Colleague Has Epilepsy: First Aid at Work

A colleague falls and has convulsions at work. It can be frightening, but first aid for a seizure is simple. Stay calm, stay with the person, protect the head and time it. You do not restrain them or put anything in their mouth. If the seizure lasts longer than five minutes, you call emergency services. Your colleague can keep a short note you write afterwards or log it in the seizure diary in Sam. There, sleep, HRV and resting heart rate from Apple Health sit in the same app.

This text is general first aid information, not a diagnosis and not a substitute for a first aid course. The steps below describe a tonic-clonic seizure, the type with stiffening and shaking. Other types, such as staring spells, are often hard to notice at all.

What do you do in the first minute of a seizure?

Stay calm, and stay with the person. For someone known to have epilepsy, one typical seizure is usually not an emergency. The CDC says most seizures last just a few minutes.

These steps keep the person safe:

• Keep yourself and others calm.
• Stay with the person.
• Remove anything near them that could cause an injury.
• Look for a medical bracelet or card with information about their condition.
• Note the time the seizure started.
• Protect the head, for example with something soft and flat underneath it.
• Take off their glasses, and loosen tight clothing around the neck.

If the person falls and loses awareness, ease them to the floor away from danger. Turn them gently onto their side, with their mouth pointing to the ground. This keeps the airway clear.

What should you never do during a seizure?

Two actions do more harm than good, and the CDC and the Epilepsy Foundation both warn against them.

• Do not hold the person down or try to stop their movements. This can injure you or them.
• Do not put anything in their mouth, including objects to bite on. Forcing the mouth open or pushing an object in can injure the teeth or jaw.

Do not give food or drink until the person is fully alert. Do not offer mouth-to-mouth breaths during the seizure itself. People usually start breathing again on their own once it ends.

When do you call emergency services?

Most seizures do not need an ambulance. But the CDC says to call if one or more of these things happen:

• The seizure lasts longer than five minutes.
• Another seizure follows soon after the first.
• The person has trouble breathing or waking up afterwards.
• The person is injured during the seizure.
• The seizure happens in water.
• The person has never had a seizure before, or is pregnant.

The MSD Manual calls a seizure that lasts more than five minutes, or repeated seizures without full recovery in between, a medical emergency known as status epilepticus. The Epilepsy Foundation adds that you should call if the person does not return to their usual state or asks for help.

Use your local emergency number: 112 in the EU, 999 in the UK, 911 in the US.

What do you say when you call?

You do not need a prepared list. Give the exact location first, for example the building, which floor and which entrance. Say that you suspect a seizure.

The call taker asks what they need to know, such as what happened and whether the person is responsive. Answer simply and stay on the line until they end the call. If several colleagues are there, one person makes the call while you stay with your colleague.

What happens after the seizure ends?

Stay until the seizure is over and the person is fully awake and oriented. The CDC says to help them sit in a safe place to recover. If they are still unconscious but breathing normally, keep them on their side to keep the airway clear.

After a seizure, people are often tired or briefly confused. Many do not remember what happened. Offer to call a friend or family member to help them get home safely, and reassure them in simple words. If they do not come round, or you are unsure how they are, call emergency services.

How do you talk to your colleague afterwards?

Let your colleague set the pace. Ask whether they need anything, more quiet, or a call to someone close. Do not press for details about their diagnosis or medication.

Their health details belong to them. They decide what the team learns, and who is told. Do not repeat what they have not shared themselves. A colleague with epilepsy can also have an emergency plan agreed with their doctor, and they choose who sees it. That plan is theirs to explain, before anything happens.

What do you write down after a seizure?

A short, neutral note helps. The person often knows little about what happened, so an observer's description is useful to their doctor. This list is a suggestion, not an official form:

• Date, time it started, time it ended.
• What you saw: a fall, awareness, movements, how long they lasted.
• Injury or not, and whether the head was affected.
• What you did: cleared objects, cushioned the head, side position, stayed with the person.
• Whether you called emergency services, and when.
• When the person became fully awake again.
• Who else was present.

The note belongs to the person first. They can show it to their neurologist, or enter the details in their own seizure diary in Sam. If you recently watched a seizure for the first time, the difference between a seizure and a faint is worth knowing in epileptic seizure or syncope.

Do you need to know much about epilepsy to help?

You do not need to become an epilepsy expert. For someone with known epilepsy, one typical seizure is handled calmly, and most do not need emergency services. Knowing the simple steps makes a stressful moment easier for everyone.

If your colleague lives with epilepsy, a supportive team matters. Our guides cover the first weeks after an epilepsy diagnosis and daily life, sleep and routine with epilepsy. Setting up a Medical ID on the iPhone is an optional extra a person can choose.

Sam is not part of an emergency response. Whether a colleague shares any detail with you, or uses Friends & Family to open part of their record to a chosen person, is entirely their choice.

Record the seizure in Sam and take the report to your appointment

If you live with epilepsy, you can turn a witness description into a record you bring to your neurologist, without rebuilding the timeline from memory. The seizure diary in Sam holds the date, time and type, and you can add what a colleague saw.

• Instead of paper notes: entries you make on the same day sit next to sleep, HRV and resting heart rate from Apple Health when a value exists.
• Instead of memory at the appointment: the doctor report summarises the period you choose as a PDF, ready to show or print.
• Instead of rebuilding the story: you mark that someone saw it and add what happened in a note.

Sam is not an emergency system and does not replace calling emergency services or the plan you agree with your doctor.

Try Sam Health

Sam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. The app does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition or health state. Always consult qualified professionals for medical decisions.

Related reading

• First weeks after an epilepsy diagnosis
• Living with epilepsy: sleep, routine and daily life
• Epileptic seizure or syncope: how to tell the difference
• Medical ID on iPhone: set up an emergency pass for a chronic condition
• SUDEP Risk in Epilepsy at Night: What You Should Know

Sources

Updated: October 2026

• CDC: First Aid for Seizures (page dated May 2024)
• Epilepsy Foundation: First Aid Resources (Stay, Safe, Side) and Getting Emergency Help (reviewed November 2024)
• Epilepsy Action: First aid for tonic-clonic seizures (April 2026)
• MSD Manual Consumer Version: Seizure Disorders (March 2026)