Automatic External Defibrillators: Portable Devices Saving Lives April 2002 IBEW Journal
The International Office CPR Class of 2001. Seated, left to right, Colleen Kalb, Marion Christensen, Ancelia Lee, Jeannette Burchick. Standing, left to right, Jeff Miller, Paul Zell, Gloria Baird, Instructor Patty Gursky, Charles Ruehl, Instructor Wayne Spong and Safety and Health Department Director Jim Tomaseski. (Not pictured is John Cureton.)

A tragedy on the job prompted one IBEW local to encourage its employer to supply a device that could have saved a lineman who died of sudden cardiac arrest.

Ten years ago, a popular Local 1260 working foreman in Honolulu, Hawaii, made contact with a live 7200-volt underground line, resulting in cardiac arrest. His co-workers initiated CPR, to no avail. He needed defibrillation—delivery of a tailored low dose of electricity to the heart. An ambulance carrying an automatic external defibrillator (AED), the only device that could have saved him, arrived several minutes too late.

Now, all 103 field service trucks owned by the Hawaiian Electric Co. have automatic external defibrillators and more than 800 employees have been trained to operate them in case of emergency.

From left, Jeannette Burchick and Charles  Ruehl practice the use of CPR in  conjunction with a defibrillator.

Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heartbeat becomes erratic and abruptly stops the effective pumping of blood. Defibrillators, which have been used at hospitals for years, shock a heart back to normal rhythm in seconds. Rapid defibrillation must be delivered within the first few minutes to be effective.

And every second is critical. After four minutes without oxygen, brain damage begins to occur and chances of survival for cardiac arrest victims fall to 10 percent. Most off-site emergency crews cannot respond within that crucial window of opportunity. "After 10 or 11 minutes, your odds of surviving are just about zero," said IBEW Safety Director Jim Tomaseski. The sooner a heart can be shocked into a normal rhythm, the better the victim’s chance of survival, without brain damage.

Mostly because treatment does not reach the victim on time, more than 100,000 preventable deaths from sudden cardiac arrest occur each year, according to the American Heart Association. The American Red Cross has made AED training a requirement for all individuals certified to administer First Aid and CPR.

Hence the growing popularity of the portable AED, which is about the size of a laptop computer and costs around $3,000 apiece. A law passed in 2000 requires the installation of AEDs in federal buildings, and other public accommodations such as golf courses, airlines, shopping malls and casinos are increasingly keeping AEDs on hand. More private employers are also making an investment in the machines.

When someone goes into cardiac arrest, any trained layperson on site can save a life. First they attach two patches to the chest of the victim, which starts a quick electrocardiogram analysis. "If the victim is not in cardiac arrest, the device won’t let you shock them," Tomaseski said. If the machine determines a shock should be administered, the computer decides the amount of the shock. It also records the readings and responses, invaluable information for doctors when determining further treatment.

Utilities like Hawaiian Electric have a high risk of needing an AED. The utility industry’s workers face higher than normal risk of electrocution-induced ventricular fibrillation, the most common cause of sudden cardiac arrest. And many generation, transmission and distribution utility sites are remote, so access to outside emergency services is extremely limited.

Other locals that have the benefit of AEDs on the job include System Council U-4, Palm Beach Gardens (Florida Power and Light); Local 23, St. Paul, Minnesota; Local 160, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Local 949, Burnsville, Minnesota (Northern States Power); Local 94, Cranbury, New Jersey (Public Service Electric and Gas); Local 66, Houston, Texas (Reliant Energy); Local 125, Portland, Oregon (Bonneville Power Administration); Local 510, Houghton, Michigan and Local 2150, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Wisconsin Electric); Local 602, Amarillo, Texas (Xcel Energy) and several locals on the Western Area Power Administration’s property. The IBEW International Office in Washington has also installed AEDs and trained staff to operate them.

SAFETY
&
HEALTH