How I Set Up the AED Check Template with Customers in Pilla
AED checks are one of the most overlooked items on a safety inspection list. Most businesses that have an AED assume the green light means everything's fine, and they leave it at that. I've walked into sites where the electrode pads expired eight months ago and nobody noticed, because nobody was looking beyond the status indicator. The device passed its own self-test every day. It just wouldn't have worked when someone's heart stopped.
Sudden cardiac arrest kills. Defibrillation within the first few minutes roughly doubles survival rates. An AED that's inaccessible, has dead pads, or is missing its rescue kit wastes those minutes. This article covers what your monthly AED inspection needs to address, gives you a template you can set up as a recurring work activity, and walks through the areas where I see the most problems, particularly electrode pad expiry and the gap between self-testing and genuine readiness.
Key Takeaways
- What is an AED check? A monthly visual inspection of your automated external defibrillator covering location, status indicator, battery level, electrode pad expiry, rescue kit contents, and overall readiness. It catches problems that the device's self-test can't detect
- Why do you need one? An AED might sit unused for years, then need to work perfectly in the few minutes that determine whether someone survives cardiac arrest. Monthly checks verify the device is genuinely ready, not just powered on
- How do you set it up in Pilla? Use the work template below, set it as a recurring monthly activity, and assign it to the person responsible for first aid at your premises
- How do you automate the follow-up? Set up Poppi to flag when a check hasn't been completed, notify managers when issues are found, and send a monthly summary of completion rates
Article Content
Understanding What's Required of You
An AED is a device that sits on your wall doing nothing for months or years, until the moment someone collapses in cardiac arrest. At that point, it needs to work first time. There's no retry, no workaround, no backup plan. If the pads are expired, the battery is dead, or the device can't be found, the window closes while you're still scrambling.
AEDs run automatic self-tests, usually daily or weekly. They check internal circuitry, battery capacity, and shock delivery capability. When everything's fine, they show a green light. That green light creates a dangerous sense of confidence, because there's a long list of things the self-test can't check. It can't tell you the electrode pads expired three months ago. It can't tell you the cabinet is blocked by stacked chairs. It can't tell you the rescue kit razor is missing or the signage has fallen off the wall. Those are problems that need human eyes, once a month.
There's no single regulation in the UK that mandates AEDs in workplaces. But once you've installed one, the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require that first aid equipment be adequate and appropriate, and the Resuscitation Council UK recommends regular inspections. From a liability perspective, an unmaintained AED that fails during a cardiac arrest exposes you to serious legal risk. You chose to provide it. You need to maintain it.
The check itself takes five minutes per device. I've reviewed sites with anywhere from one AED to a dozen spread across floors and buildings. The pattern of failure is the same: expired pads, missing accessories, and nobody assigned to actually inspect them. The device looked fine from across the room. Nobody walked up to it, opened the cabinet, and checked what mattered.
One point that gets missed: if your AED is registered with the ambulance service or a community AED scheme, there may be specific inspection requirements attached to that registration. Check what you've signed up to.
Setting It Up as a Work Activity
I've built an AED check template in Pilla covering location recording, a full visual inspection checklist, electrode pad expiry date capture, pass/fail result, and notes for any issues found. It gives you a structured monthly walk-through for each device.
When you create the work activity, set it up as a monthly recurring schedule. Pilla will create a new instance each month, assigned to whoever's responsible for AED inspections, usually a first aider or facilities person. Tag it with something like "AED Check" so it's easy to filter and so Poppi can track completion rates. If you have multiple AEDs, create a separate instance for each one so they're tracked individually.
The template is designed to be completed at the AED itself, not from memory back at a desk. The person doing the check should be standing in front of the device, opening the cabinet, checking the pads packaging, reading the expiry date. Anything less isn't an inspection.
1. AED location
Record where the AED is located. If you have multiple devices, this is what ties each check to a specific unit.
What I'd want to see when reviewing this:
An identifier that anyone in the building could use to find the device. "Reception, wall mounted by main entrance" or "First floor, opposite lift lobby" both work. If you've numbered your AEDs (AED-01, AED-02), use that. The key is consistency. Use the same name every month so you're building a maintenance history for each device, not a scattered set of records that can't be matched up.
Common mistakes I see:
Just writing "AED" when you have three of them. Or changing the description each month: "by reception" one time, "ground floor lobby" the next. Pick an identifier and stick with it.
