Professional Drivers First Aid

FIRST AID FOR PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS
Introduction
Estimated vehicle population in Nigeria as at Q1 2018 was put at 11,653,871 with the total population of the country puts at 200,000,000 in 2018. Nigeria's vehicle per population ratio is put 0.06. Data on the category of vehicles involved in road crashes in Q1 2018 reflected that 60.3% of vehicles are commercial (2,330), 38.30% are private (1,480), 1.35% are government (52) and the diplomat with two (2) vehicle involved.

Like in every place of work, accidents happen, but unlike in workplaces such as factories and offices, there has never been any formal requirement to have first-aid trained employees on the road. There still is no such requirement, but as many companies look towards corporate social responsibility, they are turning to new schemes to train professional drivers in life-saving first aid. This allows drivers to feel empowered to give immediate assistance at the roadside following an accident, prior to the arrival of the emergency services.

Accident Statistics
The Q1 2018 road transport data reflected that 2,482 road crashes occurred in Q1 2018. Speed violation is reported as the major cause of road crashes in Q1 and it accounted for 50.81% of the total road crashes reported. Tyre burst and dangerous driving followed closely as they both accounted for 8.26% and 8.42% of the total road crashes recorded. A total of 8,466 Nigerians got injured in the road traffic crashes recorded. 7,773 of the 8,466 Nigerians that got injured, representing 92% of the figure, are adults while the remaining 693 Nigerians, representing 8% of the figure are children. 6,394 male Nigerians, representing 76%, got injured in road crashes in Q1 while 2,072 female Nigerians, representing 24% got injured. Similarly, a total of 1,292 Nigerians got killed in the road traffic crashes recorded in Q1 2018. 1,186 of the 1,292 Nigerians that got killed, representing 92% of the figure, are adults while the remaining 106 Nigerians, representing 8% of the figure are children. 1,008 male Nigerians, representing 78%, got killed in road crashes in Q1 while 284 female Nigerians, representing 22% got killed.

The question of preventing fatalities is not a simple one and while accident prevention is seen as a priority, the fact that incidents will occur cannot be ignored. For that reason, it is important that the response to road traffic accidents is also kept in mind so that lives can be saved if an accident occurs.

Approximately 55% of deaths from road traffic collisions occur before the emergency services arrive on scene. Forty-six per cent of those fatalities could be prevented if first aid was available at an early stage. Therefore, by potentially having someone on the scene who is trained in basic first aid, can mean the difference between life and death.

Due to travel distance for emergency vehicles or congestion on the roads, it can often take up to 15 minutes or more for police, fire or ambulance services to arrive at accident scenes. The principal cause of death from the statistics referred to above is from cardiac arrest/blocked airway and this can occur for various reasons but without intervention, death will occur within four minutes.

Safety Obligations
Generally, under the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 2004, employers have a responsibility to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that they protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees and of non-employees that may be affected by their work.

When looking at how an operator might demonstrate that the business has done “all that is reasonably practicable” to protect professional drivers, one might first look at evidence of compliance with the standard undertakings under the Operator’s Licence. Also, it is important that operators can demonstrate that clear safety policies and procedures are in place and that employees’ adherence to those policies is effectively monitored. Examples might include policies relating to the use of mobile phones or drugs and alcohol.

With up to one in three road crashes involving a vehicle being driven for work, employers cannot ignore the “mobile workplace” of their drivers. Every week, around 200 deaths and serious injuries on the road involve someone at work. Therefore, the first step for employers in seeking to play their part in reducing these statistics is effective training and monitoring of their own workforce. Ensuring that drivers are not tired, pressured into working when unwell, not distracted in their vehicle (i.e. through mobile telephones and in-cab computers) and are driving properly maintained vehicles, are all example of basic requirements that have come to be expected of employers engaging professional drivers.

Driver CPC Accredited Training
A number of schemes have been launched in Nigeria, by Federal Road Safety Corps with the vision that, in the unfortunate event of a road traffic collision, there are individuals trained in first aid and accident management on the scene. Some of these courses are Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (Driver CPC) accredited, to ensure that drivers can properly capture the benefit of the training. There are a number of first aid courses that are Driver CPC accredited.

Creating a network of professional drivers across Nigeria highways who are trained in life-saving first aid would in turn create an increased possibility of avoiding deaths on the road following road traffic collisions. Where emergency services cannot get to a scene within a few minutes, somebody suffering from cardiac arrest or a blocked airway could simply lose their life. However, transport operators are being encouraged by emergency services, Traffic Commanders and their trade associations to seek to change these statistics by giving their employees the skills to assist in these scenarios.

