March has been all about safety for the A40 team. Two additional life saving devices have recently joined the team on the A40 improvement project at Llanddewi Velfrey and Griffiths hosted their first defibrillator and CPR awareness session for both staff and the local community.

The Welsh Government scheme to improve the A40 between Redstone Cross and the eastern side of Llanddewi Velfrey is being headed up by Griffiths. 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 4×4 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 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. 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 coordinator for the Welsh Ambulance Service and Wayne Edwards of St John Cymru.

Nicholas Richards-Ozzati added,

“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 within their Llanddewi Velfrey training office facility in due course if there is a local demand for it. Please 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, please contact: Nick Ozzati at nicholas.richards-ozzati@wales.nhs.uk.

The A40 Llanddewi Velfrey to Redstone Cross Improvements Scheme has been supported by European Regional Development Fund through the Wales European Funding Office.