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Defibrillator Maintenance Tips

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If you own a business, it is important to keep your employees and guests safe from a variety of hazards. To this end, it is often advised to have defibrillators in your building in the event someone experiences a heart attack. However, these are complex medical devices that require special maintenance to ensure that they will work when you need them. If you have never had to maintain defibrillators before, these two tips can ensure that these devices avoid some of the more common issues that people can experience with them. 

Test The Defibrillator On A Set Schedule

Many people will make this mistake of assuming that their defibrillators do not need to be tested. However, this can prove to be a disastrous mistake because the device may not work when you need it. To mitigate this threat, you should make sure to test the defibrillator on a regular basis. Ideally, you should do this at least once a month. 

During this test, you will need to activate test mode on the defibrillator. This is a mode that will run diagnostics on the device to make sure everything is working properly. The exact steps for running this test and interpreting the results will vary based on the design and manufacture of the defibrillator, but your owner's manual should contain all of this information. 

Keep It Free Of Dust

In addition to testing the defibrillator on a set schedule, you should also make it a point to clean it regularly. As time passes, substantial amounts of dust can start to gather on the surface of these devices. Eventually, it may be possible for this dust to work its way inside the device, where it can impede the sensitive internal components of your defibrillator. 

When cleaning your defibrillator, make sure that you avoid using a damp or wet cloth for this work. Rather, you should only use a dry cloth to gently wipe the dust off of the device. If you use a wet cloth, it may be possible for this moisture to seep into the device, where it can cause a powerful electrical surge that may injure you. 

A defibrillator can be the difference between whether someone survives a heart attack or not. Therefore, you may want to keep one of these devices in your business in the event of this type of emergency. If you are informed about the need to test these devices on a regular basis as well as the steps for cleaning them, you can help make sure that these tools work when you need them. For more information, contact centers like Halifax Heart Center.


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