The Importance of First Aid Training in the Workplace

Your company strives to keep your employees safe. But when push comes to shove, ask yourself: is your team prepared to handle an emergency?

First Aid at Work

If someone got hurt, would your team know what to do? Would they respond quickly and efficiently? Or would they panic and leave someone at greater risk?

Effective first aid training in the workplace can have a huge impact on your company. Here are four ways first aid training can improve your company.

Reduce Workplace Accidents

One of the most obvious benefits of first aid training is that it helps improve your workplace safety.

In particular, it helps prevent workplace accidents and limit their severity when they do occur.

When your employees are trained in first aid procedures and safety protocols, they’re more aware of safety issues around them. That level of safety awareness lets them be more careful in the workplace and spot problems before they can take a turn for the worse.

That kind of safety culture isn’t just good for your employees’ physical wellbeing. It’s good for the overall health of your company.

Cost-Effectiveness

Did you know that US companies pay $62 billion each year for workplace injuries?

Think about the overall cost of a workplace accident–legal fees, lost productivity, and workers compensation, to name a few. The cost of periodic first aid training may be discouraging, but compared to the cost of injured and discouraged employees, it’s practically a spoonful of sugar.

The truth is, your bottom line can’t afford to have injured employees.

The cost starts with an injured employee. You have to deal with lost productivity, workers compensation, and may even need to hire a new employee or a temp to cover their absence. The cost of hiring a new employee is far higher than the cost of keeping an employee for years.

Worse, if you have a pattern of accidents, workers will start to get demoralized. They won’t be willing to stick around a workplace where they don’t feel safe. And that means you’ll have to deal with the cost of constantly replacing employees.

Employee Morale

You know you can’t afford to replace employees. In order to keep them, though, you need to keep your employees happy. First aid training to bolster your employee morale is a great option.

First aid training is more than a morale Band-Aid. It’s not cosmetic.

If you consistently hold first aid training and hold the entire workplace accountable for upholding safety policies, your employees will notice. And your employees will be a lot happier in a workplace that makes them feel safe doing their jobs. That will translate into your bottom line. Happier employees are more productive employees.

Building Team Relationships

So really, when you get down to it, first aid training is as much about building team relationships as it is about anything else. When you train your whole team at once, first aid training becomes a real team building exercise. It’s a chance for your employees to bond and get to know each other. Most importantly, it helps your employees learn to feel safe in the workplace because they know that their coworkers can step up to the plate in the event of an emergency.

Utilizing First Aid Training in the Workplace

So the real question is, why haven’t you started using first aid training in your workplace? It doesn’t just keep your workplace safe. It helps you build a stronger workplace, one employee at a time. And that’s something that’s worth the investment.