Risks7 min read
Management6 min readAndi Arapi
What expires in a defibrillator, and when
A defibrillator doesn’t break: it expires. And it expires in pieces, at different moments, with dates printed on labels nobody looks at until they’re needed.
Three clocks, never in sync
Three parts of an AED carry a date, and each one runs on its own. The adhesive pads hold the conductive gel, which dries out: once opened there’s no going back, and sealed they last a few years from manufacture. The battery has a life of its own, longer but not endless, and the stated figure applies to a device on standby — not to one that has been used. The visual check isn’t a spare part but it is a real deadline: it’s the moment someone looks at the status indicator and confirms the cabinet is intact.
The exact numbers come from the model’s manual, and they differ between a Philips and a Zoll. What doesn’t differ is the shape of the problem: three different dates that never fall together, on an object nobody touches for months.
That’s where the trap is. An AED checked in April may have good pads and a battery two months from the end. Whoever looked in April saw a green light and closed the cabinet: the light says the device works now, not that it will work in September.
Data
The life of a device, laid out
Typical durations for an AED left on standby. The exact months depend on the model: the shape doesn’t.
Visual checkevery ~3 monthsStatus light, cabinet intact, pads still sealed. It takes two minutes and it must be written down: for the purposes of an inspection, an unlogged check never happened.
Pads~24-30 monthsThe gel dries out even inside a sealed pack. Paediatric pads are often a separate deadline, and they’re the ones that get forgotten.
Battery~4-5 yearsThe stated life applies to a device that has never been used. After a real shock the battery should be treated as due for replacement, whatever the label says.
01 year2 years3 years4 years5 years
Hover over a marker — or tab to it — for the detail.
Source: Durations stated in the manuals of the most common models
The log is the system
Everything you need to manage a defibrillator fits in one row per device and one row per check. You don’t need software to understand that — you need it not to forget it.
There’s a single difference between a spreadsheet and a system: the system warns you first. A list of dates helps whoever opens it; a date that expires quietly inside a file nobody has opened for eight months has helped no one.
- Identification: make, model, serial number, exactly where it is (not “the gym”, but “gym entrance, right-hand wall”).
- Pad expiry, and separately the paediatric pads if there are any.
- Battery expiry, with the installation date: that’s what tells you whether the remaining life is the one on the label.
- Date of the last visual check and who did it.
- Usage log: after every real use, pads and battery count as due for replacement.
- A named person responsible. A device owned by “the office” is nobody’s responsibility.
The cost of getting it wrong isn’t symmetrical
Replacing pads early costs a few tens of euros. Not replacing them costs a device that, at the moment it’s needed, asks you to attach two electrodes that no longer conduct.
That’s why a good calendar doesn’t aim at the expiry date: it aims at a few weeks before. The margin is there to order the part, receive it and fit it without the AED being uncovered in the meantime.
Takeaways
- An AED has at least three deadlines and they never coincide: one reminder a year leaves months uncovered.
- The green light says the device works now, not that it will work in six months.
- After every real use, pads and battery count as spent regardless of the label.
Keep reading
Organisation5 min read
Who is responsible for an installed defibrillator
The same deadlines, but with someone reminding you
SOS DAE Management keeps devices, sites, deadlines and documents in one place, and warns you before a date passes.