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What to do when an employee becomes unconscious

October 2022 employment law letter
Authors: 
Anna Pugh, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Q: An employee with an alleged history of substance abuse was found passed out in our parking lot with his car door open. The supervisor who found him made sure he was breathing and then went inside, leaving him there. What would our best course of action be? Should we have called 911?

There are many different reasons why an employee could become unconscious during the workday, including health issues or substance abuse, as well as work-related conditions, such as intoxication, lack of oxygen, or injury. To begin with, no matter what the circumstances are, it’s undeniable that the best course of action is to call 911.

American Heart Association (AHA) reports that sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States. In addition, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), about 10,000 sudden cardiac arrests occur at the workplace.

Employers can save lives by taking appropriate actions in the first minutes of cardiac arrest, since every minute without intervention decreases the chances of survival by 10%. With that in mind, the AHA announced the chain-of-survival process, and every employer would be recommended to implement it.

The first step in this process is to call emergency medical services. This step is recommended regardless of why an employee became unconscious. Second, if a person isn’t breathing and has no pulse, a person with CPR training should begin CPR. If available, the AHA also recommends using automated external defibrillators (AEDs), assuming someone on site is trained to use them.

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