Automated External Defibrillation in the Occupational Setting

On November 13, 2000, President Clinton signed into law H.R. 2498, the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act, designed to expand the availability of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public settings and that required the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to establish guidelines for the placement of AEDs in buildings owned or leased by the federal government. In May 2002, President Bush signed into law the Community Access to Emergency Devices Act within H.R. 3448 (sections 159, 312, and 313) of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act, and on June 12, 2002, he finalized this as Public Law 107-188. The provisions authorized the availability of grants to states and localities for the purchase and placement of AEDs in public places where cardiac arrests are likely to occur and encouraged private companies to purchase AEDs and to train employees in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and emergency defibrillation.