Fisher German has installed a defibrillator in the reception of its main office on Ivanhoe Business Park in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, which will be accessible to the public during working hours should anyone suffer a cardiac arrest nearby.
The decision to install the life-saving equipment in the largest of our offices was made after Danish footballer Christian Eriksen infamously collapsed during the Euro 2020 tournament in the summer. Michelle Alcock, Facilities Coordinator at Fisher German, worked with Safety, Health and Environment Manager Stu Halom to order and install one after it became a hot topic of conversation.
Michelle said: “We had already been in early discussions to install a defibrillator here – but when Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during the Euros in the summer, everyone in the office was talking about it. It made people realise that having a defibrillator nearby can mean the difference between life or death. Sometimes it takes a high-profile incident like that to get people to take notice of an issue, and understand the benefits of having a life-saving piece of equipment nearby. Ideally we’ll never need to use it, but having it there ready for people to access just gives everyone peace of mind should the worst happen.”
Research has shown the survival rate of individuals undergoing cardiac arrest jump to 90 per cent if a defibrillator is used on them within the first minute. For every subsequent minute, the survival rate drops by seven to ten per cent.
Managing Partner, Andrew Bridge, added: “The safety and wellbeing of our colleagues is of paramount importance to us, so we’re very pleased to have installed a defibrillator in our Ashby office. Having an easily accessible defibrillator could make all the difference if someone was to go into cardiac arrest – not just among our two offices based here, but fellow businesses based at Ivanhoe Business Park as well.
“We will be looking into installing more defibrillators in our other offices in the near future, especially those away from urban centres which are less likely to have defibrillators nearby.”
If anyone is interesting in finding out more about installing a defibrillator in their premises, we would be more than happy to share our experience – please get in touch!
