The construction industry is a dangerous one, with 174,100 injuries and approximately 1,000 deaths in 2020. While all accidents are preventable, they unfortunately still occur. For that reason alone, it’s a smart idea to have Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training as part of your company’s required safety certifications. At Tucker Paving, our employees all undergo CPR, AED, and First Aid Training in addition to trainings like the OSHA 10- and 30-Hour Compliance training, Confined Space training, and trench safety training.
The Benefits of CPR Certification for Construction
Having employees trained in CPR is one of the best ways to promote safety on your worksites. CPR certification trains attendees on handling choking situations, Automated External Defibrillator (AED) usage due to issues like cardiac arrest and electrocution, loss of consciousness, and more.
Benefits of CPR training for those in the construction industry include:
- It saves lives. According to the American Heart Association, immediate CPR can double or triple the chances of survival during medical emergencies such as a stroke or where the heart stops beating, called cardiac arrest. Furthermore, AED usage—where a machine shocks the heart to enable it to restart with a normal rhythm—can increase the likelihood of survival by 75 percent.
- First Aid is usually included. Oftentimes, CPR classes and First Aid classes are combined as they go hand-in-hand, giving construction employees the tools to assess the severity of injuries, understand the appropriate options for administering First Aid, and to determine if Emergency Services need to be contacted.
- It builds trust and comradery. A construction crew comes together a little bit more as a group going through trainings with life-or-death subject matters like CPR, and they also have a greater measure of trust for one another knowing that the person who administers their life-saving CPR very well may be their crewmember.
- It shows that owners and management care about employees. Training a crew to respond during an on-site accident shows employees that their health and wellbeing is just as important as ensuring they are in compliance with OSHA training and certification requirements. OSHA recommends CPR and First Aid training, but it does not require it.
Tucker Paving has over 25 years of experience in the concrete and asphalt paving construction industry. We offer earthworks, site clearing, site grading, stabilized subgrade, base work, asphalt paving, underground utilities, and concrete curbs, sidewalks, slabs, and tie-beams. Call us at (863) 299-2262, or contact us online, for your next project!