For many businesses, Occupational Health and Safety risk management may simply be a matter of training enough staff in first aid.
But when it comes to saving lives on a mine, rig or platform, especially where workers are in remote areas and often far from the nearest sophisticated hospital, having a qualified, experienced medical professional on hand can mean the difference between life and death.
While many other businesses rely on volunteer personnel recruited from the existing workforce Immediate Assistants Medical Director Dr Mark Gillett said this became challenging with the growing number of Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) workers who were less likely to put their hands up for the initial and ongoing training required.
“You also have to factor in the number of volunteers needed to meet health and safety requirements as well as the number of hours they will be away from their regular jobs for ongoing training and responding to potential emergencies,” Dr Gilllett, who is a busy Emergency Physician at a major metropolitan hospital, said.
Hiring from within the workforce is fraught with risks because even the most qualified onsite paramedics are limited in what they can do in a real emergency.
“Unlike a nurse or doctor, paramedics don’t have a license to operate solo,” he said.
“They need to work under a clinical governance framework.
“This means working under a senior Medical Director with drug licences, health-department approved protocols, certification procedures, ongoing education, professional development and adequate malpractice insurance coverage.”
A paramedic working independently of the State Ambulance Service or Health Department is unlikely to have a Poisons Permit, which is necessary before they can legally store and dispense even the most basic, over-the-counter medicines.
They are also unlikely to have adequate malpractice insurance coverage and will be unable to perform more complex life-saving procedures such as intubation (inserting a breathing tube), inserting an IV drip for fluid resuscitation or giving the pain relief drug morphine.
“Our Advanced Life Support Paramedics are so skilled in emergency response they can literally perform their tasks to treat a patient upside down, at night, in the dark with no problems at all.”
Immediate Assistants offers an alternative to in-house Emergency Rescue Team (ERT) services providing skilled personnel, state-of-the-art equipment and fire and rescue vehicles.
“We only employ paramedics and Emergency Services Officers (ESOs) with at least five years practical experience in civilian or military emergency services,” Dr Gillett said.
“It makes much more sense to compliment the best equipment with career professionals who have advanced training as well as years of experience under their belts.”
Immediate Assistants also provide full-time career professionals ESOs, highly skilled in vehicle rescue, fire-fighting, breathing apparatus and confined space rescue as well as vertical rescue.
Companies using Immediate Assistants services for their workforce also receive more bang for their buck because they will have access to full-time career professionals who have crossover training and hold nationally accredited qualifications.
“For example our paramedics and security guards have also been trained in rescue techniques as part of our policy of integrated emergency response,” Dr Gillett said.
“We believe this represents Best Practice in emergency response.”
These same paramedics also add value by being involved in Return to Work coordination, Drug and Alcohol Testing, a variety of wellness initiatives (dehydration, sleep apnoea, fatigue education, etc) and, because they are accredited trainers and assessors, providing nationally accredited training.
For more information about the services offered by Immediate Assistants, please visit www.immediateassistants.com or contact us on 1300 788 559 (Australia) or 0800 633 427 (New Zealand).
Immediate Assistants provide professional paramedics, emergency services officers and security guards to the resource sector across Australia and New Zealand.