Good Samaritan Risk?
Often, a concern that people hold when deciding whether to try and help at the scene of an accident is the risk of being sued if their assistance caused further complications. As well as a personal concern, companies can be anxious of any corporate risk of an intervention to assist going wrong. There is, after all, no general legal duty for members of the public to assist in the aftermath of an incident. Similarly, with professional drivers (even those trained in first aid), there is no requirement or expectation that they should intervene if they were to come across the scene of an accident.

However, the risks of potential civil or criminal liability by assisting at an accident scene are minimal. It is highly unlikely that any UK court would seek to fundamentally change the law by allowing a “good Samaritan” member of the public or professional driver to be formally pursued for compensation if they offered assistance.

The Benefit to Corporates
Nigeria loses about 80 billion Naira annually to road accidents. Of all subjects that are involved in road traffic accidents in Nigeria, 29.1 per cent suffer disability and 13.5 per cent are unable to return to work.

Creating a community of trained professional drivers on our roads will not only potentially allow emergency services to reopen roads more quickly, thus allowing professional drivers to resume services, but of course can assist immeasurably in lowering fatality figures.

Professional drivers are required to complete an average of 7.5 hours accredited training per year under the Driver Basic First Aid Course scheme. There is a real opportunity for operators to seek to train their drivers in courses that have added benefits beyond simply ticking the box for the mandatory 7.5 hours’ training. Training a driver in life-saving first aid offers the opportunity to have increased skills among the workforce. The benefit of this could be seen as being three-fold.

Drivers trained in life-saving first aid and incident management have said that they feel a sense of pride in the role and welcome the opportunity to gain a useful skill under their Driver CPC.

Companies are able to demonstrate their commitment to corporate social responsibility by being involved in such an overall scheme. With the strong backing of the Federal Road Safety Corps, it certainly cannot harm the company’s image to move towards training their drivers in such skills.

Generally, public perception of the transport industry is low. Consequently, creating a trained workforce of first aiders for members of the public to turn to in a time of crisis on the road can only improve the industry’s image among the public.

The Benefit to Drivers
An inevitable consequence of spending the bulk of your working life on the road will be that at some stage drivers will find themselves at the scene of a road traffic accident that may involve casualties. Empowering a driver to feel confident in managing that scene, protecting it from further interference and seeking to provide first aid to anybody injured, is a positive step for any operator and driver.

By going on such training and gaining first-aid skills does not mean that a driver is obliged to assist at the scene of a road traffic accident. There is no obligation on a driver to step in, particularly if the driver comes across a particularly distressing scene. However, by completing life-saving first aid courses, drivers have the option to step in and help, against the background of being trained in how to respond to such a scene.

Concluding Thoughts
In the current market where there is a continued concern over driver shortages, operators are increasingly looking to different ways of retaining drivers beyond simply increasing wages. By showing a commitment to training and developing drivers in other useful skills to sit alongside their “day job” may assist in retaining drivers. Also, by looking to introduce a scheme where drivers are trained in accident scene management and life-saving first aid, operators may create a more positive culture within their business. This could assist with driver retention, but also could provide a benefit to the external perception of the business, which could ultimately make a difference in customer tenders and sales. Most importantly though, if just one life can be saved through training drivers in life-saving first aid, this surely has to be worth a look.

First Aid for Professional Drivers
Based on the popular Emergency First Aid at Work course our Professional Drivers first aid course is delivered over 7 hours and is a popular course for drivers requiring Driver CPC hours.

Course Description
This first aid for professional drivers’ course is approved by the Federal Road Safety Corps for drivers of commercial vehicles as part of their required Driver CPC periodic training. The course counts towards seven hours of the required 35 hours training and provides professional drivers with the skill sets and confidence needed to administer first aid in emergency situations while on the road

Course Content:
Spinal injury: responding to a casualty with suspected spinal injury
Unconscious casualty: recognition of life-threatening conditions
Bleeding: responding to a casualty with minor or severe bleeding
Resuscitation
Safer handling and moving
Emergencies in public.

Course Duration
This is a seven-hour course which can be run in one day or split over two consecutive days.

Course Outcome
Upon course completion an accredited certificate will be awarded which is valid for three years. This means drivers can re-qualify within the same five-year period and the training hours will count separately, giving a total of 14 hours Driver CPC training towards the required total of 35 hours. Drivers must complete the full course to gain the seven hours towards Driver CPC.

Top of Form
There are currently no scheduled dates available for this course, please contact us for more information

Duration 
10-hour programme

Assessment
Practical Assessment

Prerequisite 
None

Suggested Progression
Basic First Aid

For more information on these courses please contact the sales office at: 08183838633, WhatsApp - 08032207542 or send us mail on: modelsafetycare4u@yahoo.com