Virginia Dollinger: Get Your Employees CPR and First Aid Certified

I’m telling you, as an employer lawyer that having employees that are CPR and first aid certified can not only protect employers from personal injury and wrongful death suits, but also make employees feel safer in the workplace. Getting your workforce CPR and first aid certified isn’t as difficult as it may sound. Even smaller cities such as West Jordan, Utah have a variety of certification options for employers. No matter where you choose to complete your training, courses in either CPR or first aid each take about three hours to complete.

American Heart Association

The American Heart Association (AHA) has offices and affiliates all over the United States. The AHA offers traditional classroom training in CPR and first aid as well as a blended learning experience, which combines online courses with in-person practice and testing. Both options will teach your employees what to do in case of an emergency, protecting both the employer and the employees from a wrongful death claim.

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross offers similar classroom and online certification options as the AHA, and will also come to you and provide on-site training from a certified instructor. If you’d like to have your own instructor in-house, you can send a company representative to the American Red Cross to be trained and certified in teaching CPR and first aid — your newly certified representative can then lead classes in the workplace. The American Red Cross also hosts regularly scheduled community classes in cities such as West Jordan that are open to members of the public.

Local Hospitals and Fire Departments

Most fire departments hold regular CPR and first aid certification classes that are open to their communities. Often they are willing to come to your workplace and educate employees on proper procedure, helping to save lives and protect against wrongful death. Local hospitals frequently host community courses as well.

Local Colleges and Universities

If your company is located near a college or university, chances are it offers CPR and first aid certification to the public. Employers in West Jordan can find certification courses offered at Davis Applied Technology College as well as nearby Westminster College and the University of Utah.

HOW TO BE A PROACTIVE DRIVER

While one can argue that the leading causes of an auto accident can be texting while driving or driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, what these basically amount to is driving while not paying attention to driving. How can drivers in St. George, Utah not end up in an auto accident due to someone else’s negligence?

Proactive vs. Reactive

The difference between a proactive driver and a reactive driver, as any good lawyer will tell you, is on the intention of a person’s actions while driving. Distracted driving is entirely made up of reactive driving, as the only thing a driver can do is drive out of the corner of his eye. If you want to be a proactive driver the first step is to put both eyes on the road, at the very least outside the car. St. George has some gorgeous views, so take those in rather than the latest Youtube video.

Know Your Next Move

Like a good chess master or a seasoned trial lawyer, as you’re driving you should always be several moves ahead of your opponent, or in this case fellow drivers. Plan what lane you want to be in and who to pass, such as an erratic driver or a truck with an unsecured load to avoid an auto accident. The roads around St. George are littered with debris from accidents that could’ve been prevented just from seeing the guy who forgot to tie down his barbecue.

Keep Your Mind on the Road

You may have your phone put away, but that doesn’t mean your bladder isn’t empty or that the kids aren’t screaming. Take whatever stops you need to make to calm the kids and your digestive system. A lawyer who’s seen hundreds of auto accident cases can attest to it not being worth your life to lose your patience and run off the road because your kid dropped a crayon.

Free Initial Consultation with Lawyer

It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. Legal problems come to everyone. Whether it’s your son who gets in a car wreck, your uncle who loses his job and needs to file for bankruptcy, your sister’s brother who’s getting divorced, or a grandparent that passes away without a will -all of us have legal issues and questions that arise. So when you have a law question, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you!