England’s leading first aid charity St John Ambulance has revealed the winners of its inaugural Lifesavers at Work Awards, which include a vehicle data manager at Holman UK who saved a man’s life using workplace CPR training.

Announced following a ceremony at The Museum of the Order of St John earlier this week, the awards celebrate seven ordinary people whose quick thinking and first aid training have ultimately saved lives.

Winners include Adrian (Ade) Cummins, who is a vehicle data manager at Holman UK in Wiltshire. He became a workplace first aider soon after his daughter was born, wanting skills that would help anywhere.

Cummins used his workplace first aid training to identify the signs of cardiac arrest after a man collapsed outside his office building, and administered CPR until a colleague arrived with the site’s defibrillator. Paramedics later told him that without his actions, the man would almost certainly have died.

Paul McGettigan, the man he saved, said: “What Ade’s given me is more time. He’s given me time back with my family that I may have lost. I’m grateful I’ve got a second chance.”

Cummins commented: “Winning the Workplace Hero award is a massive honour, and I’m incredibly proud of what I was able to do. I’m just really glad I had the knowledge and confidence to help Paul when he needed someone most.

“I have to give a huge shout-out to Ruth and Clive at the Devizes St John Ambulance training centre. Their expert training gave me the skills and confidence to step in and do what needed to be done to help save Paul’s life.

“I’m also incredibly grateful to my friends and colleagues for all the support they’ve given me since. I can’t emphasise enough how important first aid training is. You never know when someone might rely on you. Since then, Holman has offered CPR and defibrillator training to colleagues, with more than 120 people now trained. That’s an amazing response, and hopefully it means even more people will have the confidence to step in and help if they ever find themselves in a similar situation.”

The St John Ambulance awards also recognise a PE teacher, cookery teacher and school nurse at Windlesham House School, who have been named co-winners of the Beyond the Workplace Hero 2026 award after giving CPR for 25 minutes to a collapsed stranger on their lunch break.

Other winners include TotalEnergies, named a Leader in Workplace First Aid after an employee’s cardiac arrest prompted the company to overhaul its first aid training programme, and Manchester Metropolitan University, recognised as a Leader in Workplace Health and Wellbeing for a first aid and mental health programme that has trained nearly 3,000 students.  The achievements of the Lifesavers at Work Awards winners have also been captured in a short film by a BAFTA-nominated director, available on YouTube.

The charity launched the initiative after its research found that 83% of UK workers believe everyday lifesavers deserve more celebration than Oscar winners. Dr Nighat Arif, NHS GP and well-known public health advocate, presented each winner with an award recognising their swift, lifesaving action at the ceremony, where several were reunited with the people they saved.

Dr Arif said: “As a GP, I know the minutes before an ambulance arrives can decide whether someone lives or dies, and the most important person then isn’t a doctor; it’s whoever is nearby. I’ve met people who used what they learnt at work to bring someone back to their family. I talk about health on TV, but what these winners did with their own hands is the most powerful message of all. They have demonstrated the greatest act of humanity in real life.”

Research from St John Ambulance reveals cardiac arrest is the most feared workplace emergency, but two in five (39%) don’t know how to perform CPR, as the charity calls on every employer to make first aid training a key part of working life.

Shona Dunn, CEO of St John Ambulance, said: “Every one of the winners was an ordinary person who refused to give up on someone whose life was slipping away. These people are alive today because someone nearby knew what to do, and that should be true for everyone in this country.

“Cardiac arrest is the emergency that workers fear the most, yet two in five say they wouldn’t know how to perform CPR. That’s a gap we can close, and the workplace is where we can close it the fastest.”