Firms put staff at risk by failing to install AEDs

UK workplaces are failing to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) that could save thousands of heart attack victims every year, according to research carried out on behalf of St John Ambulance.

More than 170,000 people in the UK die from cardiac arrests every year, but just 5% of workplaces polled by the charity had a defibrillator.

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More than half of the respondents (58%) thought only trained first-aiders could use them in the workplace, and 31% thought that medical qualifications were required.

Anyone who buys an AED from the charity will receive a free place on a St John Ambulance training course.