St John's Industrial Health Services department specialises in providing highly qualified, experienced staff to look after the daily health and emergency medical needs of remote and offshore workers.

St John Ambulance Services director Iain Langridge said although mining and oil and gas sites still see the value in using St John's services for their onsite medical needs, as the company life cycle changed, the demand for onsite medical care also changed.

"Demand for our industrial medics has definitely increased and the combination of a paramedic and a medic has also become more popular," he said.

Langridge said St John had been providing industrial health services for more than 14 years, and was the leader in this sector.

"St John remains the premium provider of paramedical care to industry but the sector was now after a different on-site health model," he said. "Mining companies are now seeking a different mix of services from their paramedics and medics, such as onsite first aid training for staff and health promotion activities."

However, core to the business was still an ability to provide highly trained and well equipped medical staff when there was a medical emergency.

"When accidents occur, it is vital that worksites are prepared with onsite staff who can respond rapidly," Langridge said.

"In 2012/13, 411 serious accidents were reported in the mining industry which resulted in the worker being off work for two weeks or more.

"Even with the best safety procedures in place, accidents still happen, so having some level of St John Ambulance medical personnel on site provides peace of mind that the health of the onsite workers is taken care of."

St John can supply one or more industrial paramedics, industrial medics or other medical staff for short or long-term contracts and relief work and St John currently has 30 contracts across the state.

The unit has paramedics and medics positioned at sites from the Kimberley to the Goldfields.

As well as providing exceptional medical staff, the Industrial Health Services team works with each client to design a complete health care package for their work site. This may include the provision of medical supplies and services such as:

- first aid training

- drug and alcohol screening

- vaccination programs

- health promotions

- toolbox talks

- poison permit management

- restocking medical equipment and consumables

Langridge said St John's experience and training means it can provide exceptional people with advanced clinical skills wherever they are located.

St John is the only WA provider of industrial paramedics with current, on-road experience.

While they may work in isolated areas, St John's Industrial Health Service paramedics are not alone, with 24-hour access to the organisation's entire emergency support network.

"This includes a direct line to our State Operations Centre and the reinforcement of paramedic and volunteer ambulance crews from 170 locations across Western Australia, spanning Wyndham to Albany," Langridge said.

The ability to link in with St John's operations centre in Perth and get support from other parts of the state can be vital in situations where access to doctors was extremely limited.

Vector Resources managing director Glyn Povey made comments that demonstrates the skill of St John staff working in remote sites to deliver positive clinical outcomes.

"Kelvin, our onsite Mine Paramedic at our Gwendolyn operation, went out of his way to make a connection with all site personnel which created an environment where people would seek assistance and report issues which sometimes individual pride overrides," he said.

"Kelvin would give morning demonstrations of safety and medical equipment to the workforce which was received with enthusiasm and often had the workforce talking about it during the day.

"During Kelvin's first stint here we had a potentially fatal medical issue with one of our contractors, who like most men from the mines would never seek medical help just because he was feeling a bit off, but he persisted in a friendly way which resulted in our employee being fully checked out.



"Kelvin's concerns for the worker, in hindsight, were spot on. Kelvin had contacted the RFDS and discussed with the doctor the issues at hand and the employee was flown out to Perth. It was found on tests in Perth that he had had a heart attack."

Povey said the fact that Kelvin had noticed a change in behaviour and persisted in carrying out a full check-up helped save his employee's life.

The ongoing health and welfare of workers in higher risk jobs has also prompted St John to launch a new first aid training package.

The nationally accredited Certificate IV in Health Care (Ambulance) has been designed specifically for people working on mine sites, off shore oil and gas operations, construction jobs and in other large organisations.

First Aid Services and Training general manager Jane Mahon said the course would provide a nationally accredited qualification for staff and volunteers who provide emergency response or transport services within the mining, industrial or corporate sectors.

"St John has worked long and hard on designing this new Cert IV course, working closely with industry and other key stakeholders," she said.

"We understand that sending a member of your staff along to one of these courses is a big commitment so we wanted to ensure the course was relevant and had lots of practical and hands-on content."

Mahon said participants in the Cert IV would develop skills and knowledge necessary to provide direct care in an emergency situation.

"Employees who have the Cert IV training would become the frontline in any medical emergency for their organisation," she said.

"The training scenarios we will put them through will give them a solid foundation to respond and carry out coordination at an emergency scene or deliver infection control measures in a workplace."

Mahon said the course is delivered by qualified St John paramedics and staff as an interactive 10-day program, which goes beyond the usual theory delivery in a classroom and instead gives students the opportunity to learn in a replicated work environment.

"The training room where they complete their training will replicate a workplace environment. This setup will allow students to learn and apply their knowledge in a realistic setting and will help them be better prepared to use their skills when they return to their workplaces," Mahon said.

All pre-learning materials that students need to complete will be pre-loaded to an electronic Tablet device. The Tablet and its pre-loaded information allows students to complete their reading and study at any time, and they only need an internet connection to submit their work at the end.

The Tablet will also be loaded with learner guides, e-learning, videos and standard operating procedures (SOP).

Students will be given 4-6 weeks to complete their pre-learning before they commence their 10 day practical component.

The new Cert IV course was launched in September and Mahon said interest in the new course had already been high.

*A version of this report, first published in the August 2014 edition of RESOURCESTOCKS magazine, was commissioned by St John Ambulance.