What is First Aid?

July’s Safety training topic includes First Aid and is applicable to everyone. First aid is not medical treatment – it’s temporary assistance to an injured person until professional medical care can be provided.

Understanding basic first aid is an essential part of creating a safe environment within your workplace or home. When you know basic first aid, you can respond quickly and appropriately to injuries.

What is First Aid?

First aid is the necessary temporary assistance provided to an injured person until professional medical care can be provided. It’s important to remember that first aid is not medical care.

First Aid Tips (from eSafety’s 5 Basic First Aid Tips)

1. Understand the primary goals of first aid:

• Preserve life
• Prevent further injury
• Promote recovery

2. Always assess the scene first:

• Survey the scene for danger and look for the cause of injury.
• Do not move the injured person.
• Call emergency services or 911, and administer basic first aid, if necessary.

3. Remember the Good Samaritan Law:

• When you encounter someone who has been injured, it’s important that you help whenever you can.
• The Good Samaritan Law provides legal protection to those who give reasonable assistance to those who have been injured, who are in danger or who are otherwise incapacitated.

4. Know the most common medical conditions:

• When you’re familiar with the most common conditions, you’ll be able to provide proper first aid care, helping the individual until medical professionals can provide medical treatment.
• The most common workplace conditions include respiratory related distress, heart attacks, stroke, shock, and seizures

5. Always protect yourself:

• To provide helpful, effective first aid care, you must ensure that you’re not in any danger, either.
• Take these precautions to make sure you’re protected before you administer first aid: wear PPE; do not enter if the scene is unsafe; and if there is someone on the scene with more medical training, allow them to take over.

Be Prepared with a First Aid Kit

At work, you’re supplied with necessary first aid items that you’ll need in case of an emergency or to treat minor injuries. Do you also have the needed supplies at home or in your car for when you’re traveling? Because accidents happen at any time, it’s best to be prepared when they do. To get started on preparing your own first aid kit for home or car, visit redcross.org.

Learn More

All Olympic Steel divisions have established first aid procedures and trained First Responders who assist in emergency situations. To learn more about our First Aid and First Responder training or to ask to become a First Responder, contact your local Safety Representative or HR Generalist.

Safety First. Always. And, it starts with me.