[Announcement] Springer Nature Japan was awarded a certificate of excellence for first aid training by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency
25 February 2025
38% of our employees have completed first aid training, and three first-aid instructors have also been trained.
Tokyo, February 25, 2025
On February 17, 2025, a ceremony was held at Shiba Fire Station to receive the certificate of excellence for first aid training.
On the day, Antoine Bocquet, Managing Director of Springer Nature Japan, received a certificate of excellence and a sticker that we can display at our office for our participation in the first aid training course from the chief of the Shiba Fire Station, Ms. Satoko Sugimoto.
As one of the measures to improve the effectiveness of first aid, the Tokyo Fire Department is encouraging workplaces to take an active approach to first aid training. This is to raise awareness of the importance of first aid and to help workplaces create their own effective first aid systems. The certificate of excellence for first aid training is part of the first aid promotion system, and is issued by the chief of a fire station to workplaces that meet the following requirements for promoting first aid.
- First aid instructors, who promote first aid training at workplaces, shopping arcades, and in the local community are trained and are in place to promote first aid training.
- At least 30% of the total number of employees must be holders of a valid first aid certificate.
Currently, a total of 76 people, which is 38% of the Tokyo office, have acquired a basic first aid certificate, and there is at least one first aid instructor amongst our staff. During the three-hour basic first aid course, all participants from our company worked hard on gain both theoretical and practical skills.
After the ceremony for receiving the certificate of excellence for the first aid course, we heard about the importance of having as many people as possible to be able to provide first aid before an ambulance arrives, as there is a shortage of ambulances. In Japan, emergency services, including ambulance services, are an essential government service that everyone can use equally (and free of charge in general). According to the “2024 Edition: Current State of Emergency and Rescue”, the number of emergency calls for ambulances (6,640 nationwide, including 274 in Tokyo) in 2023 was 7,638,558 (up 5.7% year-on-year), and the number of people transported was 6,641,420 (up 6.8% year-on-year) during 2023. The number of emergency dispatches and the number of people transported by ambulances both reached record highs since 1963, when the statistics were first kept, and the average time taken for an ambulance to arrive at the scene of an emergency (the time taken from the moment the 119 emergency number is called to the moment the ambulance arrives at the scene) was approximately 10.0 minutes (approximately 10.3 minutes the previous year).
According to the Japan AED Foundation, in the case of cardiac arrest, the survival rate decreases by approximately 10% for every minute that passes without electric shock treatment. It is important to receive first aid training and acquire knowledge and skills in first aid so that bystanders can provide emergency care such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation quickly until the ambulance arrives. Based on statistics from the “2023 Traffic Safety White Paper”, there were 421,240 people who received basic first aid training and 48,912 people who received advanced first aid training.
In our offices, where a hybrid work style combining office work and work from home has become established, it is important to be able to maintain a safe and secure working environment by ensuring that as many people as possible are able to provide first aid in the event of an injury or sudden illness occurring in the office. We will continue to hold these training sessions every year, including training sessions given by first aid instructors from within the company.
