Day-in-and-day-out our work days go pretty smoothly, maybe a few bumps in the road or an angry customer on occasion, but for the most part we have pretty normal, predictable days. But out of the blue an emergency arises, your boss tells you that he is having some chest pain or a customer passes out in the store, what then? Do you have an emergency plan that everyone who work in the business knows and can implement in a seconds notice? The unexpected happens, well unexpectedly and even though it catches us off guard we need to know what we need to do when it happens. Can you imagine hearing your co-worker in the next cubical choking on their lunch, would you know how to help them? Emergency plans are necessary and emergency medical training for employees is vitally important, so everyone you work with has learned how to do CPR and handle emergency situations. You better believe if it were me in the cubical choking that I would want my co-worker to know how to help me. Do you even know where the nearest Emergency Room is for non-life-threatening situations? Many large corporations have emergency polices and training in place, but in smaller businesses this is not so and emergencies happen there also. A friend of mine, who is an Medical Office Manager shared a story about her physician coming to her and telling her he was experiencing chest pain and thought she should contact 911. She immediately did so, but they were in a three-story building and no one went down to hold the elevator for the EMTs, nor did she know her bosses primary care doctor or for that fact anything about his medical history. Was he taking any medications? Did he have a history of heart problems? She, the other staff members and physicians did not know information that could be vital for a person in an emergency situation. Now her physician did survive and it was not a heart attack, but what if it would have been? This really opened the eyes of each employee in the practice and they made several positive changes because of it. One great idea they came up with was to have a binder that was centrally located in the office with each employees medical information in it, along with their insurance card, emergency notification numbers, allergies, etc. If something happens they can just reach for the binder and look up the employees medical history and emergency information. This topic makes for a great meeting, perhaps several, but it is definitely one that needs to be done, because your life or someone your work with life may depend on it. There are several good links on emergencies in the office setting, take the time to look them up and come up with a plan for your business.
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