AED Awareness

What is AED Awareness?

During a morning shift change at a distribution warehouse in Memphis, 54-year-old forklift operator Ray Dawson collapsed without warning near the loading dock. A coworker ran 200 feet to the break room where the AED was mounted, but the cabinet was locked and nobody could find the key. By the time paramedics arrived eleven minutes later, Ray had suffered irreversible brain damage and died two days later in the hospital. An unlocked AED applied within the first three minutes could have given Ray a 70 percent chance of survival.

AED awareness is the knowledge and preparedness every worker needs to locate, retrieve, and use an automated external defibrillator during sudden cardiac arrest. It includes understanding how AEDs work, ensuring devices are accessible and maintained, and building the confidence to act immediately when every second determines whether a coworker lives or dies.

Key Components

1. Understanding Sudden Cardiac Arrest and How AEDs Work

• Sudden cardiac arrest is an electrical malfunction of the heart that causes it to stop pumping blood, and it can strike anyone regardless of age, fitness, or medical history
• An AED analyzes the heart's rhythm and delivers a controlled electric shock only if it detects a shockable rhythm like ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia
• For every minute without defibrillation, survival rates drop by 7 to 10 percent, making the first three to five minutes the critical window before permanent damage occurs
• AEDs are designed for use by untrained bystanders with voice prompts and visual guides, so no medical background is required to operate one effectively

2. AED Placement, Accessibility, and Maintenance

• AEDs should be placed so that any person in the facility can retrieve one and return to the victim within 90 seconds of collapse
• Cabinets must remain unlocked during all working hours with clear signage visible from at least 30 feet away, including directional arrows in hallways and stairwells
• Monthly inspections should verify the status indicator light is green, electrode pads are within their expiration date, and the battery has sufficient charge remaining
• Maintain a written AED inspection log that includes the date, inspector name, status indicator reading, and pad and battery expiration dates

3. Responding to Cardiac Arrest with an AED

• Call for emergency medical services immediately and send someone to retrieve the nearest AED while you begin chest compressions at 100 to 120 per minute
• When the AED arrives, power it on, expose the victim's bare chest, and place the pads exactly as shown on the diagrams -- one on the upper right chest and one on the lower left side
• Stand clear when the AED announces it is analyzing the rhythm and again before it delivers a shock, ensuring nobody is touching the victim during those moments
• Resume CPR immediately after a shock is delivered and continue the cycle of CPR and AED analysis until paramedics take over or the person shows signs of life

Building Your Safety Mindset

1. Know Your AED Locations Cold

   • Walk the route from your workstation to the nearest AED today and time yourself, confirming you can make the round trip in under 90 seconds
   • Check that the AED cabinet is unlocked, unobstructed, and that the status indicator shows the device is rescue-ready
   • Identify a second AED location in case your primary unit is out of service or blocked during an emergency

2. Practice Until It Feels Automatic

   • Participate in at least one hands-on AED training session per year so that pad placement and the shock sequence become muscle memory rather than something you read from instructions
   • Rehearse the team response out loud: assign someone to call 911, someone to get the AED, someone to start compressions, and someone to meet the ambulance
   • Practice on training mannequins with actual AED trainers so you hear the voice prompts and understand the rhythm of analyze, shock, and resume compressions

3. Champion AED Readiness on Your Team

   • Ask your supervisor when the last AED inspection was completed and volunteer to be part of the monthly check rotation
   • Advocate for AED placement reviews whenever your facility layout changes, because moving a production line can turn a 60-second retrieval into a 3-minute one
   • Share the survival statistics with coworkers who think AEDs are unnecessary -- a workplace with an accessible AED and trained responders can achieve survival rates above 60 percent

Discussion Points

1. Can you describe the exact route from your current work area to the nearest AED, including any doors, stairways, or obstacles you would encounter while running with urgency?
2. What barriers -- whether physical like locked cabinets, or psychological like fear of doing something wrong -- might prevent someone on your team from using the AED during a real cardiac arrest?
3. If your facility had a cardiac arrest event tomorrow and the AED pads turned out to be expired, who would be accountable and what system should exist to prevent that failure?

Action Steps

• Walk to the nearest AED from your workstation, open the cabinet, and verify the status indicator is green and the electrode pads are not expired
• Review the AED voice prompt sequence by watching a 3-minute demonstration video or reading the quick reference card attached to your facility's AED
• Confirm with your supervisor that at least two people per shift in your work area have completed AED and CPR training within the past two years
• Ensure the AED cabinet is clearly marked with signage visible from the main walkway and that no equipment, pallets, or materials are blocking access