Toolstation has joined forces with British Heart Foundation (BHF) to train all 5,000 of its staff in CPR.

The partnership will see the DIY retailer commit to training its workers to do CPR via BHF’s RevivR tool before the end of the year and raise funds for the charity. 

The collaboration aims to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors among tradespeople.

Through the partnership, Toolstation and the charity will provide tradespeople with information about cardiovascular disease and their risk factors.

Toolstation managing director Lakhvir Sanghera said: “Tradespeople can face unique and invisible pressures. 

“Long hours on the job and the stress of managing projects can make it difficult to prioritise heart health. 

“Many of our customers work in isolation or remote locations, which makes them particularly vulnerable when an emergency strikes.

“By partnering with British Heart Foundation, we are taking direct action to help support them.”

She continued: “We have committed to training 5,000 of our colleagues in RevivR, British Heart Foundation’s CPR training tool, which means our stores across the UK will be staffed by colleagues with lifesaving skills. 

“Alongside this, our teams will be fundraising to support BHF’s vital research, helping to protect the hearts of the tradespeople who do so much for our communities.”

BHF CEO Dr Charmaine Griffiths added: “Cardiovascular disease doesn’t just happen in hospitals. 

“It happens everywhere including building sites, in vans and in homes up and down the country. 

“Nearly two thirds of tradespeople know someone else in the trade who’s had a heart problem, so it’s clear this is an issue that can’t be ignored. 

“Through our partnership with Toolstation, we want to make heart health a part of everyday safety — just like hard hats and high vis.”

The partnership comes as 63 per cent of UK tradespeople said they know a colleague who has been affected by cardiovascular disease or had a heart attack or cardiac arrest, according to new research from the Toolstation and the BHF.

Despite this, 49 per cent of tradespeople said they had never spoken to a doctor about their own heart health.

The survey of 500 tradespeople found that although 76 per cent rated their health as good, 54 per cent wanted to eat more healthily, 20 per cent wanted to lower their blood pressure and 38 per cent said they wanted to better manage stress. 

Additionally, 39 per cent of tradespeople said their work made it more difficult to build healthy habits, more than double the number who said it made healthy living easier (17 per cent). 

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter