Any situation that requires CPR can obviously be upsettings. What’s worse, though, is when the need for CPR causes even more panic in the office. If you want to ensure that your employees stay calm when CPR is called for, you’ll need a plan to keep things under control. Below are a few actions you can take to keep your workplace calm when CPR is needed.
Work on First Aid Training
First Aid training can have many benefits. It can help to create better leaders. It can help with certain certifications. More than anything, though, it creates an office environment in which you can guarantee that at least one person is actually trained in CPR. If at all possible, make sure to offer this training for free to anyone who is interested. If you’re not looking for volunteers, you may want to make training mandatory for certain team leaders. The more people who are trained, the less of a chance there is that CPR will
Have a Written Plan
One of the best ways to deal with any kind of emergency is to have a plan. In the case of CPR, you need to have a written plan. You need to have policies outlined, down to exactly what every position in your office is required to do. While there will always be situations in which the plan won’t work, having the plan available will keep people calm. These guidelines give people something to cling to, which in turn can make them less stressed and better able to deal with what’s going on in front of them.
Designate Responders
One of the problems that can occur during a CPR situation is a rush of people trying to help, only to trip all over one another. An even worse situation, though, is when o one steps because they think that someone else will do the job. In addition to your CPR plan, you need to designate specific people are responders. Ideally, these people will volunteer for the position after or during training, and will keep up with their certifications. WHne you designate the responders, you’ll take the pressure off of everyone else and ensure that a qualified person is able to perform CPR until medical personnel arrive.
Give Out Jobs
Not everyone can be a designated responder. It is, though, possible to give everyone a job when CPR is necessary. Make sure to designate certain parts of the office as the people who are responsible for keeping everyone clear, certain parts for dealing with customers, and even certain parts for contacting management. When people have work to do during these situations, they are less prone to panic. Even if the job ultimately doesn’t accomplish anything, it will help to keep your employees out of the way when an emergency occurs. Reducing stress by giving directions is a time-honored tradition that works well here, so make sure that you create jobs that will give employees something to focus on during the event of an emergency.
Run Drills
A huge part of why CPR causes problems in the workplace comes down the fact that it just isn’t normal. It’s entirely possible to go through an entire career without ever seeing someone perform CPR, so it’s natural for it to cause a fair bit of panic. If you want to reduce the tendency to panic, you need to normalize the process. Hold emergency drills when possible so that every employee knows exactly what the process will look like. If you drill continually, you’ll take much of the mystery away and thus reduce the level of panic that sets in.
There will never be a point at which having to perform CPR is so normal that your employees will not react. What’s important, though, is that those reactions are measured and appropriate. If you want to successfully navigate these scenarios, it’s important to plan ahead. Whether it’s through proper training or simply having a written plan down in place, you have to provide your employees with guidance. Once the guidance is in place, your employees will be able to replace panic with the ability to follow the script.
