Is this elf and safety gone mad?

[girlfriend44]

Yesterday I helped an elderly woman who had fallen over in town. She slipped on the wet path.
Managed along with others, to get her up, talk to her etc and give her tissues for her cut etc.
We took her into a local bank to sit down in the warm while we waited for an ambulance.
We asked if the bank had first aid box we could borrow as all we had were tissues.
The bank were apologetic and said they couldnt lend the box to the public due to the fact some people might have allergies etc.
I asked for a bit of water and they bought that but said no the borrowing the first aid box.

IS this right in your opinion or is it elf and safety gone mad. When its a long wait for an ambulance its very hard if an organisation wont lend you their first aid.

Agree with a PP that it was morally wrong.
However slightly baffled that OP didn't remember the event happened this morning and said it was yesterday.

Erm yes. Because as its title suggests that is the legislation and associated guidance on first aid requirements.

I doubt the bank had many staff working on a bank holiday

Small businesses are not required to have a registered first aider.

Agreed.

Story has naff all to do with elves so it's not even a shitty pun!

Nine times out of ten "health and safety" is a convenient excuse to allow people not to have to bestir themselves to do anything in my experience. Or paranoia about being sued.

I'm not saying I agree with it, I'm just saying what the policy was at my old place of work. We could provide comfort (so blankets, pillows, water, a place to sit or lie down) but we couldn't provide any first aid to members of the public.

It's fairly standard for small businesses not to have a trainer first aider available and for company policy to be "call for help".

What kind of life threatening allergy are they expecting people to have from a plaster? At worst it's an itchy rash.

Plus the old lady in question was alert and perfectly capable of telling you she didn't want a plaster as she was allergic.

Literally no-one has claimed plaster allergies are life threatening.

Can you stop diverting and read the whole thing.
I have said it happened today 2 Jan not 1 Jan.
There's nothing to be gained from keeping harking on about the mistake with date. I'm more interested in the first aid box side of it.

providing first aid is the point of the box

but allergies to the supplies inside are a very real possibility. Even if I am at a hospital, I have to be vigilant about them trying to use a regular hypoallergenic plaster on me because I am allergic. The antiseptic wipes are almost always full of allergens, again, even in the hospital. When the doctor walks in rubbing their hands with hand sanitizer I have to tell them to go wash it off and to not use the soap by the sink because I am allergic to that too. The Hypoallergenic, latex free gloves they stock as standard, allergic to those as well. They have to use the accelerant free version. All of this has been confirmed in hospital with allergy testing and then reconfirmed with human error. The world is full of allergens in seemingly safe places.

i carry my own small first aid kit with my epipens. Anyone with serious allergies will do the same because we know just how dangerous the world is every time we step outside the controlled spaces of our homes.

We did in the end, we arranged private transport.
We just wanted to access the first aid box while sorting it all out, as there was bleeding.

It's totally baffling as it would've only happened a few hours before the OP started the thread.

Good to know I'm not the only MNetter with a shit memory.

They shouldn't lend out their first aid box to anyone but their designated first aider should have been assisting and providing things as needed.

That is not what I said. I said I'm glad there is no obligation GENERALLY to assist. I've been asked to do first aid on a drunk aggressive man before and felt reassured I didn't HAVE to

It's been said time and again they don't need to have a designated first aider.

And even if they decided they wanted one, it might've been their day off.

Oh yeah! What time do most banks open? 10?

Actually I am allergic to the hypoallergenic tape.

I'm trying to remember to when I was a red cross trainer. Isnt the first aid at work different to the standard first aid course.

And sad as it is they probably have to do paperwork if the kit is used. Depending on management they might get agro from managers as it will cost them money to replace the kit.
Unlike places where kits are more oftenused it's probably means they have to replace the whole kit for it to be within standard.

It is ridiculous though

Again, small "low risk" businesses are not required to have a first aider.

A load of businesses appear to think they can't let the general public at a first aid box because of 'allergies'

What risk do they think they are incurring?

I suppose there are two things to this, lots of plasters contain latex, and latex allergy can be life threatening. Latex allergy is becoming increasingly common allergy, and it's why the NHS no longer users latex gloves,
Some plasters contain zinc oxide which can always cause a serious allergy.
I suppose, clutching at straws here, but if the wound wasn't cleaned properly and it became infected it could lead to an investigation and paperwork headache , I means it's crazy, but we seem to be living in crazy times where common sense has gone out of fashion!

An elderly relative had similar happen outside a cafe. The cafe sat her on a chair, gave her water, saw to her head wound, called the ambulance and her next of kin and sat with her until her NoK came (before ambulance) and took her to hospital. Of course the bank could have done the same. Absolute scandal. And 'allergies'! Any member of staff could have allergies but the duty first aider shouldn't be denying them aid any more than the poor member of the public.

I would take this up with bank head office and see if it really is policy (and if so why) and if not, staff retraining is needed.

One of our employees burnt themselves on the way to the office (boiling drink in the station), when they got to the office, they asked if we had anything in the first aid box to treat it. The FA said they were not allowed to get the box out as it hadn’t happened on site!

As people have said - organisations don't need to provide First Aid to members of the public and you don't always need a First Aider.

But that said, I would hope somebody would provide some assistance as a moral need.

@margotrose it was a bank. Unlikely to be a "small business".