• ‘extrinsic’ – caused by something originating outside the body
• ‘allergic’ – an abnormally increased (hypersensitive) body reaction to a common substance
• ‘alveolitis’ – inflammation in the small air sacs of the lungs (alveoli)

Symptoms can include: fever, cough, worsening breathlessness and weight loss. The diagnosis of the disease is based on a history of symptoms after exposure to the allergen and a range of clinical tests which usually includes: X-rays or CT scans, lung function and blood tests.

EAA is not a ‘new’ occupational respiratory disease and occupational causes include bacteria, fungi, animal proteins, plants and chemicals.

Read more:

Also

3 places left on the 2 day First aid at work refresher course on the 23rd & 24th January 2012

For further information or to book a course 0845 430 3103 or email at courses@sovrintraining.co.uk

If you cannot see the course you want on the list or you would like to book your own in house full courses please let me know and I will arrange dates to suit your requirements.  Please visit our newly revamped web site to see the other courses we provide.

 1 Day HSE Emergency  First Aid at Work

 Tuesday 17^th January 2012 (Menai Bridge)

Tuesday 7^th February 2012 (Menai Bridge)

Wednesday 22^nd February 2012 (TBC)

 2 Day First Aid at Work Refresher

onday 23^rd & Tuesday 24^th January 2012 (Menai Bridge)

Monday 5^th & Tuesday 6^th March 2012 (Conwy TBC)

Thursday 29^th & Friday 30^th March 2012 (Menai Bridge)

 3 Day HSE First Aid at Work

Tuesday 31^st January, Wednesday 1^st and Thursday 2^nd February 2012 (Menai Bridge)

Tuesday 13^th Wednesday 14^th & Thursday 15^th March 2012 (Menai Bridge)

 12hr Paediatric First Aid

Sessional over 4 weeks Wednesday evenings 6 – 9pm

Wednesday 11^th 18^th 25^th January & 1^st February 2012 (Llangefni TBC)

 Level 2 Food Safety CIEH

Saturday 14^th January 2012 (Menai Bridge)

 If you are unsure about what training you require please feel free to contact us and we will guide you through it, alternatively we can come to your workplace to carry out a training needs assessment for a small fee which will be refunded to you from your first course invoice.

Unless you take care, food poisoning can be an unwelcome Christmas guest. The Agency has a range of information to help, including tips for preparing and cooking your turkey. But keeping Christmas dinner safe is not just about taking care with turkey. Recent Agency research found that consumers are aware of the risk of harmful germs from raw meat, but are less aware of the risks from raw vegetables.

Read more:

The man leading the study, Lord Young, has told the BBC he wants advertisements for personal injury claims firms to be banned.

Lord Young, who served as a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher, said many rules were “absolute nonsense”.

But unions have warned against attacks on rules that protect staff and lawyers say “compensation culture” is a “myth”.

Link to BBC news Article

Grainville beat five other schools from across the UK to win the Community Award at the inaugural St John Ambulance First Aid Awards.

It was recognised for its “exemplary first aid standards” with 40% of staff trained in life-saving skills.

Link to BBC News article

CPR training and resuscitation are terms requiring no further explanation to readers, and due to TV, a large proportion of the general public will have a general idea what they mean even if they’re not aware of the finer details and have never actually undertaken training.

Most experienced first aiders will go on to a type of autopilot when practising or even administering CPR, the ratio and timing will have been practiced over and over again, and many could literally do it blindfold and probably without too much thought. It remains the basis of first aid training and probably the easiest way to save a life without specialist equipment. We are taught why we administer CPR, the technical reasons, what’s happening to the casualty etc, but how many have every given a thought to where the idea of CPR originated?

Modern day CPR was “invented” as recently as the 1950′s and 60′s, and although older readers may remember the numerous changes in the ratio of breaths to chest compressions, the basic principles remain the same. Various methods of resuscitation have been used throughout the ages with the oldest example from around 3000 BC, being the introduction of smoke into the rectum as depicted in hieroglyphics and cave drawings of the Mayan and Inca peoples of South and Central America.

What is believed to be the earliest recorded actual resuscitation is to be found in the Bible (c. 896 BC), “And he (Elisha) went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes”.1

It didn’t take long to establish the connection between life and warmth, having realised apparently lifeless bodies were normally very cold to touch, warming was found to aid recover. Some of the more successful methods included immersion in warm water, placing near a fire and even burying the casualty in warm sand. Unfortunately, not all attempts to warm casualties were successful, such crude methods as placing hot or burning objects directly on the skin, including hot ash and burning excrement, obviously led to other problems!

Fire bellows were a popular tool used in resuscitation at a time when they were an everyday item. Their most basic use being to aid in the introduction of air through the mouth however, this method later fell from favour when it became known that over inflation of the lungs could be fatal. Other common uses included blowing hot air or tobacco smoke into the mouth and a rather more interesting use of fire bellows was rectal fumigation which involved blowing hot air, fire smoke or even tobacco smoke in to the casualties rectum. It is not known exactly what this later method hoped to achieve, although the initial shock to the casualty may in some small way contributed to their revival!

