid services remain available for the duration of the work project.
Where a worker is discovered to be in medical distress:
Send or call for the first aid attendant immediately.
Move the victim only as far as necessary and initiate First Aid, artificial respiration, or CPR as the situation requires. With most injuries or illnesses, unless there is an environmental problem the victim may be treated more readily where they are, thus avoiding distress due to unnecessary or poorly controlled movement.
If a hazardous atmosphere is known or suspected, rescue actions must be limited to sending for help and activating the emergency response plan.
Once first aid personnel arrive they will take over patient care and they will transport the patient to a medical facility.
