One thousand truckies have now been trained through the online program Truckie First Aid, which was developed by St John Ambulance Australia in consultation with industry experts from NatRoad.
The program, which was launched in October 2023, takes best practice training principles and first-aid protocols, and makes them accessible through free, online learning that is tailored to the audience, said NatRoad.
“Truck drivers are often the first responders at the scene of a crash or other roadside medical emergency,” NatRoad said.
“Even with the fastest ambulance response times, first aid interventions in the early minutes can be essential and lifesaving.
“The milestone of the first one thousand participants is an important step towards empowering transport industry workers and mobilising first-aid skills across Australia’s road network.”
Truckie First Aid is a free eLearning course that takes just 30-40 minutes to complete, and guides participants through essential first-aid skills, with a certificate issued upon completion.
Knowledge and skills are drawn from the DRSABCD first-aid action plan, and include interventions such as keeping an airway open, stemming a bleed, or performing CPR.
“It’s such a useful course, empowering Truckies with the knowledge and skills to be able to respond to a first aid emergency while they’re on the road,” saiud St John Ambulance Australia’s chief operations officer, Adrian Watts
“We want to say thanks to the first thousand participants who have really embraced it.”
“Courses like this allow us to get first-aid knowledge and skills into the hands of our Australian public in a practical way that relates to their daily work and lifestyle.”
NatRoad CEO Warren Clark said he’d like to thank St John Ambulance Australia for working with NatRoad to create this course specifically for truck operators.
“It’s great to see so many of our members stepping up and completing the training.”
Access to the course has also been made easy with a QR code that has also been printed onto written work diaries, thanks to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.
The course is available to all truckies at truckiefirstaid.org.au.