The heroes of International Timber

When you work in the timber industry, you’re trained to handle emergency situations – we work with large machinery and heavy equipment every day. We recently realised, however, that our basic first aid training is just as important.

Whilst in the canteen earlier last week, an employee of International Timber began choking on their lunch. Signalling that he was in distress, fellow employees Darren Hackett and Graham Young jumped to his aid. They guided him from the canteen and initially hit him on the back in an attempt to stop him choking, which didn’t work. Once this failed, Graham grabbed his colleague around the waist and performed the Heimlich manoeuvre, which successfully freed the obstruction. There were no lasting effects from the incident and the employee returned to his duties after finishing his lunch.

It’s clear that without Graham and Darren intervening, this could have been a life-threatening situation. Their quick thinking, calmness and training helped save their colleague’s life.

A massive congratulations and thank you to Graham and Darren. We’re immensely proud to have you on the team.