City Requires Defibrillators in New, Large Businesses

The city of Rogers now requires new businesses with 100 or more employees to have an automated external defibrillator on the premises.

AEDs provide an electrical shock to restore a heartbeat in case of cardiac arrest, commonly called a heart attack.

“This is cutting edge for the geography,” Rogers fire chief Tom Jenkins said about the ordinance the City Council adopted July 26.

In preparing the ordinance, Jenkins and his department studied cities such as Rochester, Minn., and Seattle that have enacted similar requirements.

The ordinance doesn’t affect existing businesses, but many already have AEDs in place, Jenkins said. State law requires them in schools.

The devices cost about $1,000. They’re easy to operate, he said, and training takes about 20 to 30 minutes.

AEDs have sensors that search for a pulse, and only operate if none is detected, he said. Businesses face no liability risk in using them.

While many factors influence the survivability of a cardiac arrest, time is of the essence, Jenkins said.

“The chances of surviving a cardiac arrest go down 10 percent for every minute you wait to shock the heart,” he said. “We’re always going to be four to six minutes away, so the best we could do, relying on our equipment, is 50 to 60 percent.”

OSHA supports the use of defibrillators in the workplace, and its website states that immediate defibrillation can revive more than 90 percent of victims.