Safety and safety training aren’t industry specific. Scuba Divers, Glass Artists, Geologists and Chemists all need safety training. Some industries have specific hazards, and safety is essential in any setting.
What if your workplace has unique hazards? For scuba divers, we use life support equipment to survive in a hostile environment; we have a breathing gas supply and we explore the underwater world. That adventure comes with some risks, though, and safety and emergency response training need to be customized to that. For glass artists, cuts from glass and the occasional glass splinter are common. For warm glass, burns from hot glass or kilns can happen. For geologists working in the field, the occasional stumble and abrasion can be common. Or perhaps doing remote field work where emergency care isn’t readily available requires more thorough planning.
Where to start? Look around your workplace. Are there hazards? Are you storing chemicals on high shelves, that could topple if the shelves are bumped or if there was an earthquake? Do you have shards of glass stuck in buckets in your glass shop that you could bump into and cut your leg? Are you working in a dive shop with compressed gasses (technically, hazardous materials or HazMat)? Are you a diver enjoying a dive in a tropical location that has lionfish or fire coral? Look around and find the easy hazards. Think of ways to avoid or eliminate them.
Next, get some training. In my view, everyone should have training in CPR and First Aid. If you took CPR & First Aid years ago, your instructor might have scared you with “Don’t do that. You’ll kill him.” when you tried CPR. Things have changed. Philosophy on these classes have changed. We want you to do a good job, but if you’re providing CPR they’re in the worst state of health–you can’t make them any worse. But if you do nothing, they’ll stay that way. Stepping in and doing something is better than doing nothing.
Beyond that, get customized training. What are the specific hazards you might face and how do you respond to them?
I can help you with second and third steps. I teach a variety of safety courses, from the basic CPR & First Aid to more advanced programs like Diving First Aid for Professional Divers.
A bit of my background: I’ve been involved in Emergency Management for over a decade. I’m a certified Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT) in the State of Utah and a Certified Diver Medical Technician (DMT) through the National Board of Hyperbaric and Diving Medical Technology. I’m also a Divers Alert Network Instructor Trainer for their diving-specific first aid classes. My day job involves earthquake hazards in the State of Utah and I am responsible for safety and emergency preparedness for the College of Mines and Earth Sciences at the University of Utah. In a nutshell, safety planning and responding to emergencies is my passion. Contact me and we can discuss ways I can help you with your safety training needs.
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