In September, Jaakkoo-Taara employees had the opportunity to refresh their knowledge and skills by attending the Finnish Red Cross Emergency First Aid Course 8 h®. The course covered emergency first aid topics, with the aim of increasing participants’ confidence and willingness to help in life-threatening situations.
The training consisted of eight lessons of approximately 45 minutes each, with each lesson focusing on a different area of emergency first aid.
Christian Alari, occupational safety representative and offset printing press operator, helped organise the training day together with the rest of the occupational safety committee. The goal is to ensure that all employees have basic emergency first aid skills.
– We try to rotate the shifts so that everyone can attend the training every three years. A large number of employees took part this year, and the day was well structured, with a good balance between theory and practical exercises, Alari explains.
In addition to learning emergency first aid skills, Alari, who is also responsible for maintaining the contents of Jaakkoo-Taara’s first aid cabinets, gained new information about the products they contain. He considers the training important.
Katri Leppänen, a flexographic printing press operator, also found the training interesting and learned new emergency first aid skills. It had been a couple of years since her previous first aid training, which had also been provided by Jaakkoo-Taara.
– The course was intensive, and the topics were interesting. For the first time, I learned about how to respond to choking incidents and how to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre, among other things. The course gave me more confidence in approaching different situations, and it is definitely a good thing that the company provides this kind of training. It benefits everyone in the workplace to know that they can rely on their colleagues to help when needed, Leppänen says.
The course covered a range of emergency first aid topics, including how to respond in an emergency, recognising and providing first aid to an unconscious person, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), helping a person who is choking, controlling severe bleeding from a limb, treating shock, providing first aid for common medical emergencies, treating typical wounds and burns, and a brief introduction to electrical accidents.
The Finnish Red Cross Emergency First Aid Course 8 h® certificate is valid for three years. It can also be used once to extend the validity of a Finnish Red Cross First Aid Course EA 1® or EA 2® certificate by a further three years.