Repeated application and release of pressure to the chest cavity was found to prompt recovery, but it was not until modern times that chest compressions as we now know them were introduced. Rather more elaborate but effective methods in the 1700′s and 1800′s involved a barrel and a horse, both everyday items at the time. In the case of the barrel, a large wine barrel or similar was placed on its side, the casualty lay across it face down, and repeatedly rolled backwards and forwards over the barrel, this movement would continually apply and release pressure on the chest cavity. If no suitable barrel were available, you would lay the casualty face down across your horse and encourage your horse to trot, the movement of the horse causing the repeated application and release of pressure to the chest cavity. As with today’s methods, the application of pressure compresses the chest cavity expelling air from the lungs, when the pressure is released the chest cavity expands causing air to be drawn into the lungs.

Casualties of drowning were often hung up by their feet and pressure applied to the chest, this had the added benefit of draining water from the lungs and the weight of the head would in most cases maintain the air way. Many lifeguard stations maintained portable frames designed for “hanging” casualties.

Up to the 1850′s, emphasis was placed on maintaining the casualties body heat and little priority given to manual ventilation.2 It was then established by Marshall Hall, that warming the casualty without artificial ventilation was detrimental, he realised leaving the casualty supine allowed the tongue to fall backwards blocking the airway. He advocated the prone position and developed a method of rolling the casualty from side to side at a rate a 16 times per minute and applying pressure on the back whilst in the prone position.3 Other methods later developed included those known as Schafer, Silvester and Holger-Neilson, some of which were taught to first aiders as recently as the 1980′s, for use in resuscitating casualty’s also suffering major chest or facial injuries. Even though the late 1800′s saw major advances, it should be borne in mind that rather more bizarre practices such as rectum stretching, tongue stretching and tickling the casualty’s chin with a feather, were still in common practice and accepted by the medical community as effective methods of attempting to revive lifeless bodies.

Although mouth to mouth resuscitation had been used at various times through the ages, as medical knowledge advanced in the 18th century mouth to mouth fell from favour due to fears of germ transfer between the casualty and rescuer. This put the emphasis on bellows type resuscitators, which through development resulted in the modern bag, valve, and mask devices available today.

During the 1950′s, research first proved the oxygen content of expired air was sufficient to maintain oxygenation and that resuscitation was improved by tilting the casualty’s head back to open the airway. Mouth to mouth was accepted as the most efficient method of artificially ventilating a casualty and separate research led to the discovery that cardiac massage created artificial circulation maintaining a limited oxygen supply to the brain. In 1960, mouth to mouth resuscitation was eventually combined with cardiac massage to become cardio pulmonary resuscitation, as we now know it.

References:

1. Bible 2 Kings, chapter 4 verses 34 & 35
2. Lancet 1856. Marshall Hall. Asphyxia, its rationale and remedy.
3. Medical Times Gazette 1857. FD Fletcher. Dr M Hall’s method of treatment of asphyxia.

WWW.hse.gov.uk

This means for employers following a needs assessment the options are:

1. Within your workplace you have access to a first aid kit whose contents complies with BS 8599 and matches your needs assessment;

or

2. Within your workplace you have access to a first aid kit whose contents matches your needs assessment but does not comply with the requirements of BS 8599.

FAQ hse.gov.uk

Issue date: Friday 14 October 2011

  Proposals to charge small firms for ‘material’ faults found during inspections by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could damage relationships and may be seen as a way to raise revenue rather than improving compliance, says the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in response to a consultation which closes today.

 The HSE has proposed to extend its current systems of cost recovery to include a fee for intervention where an inspector will charge for the inspection and any subsequent actions when a material fault has been found. The HSE estimates that for an inspection that results in a letter, the cost to business could be at least £750.

 For a small or micro business, a bill of £750 or more for a material fault could be extremely damaging especially during difficult economic times. The proposal currently states that micro firms will in general receive the same level of fees as large businesses. This will disproportionally affect micro firms as fees of this level will have a greater affect on the ability of the business to function and grow.

 The FSB is concerned that small firms may view the proposal as a revenue generating exercise which could damage the HSE’s relationship with business. Worryingly, the proposal fails to clarify whether the money raised would go to the HSE or to the Treasury.  The FSB believes that if it goes to the HSE small firms could fear that their inspection has been influenced by the need to raise money – especially as the context for this consultation is a 35 per cent budget cut to the HSE.

 It is important that businesses have a good working relationship with the HSE to allow them to ask for help and support to ensure they achieve compliance. With the possibility of a hefty fee over their heads they may be less likely to want to ask for help and compliance may suffer.

 Furthermore, those businesses that wish to challenge the result of their inspection may have to cover the whole costs of the dispute if their complaint is not upheld. The FSB is concerned that many businesses will feel pressured to pay the fees and not appeal even if they have just cause due to the potentially large and undefined costs of a dispute process.

 John Walker, National Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses, said:

 “The FSB has a real concern about these proposals as they stand. Not only could they add to the fear that many small businesses have about health and safety regulation, but could have a serious impact on their relationship with the inspector, which if positive can help compliance to the benefit of the business and society. 

“£750 is a hefty fee for small and micro businesses especially during difficult economic times. Most small businesses do not have the same resources that larger firms have to buy-in expert help and yet they are required to be experts in a wide range of complicated regulations. Instead of penalising them with large bills, the HSE should be there to help and support small firms to be compliant. For many small firms this proposal will be seen as anti-growth.”