Abstract

In Italy the presence of AEDs and people trained is mandatory in sporting centres, while in industrial sites, places with high traffic of people (stations, stadiums, theatres, shopping centres) or isolated and difficult to reach (trains, planes, boats) is, at the moment, only recommended.

In the workplace, the organisation and management of first aid are established by law (Legislative Decree 81/2008 and Ministerial Decree 388/2003): the occupational physician takes care of the organisation of the company’s first aid system, while the management in case of incident goes through lay rescuers, specifically identified and properly trained, and the local emergency medical service (EMS).

The first aid training lasts 12–16 hours, with specific learning objectives defined by law, includes about 5 hours of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation manoeuvres. Therefore adding the use of AED to the training program would not entail an additional cost for the companies, both in economic terms and in time. It would only be necessary to respect the internationally agreed features on didactic content, student/instructor relationship, training on manikin, learning test and more frequently retraining. Instead, the benefits would be significant: increase of the efficiency of first aid courses, improvement of public access network to early defibrillation and rise of bystanders able to intervene in case of emergency.

To promote the diffusion of early defibrillation culture INAIL established a discount of insurance premium for those companies that are not required to have an AED, but who choose to have it to protect the health of their employees and customers.

Unfortunately the diffusion of this culture is made difficult by the involvement of various agencies (emergency systems, regional administration) that control the authorisation procedures for AED training often in a different way in the national territory. We therefore hope for greater homogeneity between the various regions and simplification of the procedures.