How to administer CPR

According to Injury Facts, a website maintained by the National Safety Council, nearly 5,500 workers died on the job in 2022. How many of those workers could have been saved with CPR?

“Someone without oxygen can suffer brain damage in just four minutes,” NSC says, “and brain death in just eight to 10 minutes.”

That’s why having someone at your jobsite trained in CPR is so important. “CPR combines rescue breathing (to get oxygen into the victim’s lungs) with chest compressions (to pump the oxygenated blood to vital organs),” NSC says.

If a co-worker isn’t breathing, you'll need to start CPR. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Position your hands in the middle of the victim’s chest on the breastbone.
2. Compress the chest quickly and rhythmically at the rate of 100-120 compressions a minute (the tempo of the Bee Gees’ song, “Stayin’ Alive”).
3. Alternate chest compressions and rescue breaths. For every 30 chest compressions, give two rescue breaths.
4. If you’re unable or unwilling to provide rescue breaths with compressions, you can perform “hands-only CPR” by compressing the chest continuously at a rate of at least 100-120 compressions a minute.