Defibrillators
Southeastern now has life-saving defibrillators at every station
Live-saving defibrillators have now been installed at every station on the Southeastern network.
Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), which provide verbal step-by-step instructions on how to give a high energy electric shock to someone in cardiac arrest, have been rolled out to 164 stations and 17 depots.
According to the British Heart Foundation, more than 30,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospital every year, with the survival rate less than one in 10. If a defibrillator is administered within the first minute of someone collapsing, the survival rate can be as high as 90%.
David Wornham, Passenger Services Director at Southeastern, said: “This is such an important project as we know how vital it is to have defibrillators close at hand when an emergency occurs. One of our key objectives is get everyone home safely every day and the investment in defibrillators at every single one of our stations will play a key part in that.
“It is really important to have them in public places where they are accessible. At train stations, they can be used by staff, customers or members of the public nearby. If someone is in cardiac arrest, the first thing to do is dial 999. The operator will be able to talk the caller through where their nearest defibrillator is and provide a pin code to access it as they’re kept in secure cabinets.
“The beauty of these defibrillators is that no training is required – the unit will talk you through exactly what you have to do. I can understand some people may feel hesitant in using an AED but they really are very easy to operate. We have staff who have saved passengers lives with a defibrillator so we know how vital they are.”