Why Hiring First Aid and CPR Trained Security Guards Is Essential?

Why Your Security Team Must Know First Aid and CPR
What are your top goals for your security team? If you’re like most managers, you want to make the public feel safer and prevent security breaches rather than respond to them. Security officers are already stereotypically seen as lazy and ineffective. Anything less than a stellar response to a situation only tarnishes your team's image.

One frequently overlooked area among security personnel is emergency medical care. While Emergency Medical Services is only a phone call away, there are several key reasons you need to secure First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training for your security staff.

Be the First on the Scene to Respond

When your security team has First Aid and CPR training, they can begin potentially life-saving care long before emergency medical personnel arrive. Such basic training can enable your staff to act in a medical emergency by:

●    Performing CPR
●    Using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to start a stopped heart
●    Immobilizing a possibly broken limb
●    Slowing or stopping the bleeding
●    Or reopening an airway blocked by food or another foreign object

The above list only highlights a few of the skills taught during First Aid and CPR training. The essential point is that such training equips your staff to protect and sometimes save lives.

Reassure Members of the Public

People are naturally curious. As an injured person is awaiting an ambulance, other visitors to your facility can see and hear that they are being attended to by knowledgeable staff even before an ambulance arrives. This keeps the crowd calm by providing them with evidence of their own safety. It inspires confidence in your security among the public as they witness the organization and reasoned response of your staff. Security staff at the scene are also in a prime position to provide emotional reassurance.

Prepare for Worst Case Scenarios

In many ways, professional security is about anticipating the so-called worst-case scenarios and doing all you can to prevent them or minimize their impact should they occur. Such preparations often take the form of emergency evacuation drills, biohazard training, and Child Find system checks. Since medical emergencies more frequently occur than such scenarios, it only makes sense to prepare your security staff.

First Aid and CPR training will educate, equip, and empower your security team to respond in medical emergencies.