Two additional life saving devices have recently joined the team on the A40 improvement project at Llanddewi Velfrey.

The Welsh Government scheme to improve the A40 between Redstone Cross and the eastern side of Llanddewi Velfrey is being headed up by Griffiths Engineering and Construction who recently hosted their first defibrillator and CPR awareness session for both staff and the local community.

At its peak times in the construction phase over the coming years, there will be up to 200 estimated workers on site.

The project will now also benefit from two additional defibrillators that will be fitted to supervisor 4x4 vehicles responsible for each end of the scheme to ensure that response is as fast as possible in times of a medical emergency. The vehicles will be clearly marked so that it is visible to the teams in the area.

Adam Bateman, who is heading up the scheme's stakeholder relations said: “The project spans over 6km, most of which is offline, which means that we will have workers away from the highway at fairly remote locations.

“After our successful company-wide ‘defibruary’ awareness campaign during the month of February, the team felt passionate about helping to safeguard the teams on this particular project in an event of a medical emergency, as well as promoting the use of available defibrillators locally.

“We have also promoted the use of What3Words to our team, to ensure that emergency services can be provided with the location information of an incident.”

The team have also been proactive in providing education on defibrillator use. In addition to providing training to their engineers, site agents and managers, the team also recently hosted a defibrillator and CPR awareness session for the local community, facilitated by Nicholas Richards-Ozzati, defibrillator co-ordinator for the Welsh Ambulance Service and Wayne Edwards of St John Cymru.

“Time is crucial when utilising defibrillators. When it's needed, the sooner it's utilised, the more chance of survival. We also explained the process of retrieving a defibrillator during an emergency and explained the process when dialling 999,” said Nicholas.

“I am very happy to see the team based at Llanddewi Velfrey taking this matter very seriously, as well as also taking positive steps to promote defibrillator awareness to the local communities.”

The Griffiths team will consider running further courses within their Llanddewi Velfrey training office facility in due course if there is a local demand for it.

Contact: [email protected] if you would like to organise your own defibrillator training session or would like to volunteer to maintain your local defibrillator.