Forward-thinking retailers should train staff to provide first aid to customers, writes Liz Morrell

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In September 2009 Ellen Doherty, a grandmother, was given life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation by a trained first aider following a heart attack at a Tesco store in Glasgow. And earlier this year a pensioner at a Marks & Spencer’s store in Croydon was kept alive by a trained first-aider after she suffered a heart attack.

Retailers are legally required to have adequate first aiders within their businesses to take care of staff but what about training staff to take care of customers who fall ill?

National law firm TLT’s specialist health and safety lawyer Kerry Gwyther says this could prove vital for a retailer’s reputation. “The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations requires retailers to provide adequate and appropriate first-aid equipment, facilities and people so employees can be given immediate help if they are injured or taken ill at work. Retailers have no legal duty to provide first aid for customers but the Health & Safety Executive strongly recommends that they are included and clearly it is good customer care,” she says.

“Under the regulations, organisations should have at least one first-aider trained to a high standard for each 100 members of staff; and if retailers also take into account customers, it is clear that busy stores will need several or more trained first aiders,” she says.

Gwyther believes retailers have a moral responsibility to help customers too, as part of their CSR policies. “If a customer has an accident and there is no one in-store who can help it could create a negative perception of the retailer,” she says.

John Lewis director selling operations David Barford says: “John Lewis takes the health and safety of our customers and partners extremely seriously. We have first aid teams in place within all our shops and head office, and in addition to this we have occupational health advisers - who are all registered nurses - in each of our shops.”

However, retailers do need to be cautious. “If an employee does intervene but causes more harm than good, it could expose the retailer to a claim for negligence,” warns Gwyther. But the dangers of doing nothing are more likely to be greater.

“Putting staff and customers at risk can lead to a range of financial repercussions, such as sickness leave, having to provide additional staff cover and dealing with compensation claims,” says a spokesperson for St John’s Ambulance.

Its chief executive, Sue Killen, says employers should include first aid as a vital element of their CSR policies and is challenging employees to provide first aid training to as many employees as possible. “By training more people in first aid they can give staff the ability to make an immediate difference between a life saved and a life lost,” she concludes.

Courses Available

  • Emergency first aid at work
    For smaller workplaces where a nominated person takes charge in event of illness or accident.
    Requires one day of training and re-qualification every three years
  • First aid at work
    Covering practical skills needed in the modern workplace. A three-day course, with re-qualification every three years.

For more details visit www.sja.org.uk

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