2. AED inspection
This is the core of the check. Each item covers a specific aspect of readiness: device in its designated location and accessible, cabinet undamaged, status indicator showing ready (green light), battery indicator showing adequate charge, electrode pads present and in date, spare pads available if required, AED signage visible, and rescue kit present with razor, scissors, and towel.
What I'd want to see when reviewing this:
The status indicator section is the one most people think covers everything. It doesn't. A green light tells you the self-test passed. It doesn't tell you the pads expired last month, the rescue kit scissors were borrowed, or the cabinet has been wedged behind a display board. Treat the green light as one item on the checklist, not the checklist.
Electrode pads are the most critical consumable. The conductive gel dries out over time, and expired pads may not adhere to skin properly or conduct the shock. Most pads last two to four years. I've seen businesses that assumed pads lasted the life of the device. They don't.
The rescue kit gets overlooked entirely. The razor, scissors, and towel aren't optional extras. A hairy chest prevents pad contact. Wet skin reduces adhesion. Clothing needs cutting away fast. If those items have been borrowed or lost, the AED might deliver the shock to someone's jumper instead of their chest.
Common mistakes I see:
Trusting the green light without opening the cabinet. I've audited sites where the monthly "check" was someone glancing at the status light from five metres away and ticking the form. That's not an inspection.
Not checking the actual expiry date on the pads packaging. People confirm pads are present without reading the date. Present and expired is the same as missing when someone's in cardiac arrest.
Ignoring battery warnings because the device still shows a green ready indicator. Some AEDs will show ready while also displaying a low battery warning. That warning means the battery needs replacing soon, not eventually. Batteries last two to seven years depending on the model. Know when yours was installed.
3. Electrode pad expiry date
Record the expiry date printed on the electrode pads packaging.
What I'd want to see when reviewing this:
The actual date, written consistently. "2027-08" or "August 2027" both work. Recording this each month creates visibility of approaching expiry so you can order replacements in time. If pads expire next month, that's an order you need to place today, not a note for next month's check.
Common mistakes I see:
Recording the battery expiry instead of the pad expiry. These are different dates. Also, not updating the recorded date when pads are replaced. If you fit new pads, the next check should show the new expiry.
4. Check result
Based on your inspection, record whether the AED passes or fails. Pass means the device is genuinely ready for emergency use. Fail means something needs fixing.
What I'd want to see when reviewing this:
A fail isn't a problem. It's the check doing its job. An AED check that always passes without exception either means your maintenance is excellent or your checks aren't thorough enough. In my experience, it's usually the latter. Expired pads, approaching battery replacement, missing rescue kit items: these are normal maintenance issues that the check is supposed to catch.
Pass only when the device is completely ready. Not "mostly ready." Not "ready apart from the rescue kit." If someone collapsed in front of that AED right now, could you grab it, open it, and use it without any problems? That's the test.
Common mistakes I see:
Passing with known issues because they seem minor. "Pads are only a month expired" is still expired. "Battery warning just appeared" still means the battery needs replacing. The standard for AED readiness is absolute. It either works when someone's dying or it doesn't.
5. Notes
Record any issues, actions taken, or observations. This is where the detail lives.
What I'd want to see when reviewing this:
For a passing check: brief is fine. "All satisfactory, pads expire August 2027, battery installed June 2025" gives everything the next person needs.
For issues: specific detail and action taken. "Battery indicator showing low charge. Replacement ordered today, order ref 12345, expected delivery Wednesday" is useful. "Battery low" on its own tells me nothing about what happened next. If the AED is genuinely out of service, note that it's been marked as such and what the plan is to restore it.
Common mistakes I see:
Noting a problem without recording the action. Finding an issue and writing it down is half the job. The other half is doing something about it and recording what you did.
Automate the Follow-Up with Poppi
Completing the check is one thing. Knowing it was actually done is another. AED checks happen monthly, which means there are 11 opportunities between each check for the task to slip off someone's radar. Without a system flagging the gaps, you'll find out the check was missed when you're auditing records three months later, or worse, during an incident.
Once your AED check is set up as a monthly work activity in Pilla, you can use Poppi Actions to track completion and flag problems. Poppi can notify you when a check hasn't been completed by a certain date, alert managers when issues are logged, and send a monthly summary showing which devices were checked and which were missed.
The best time to set this up is on the same day you create the template. That way tracking starts immediately and you've got a complete picture from month one.
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