Workplace first aid training saves lives as St John Ambulance honours everyday heroes

According to the charity’s research, 28 percent of UK workers have needed first aid at work, while 33 percent identify cardiac arrest as the medical emergency they fear most. However, 39 percent admit they do not know how to perform CPR. Among employees who have witnessed a medical emergency at work, only 40 percent were able to administer first aid themselves, while in three percent of incidents nobody present was able to help. Meanwhile, 85 percent of workers say they would feel safer knowing their colleagues had received first aid training.

Shona Dunn, chief executive of St John Ambulance, said the findings demonstrated an urgent need for employers to improve first aid provision. “Cardiac arrest is the emergency that workers fear the most, yet two in five say they wouldn’t know how to perform CPR. That’s a gap we can close, and the workplace is where we can close it the fastest. St John Ambulance has almost 20,000 volunteers keeping communities safe across the UK, but by training more first aiders in the workplace we can create millions more lifesavers. Each of them takes those skills home to their family, onto the high street and into their community.”

Workplace training proves lifesaving

Adrian Cummins, 41, a vehicle data manager at Holman UK in Wiltshire, was named Workplace Hero 2026 after saving a man who suffered a cardiac arrest outside his office in June. Cummins had become a workplace first aider following the birth of his daughter, motivated by a desire to develop skills that could be useful both at work and in his personal life.

When a man collapsed in the office car park, Cummins recognised his abnormal breathing as a possible sign of cardiac arrest, having learned about the condition during his training. He immediately began CPR and continued until a colleague arrived with the workplace defibrillator. Paramedics subsequently told him that his intervention had almost certainly saved the man’s life. Paul McGettigan, who survived the incident, said: “What Ade’s given me is more time. He’s given me time back with my family that I may have lost. I’m grateful I’ve got a second chance.”

The Beyond the Workplace Hero 2026 award was jointly presented to three employees of Windlesham House School in West Sussex, whose training enabled them to save a cyclist who collapsed near the school. PE teacher Stacey Charman and cookery teacher Chellie Messenger were walking a dog during their lunch break in October 2025 when they came across Kip Knowles, who had suffered a cardiac arrest while cycling alone on the South Downs. Both had completed St John Ambulance workplace first aid training just six weeks earlier.

Charman immediately began CPR while Messenger called the emergency services and contacted the school to request its defibrillator. School nurse Claire Agnew subsequently arrived with the equipment and administered two shocks. After approximately 25 minutes of resuscitation efforts, Knowles began breathing again. “Everything was a complete blur apart from Kip,” Charman recalled. “I was in the zone, the training kicked in, and nothing around me could stop me from carrying on.”

Agnew, who has worked in nursing for more than four decades, admitted that she initially feared the cyclist could not be saved. “I thought he was dead,” she said. “I know what a dead body looks like; I’ve done this for 42 years.” Knowles, now 58, subsequently reunited with the three women, who were nominated for the award by his wife. The incident demonstrates how skills acquired through employer-provided training can have a significant impact beyond the organisation itself, particularly when employees encounter emergencies in public places.

Recognising organisational commitment

The awards also recognised employers taking a broader approach to first aid and employee wellbeing. TotalEnergies received the Leader in Workplace First Aid award after responding to an employee cardiac arrest by overhauling its first aid training programme, while Manchester Metropolitan University was recognised as a Leader in Workplace Health and Wellbeing for a programme combining first aid and mental health support, which has trained nearly 3,000 students.

The winners received their awards from NHS GP and public health advocate Dr Nighat Arif at a ceremony at the Museum of the Order of St John in London. Arif said the incidents demonstrated the importance of equipping ordinary people with the confidence and practical skills to respond in a medical emergency. “As a GP, I know the minutes before an ambulance arrives can decide whether someone lives or dies, and the most important person then isn’t a doctor; it’s whoever is nearby. I’ve met people who used what they learnt at work to bring someone back to their family.”

St John Ambulance said the awards were intended to raise awareness of the role employers can play in developing lifesaving skills across the workforce. Dunn added: “Every one of the winners was an ordinary person who refused to give up on someone whose life was slipping away. These people are alive today because someone nearby knew what to do, and that should be true for everyone in this country.” The charity is encouraging employers to make first aid training an integral part of working life, helping to ensure that more people are equipped to respond effectively when an emergency occurs. To find out more about the winners, and how to arrange first aid training for your workplace, visit http://shop.sja.org.uk/s/awards2611