In companies across the nation, employees are stepping in as lifesavers in the most literal sense. About 17 fatal injuries happen each day in American workplaces, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Sometimes, rescue situations come down to one worker, one moment and the impulse to help. Workers who witnessed the crisis describe feeling overwhelmed, shaken or exhausted. The emergency rekindles employees' experiences with loss.
People like to have the perception that work is a safe place.
These are the stories of everyday workers who became office heroes. 15 co-workers sat together in an economics class sponsored by their employer, Mazda. The group had been watching a film. In the darkened room, marketing representative manager Vickie Sanders gazed at the dancing flicker of light from the TV and felt herself drift away. She was slipping into a grand mal seizure, a condition characterized by convulsions and loss of consciousness.