EFM Health Clubs has taken steps to put safety first with all clubs able to access potentially life-saving defibrillation units.

The club model means many gyms are on-site at major hospitals with emergency departments but now those franchisees located elsewhere will have a defibrillation unit available.

EFM managing director, Matthew Lindblom, said “The actual instance of cardiac arrest within our clubs is rare. Across our approximately 65 clubs, who have many hundreds of thousands of member visits each year between them, we fortunately average less than one severe cardiac episode per year. I’d estimate that the instance is approximately one per one million member visits.”

However, he said, “We value member safety and our position is to lead the industry through our actions. We’d hope that our lead encourages other gyms and fitness studios to follow and make the investment .”