Training for Emergency Situations

Training for Emergency Situations

A lawsuit has been filed against 24 Hour Fitness after a man collapsed and passed away while running on a treadmill in December. According to the lawsuit, the employee on duty was not properly trained to handle the situation. The employee was unable to find the defibrillator and failed to call 911 immediately.

An important part of any business, large or small, is training employees. Your employees are most likely trained to do their job correctly, but are they trained for emergencies that could arise while on the job? Here are some quick tips for training your employees in case of an emergency.

Identify the risks. No matter what your business is, there are always risks involved or accidents that can happen. Pull together a list a list of issues that you have come across in the past and ones that could occur in the future. Come up with a plan of action for each.

Schedule regular training sessions. Pay close attention to difficulties when they happen so that you can formulate proper training on how to handle them. Evaluate the circumstances so that employees have several options in case original plans are not available. Also, be in tune to problems experienced by other business owners. Use their examples to help form proper training for your employees.

Cross train employees. Make sure all your employees are trained to handle emergencies. Use employees’ experiences to help train new employees. Firsthand accounts of difficult situations will help prepare the new employees for anything that should arise during workshifts.

Bring in experts. If you are finding it hard to train your employees on specific situations, bring in people who are able to train properly. Having experts train your employees by experts will ensure that your employees are able to handle difficult situations when they arise.