A safety initiative driven by contractors on Pembrokeshire's £60m A40 improvement scheme is an innovation for the construction industry.

Two defibrillators have been fitted to supervisors' 4x4 vehicles to ensure the fastest possible response to any medical emergency on the project.

The Welsh Government scheme to improve the A40 between Redstone Cross and the eastern side of Llanddewi Velfrey is led by Griffiths Engineering and Construction.

The company also recently hosted its first defibrillator and CPR awareness session for staff and the local community.

There will be up to 200 workers on site at peak tiimes in the construction phase, which is set to continue to autumn 2023 and will see the construction of a long-awaited by-pass to the community of Llanddewi Velfrey.

Adam Bateman, who leads the scheme's stakeholder relations, added: "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.

 

Western Telegraph: Adam Bateman and Nick Richards-Ozzati are pictured with the Griffiths engineers, supervisors and managers who recently completed their defibrillator awareness course Adam Bateman and Nick Richards-Ozzati are pictured with the Griffiths engineers, supervisors and managers who recently completed their defibrillator awareness course

"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 defibrillator and CPR awareness session for the local community was led by Nicholas Richards-Ozzati, defibrillator co-ordinator for the Welsh Ambulance Service, and Wayne Edwards of St John Cymru.

Nicholas said:

"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.

"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 at their Llanddewi Velfrey training office if there is a local demand.
  • Contact A40LVRCenquiries@alungriffiths.co.uk if you would like to be kept informed of their latest news and for information on their upcoming community events.
  • If you would like to organise your own defibrillator training session, or would like to volunteer to maintain your local defibrillator, contact Nick Richards-Ozzati at nicholas.richards-ozzati@wales.nhs.uk.