Supporting the "I Saved a Life Today" First Aid Initiative in France

The value of a life is beyond price, and lives can often be saved by the prompt intervention of a trained first-aider in emergency situations.

Only 6% of the adult population in France has received the kind of first aid training that can save lives. Such lifesavers can be especially important at motorway service stations. Here as many as 10,000 people - staff and customers - can be gathered together over the course of any one day in what are effectively small towns, often without a readily available ambulance service.

That’s why BP, in partnership with The French Red Cross, created the unique ‘I Saved a Life Today’ Programme together. One aim of the programme is to try to ensure that each BP motorway site has between one and four personnel trained in advanced first aid, depending on the size of the site, and the proximity of the emergency services. This involves a 2-day training programme, sponsored by BP and provided by Red Cross experts. Plans for the extension of the programme also include offering training to staff working at filling stations which are not part of the motorway service station network, in an effort to spread the net of first aid cover as widely as possible.

By the end of 2003, 134 people had been first-aid trained. A planned extension of the programme in 2004 aims to train 500 further staff and provide refresher training too. 

As well as participating actively in the ‘I Saved a Life Today’ programme, BP has further developed its partnership with The French Red Cross, with loyalty points donated by customers to the charity being matched by BP. BP retail sites were also involved in a rapid reaction finance-raising programme under the auspices of the Red Cross, in response to the 2003 Algerian earthquake.