McDonald’s of Tarragona Implement Measures Against Choking
The McDonald’s premises located in Tarragona are committed to training their staff and the LifeVac device to prevent accidents such as choking , committing themselves to the well-being and safety of their guests.
Working in a restaurant requires being prepared in the even customers may suffer some kind of choking incident while enjoying their food. For this reason, more and more restaurants are training their staff in first aid to be able to provide the correct care until the arrival of the emergency services.
As the supervisor of the McDonald’s franchise in Tarragona, Manuel Cuétara, explains : “McDonald’s is committed to the well-being of both our customers and our staff. For this reason we carry out training courses periodically to guarantee that we can attend an emergency if it may arise. It is also part of a requirement within our occupational risk prevention practices”.
Choking, one of the most frequent accidents, in fact choking is the third leading cause of unnatural death in Spain , and it is one of the most frequent accidents in restaurants. Most obstructions are mild and are overcome after the initial shock, but sometimes these incidences can take a turn for the worse.
To avoid these accidents, the key is to act quickly and bear in mind that possible brain damage can occur after only 4 minutes. Knowing this, the protocol established for these cases must be carried out: encourage coughing, abdominal thrusts, abdominal thrusts or chest compression’s.
In the McDonald’s premises they wanted to go a little further and have incorporated the LifeVac choking rescue device . This consists of a medical suction device, with a one way valve that can dislodge the obstruction in the airway within a few seconds, having already saved hundreds of lives when standards BLS choking protocol has failed or cannot be performed. LifeVac is CE marked medical device.
Manuel Cuétara commented that fortunately they have not yet had to use it, but that “if in a remote circumstance it had to be used, we would be very proud to have been able to provide all the means to save a life .”
