UICR’s Partner – the Truckers Life Foundation from Poland, has launched the Hero Trucker 2020 project. It is a series of free training in the first aid in road traffic accidents for professional drivers.
The Truckers Life Foundation is a Polish local self-government organization that has been developing projects aimed at professional drivers since 2013. In 2020, it runs the HeroTrucker project – a series of free first aid training for drivers that instruct them how to act in case of road traffic accidents, as well as emergencies such as heart attack or stroke. This program is a continuation of the Truckers LAB project implemented in 2018 and 2019, namely the nationwide health examination surveys for drivers.
Every year more than 25,000 people are killed on the European roads and nearly 135,000 of them are seriously injured. The time of arrival of the emergency services depends on many factors. Professional drivers constitute a large social group – it is estimated that there are about half a million of them in Poland alone. They are often the first to witness road incidents. Thus, they are the first rescuers for the victims. – explains Natalia Janiszewska from the Truckers Life Foundation. www.herotrucker.eu
4 minutes is the time to save the victim’s life and health in the event of a cardiac arrest. With each subsequent minute, these chances drop by several per cents. Blood loss of 25% leads to shock. It is a state of an immediate threat to life and health. 70% of drivers admit that they have witnessed a road accident, 45% of them say that they know what to do in such a situation, but only 16% would actually take action. That is why the HeroTrucker program was created – to educate, raise awareness, and motivate to act, adds Natalia Janiszewska.
The training will be held in September at 3 different locations. The founSavedation is planning to conduct six training periods for a total of 72 drivers.
The training will be conducted by experienced instructors – practitioners and specialists in emergency medicine from the Ready to Save Association. The program of the training includes such issues as:
- first aid in road traffic accidents,
- assessment of the accident scene, own safety, witnesses of the event and the condition of the victim
- cardiopulmonary resuscitation with automatic defibrillation,
- first aid in injuries, haemorrhages, emergencies,
- exercises, simulations, sham events
We have designed the training program and the potential first-aid measures specifically for the professional drivers, their work, and the environment in which they function daily. Thanks to this approach, we can be sure that in case of a road accident, the driver will be able to follow appropriate procedures – he will know how to behave and how to save human life and health, explains Grzegorz Zmuda from the Ready to Save Association. During the training, all necessary sanitary precautions related to the current COVID-19 pandemic situation will be met.
The importance of improving safety on European roads is evidenced by the fact that the campaign has been supported by the most famous Polish drivers such as Iwona Blecharczyk “Trucking Girl”, Kate Truckdriverka, Adrian Trucker Paker and Mateusz “Raptus” Gierlak, as well as numerous institutional partners – companies from the TSL industry and the media.
From the very beginning, the activities of the Foundation have been positively viewed by drivers, media, and companies related to the TSL industry. Any institution which appreciates and understands the challenges related to the work of a professional driver can support the activities of the Foundation – which we, of course, encourage strongly – says Natalia Janiszewska.
The program has been financed by the National Freedom Institute from the funds of the Civic Initiatives Fund for 2014-2020.
