The men who empty dustbins in remote areas of the south Pennines are about to turn into lifesavers, if funding for equipment can be found.

Crews on the refuse trucks (42 men, but the job is open to women) sent out by Staffordshire Moorlands district council will carry defibrillators, as well as their black binliners and spares for wheeliebins.

Councillors will be asked to approve the scheme later this month, including brief training on the machines which restart heartbeats after an attack. Medical staff describe them as simple to use, and the Staffordshire ambulance service wants them as widely available as fire extinguishers.

The council's leader, Ron Locker, said that prompt use of a defibrillator could save lives in isolated uplands hard for ambulances to reach quickly. He said: "We've already got them in offices and one-stop shops, and this is a super idea - providing it is workable and affordable. The beauty here is that the crews are the men who meet our residents on a weekly basis and know the area very well."

The deputy leader, Linda Malyon, said: "Every second counts in an emergency. Anything we can do to save a life has to be worthwhile." The trucks are equipped with radio, though exactly how they could be called in an emergency is still to be worked out.

Defibrillators have spread rapidly to rural areas since the 1990s, when they were issued to mountain rescue teams in the Lake District and other national parks.

Bob Lee, of Staffordshire ambulance service, said that the machines were failsafe. "They have to be good news on any public service vehicle - they increase survival rates by up to 80%. [We have] a policy of encouraging defibrillators anywhere and everywhere. The more there are out there, the more chance there is of people surviving," he said.

"They are extremely easy to use, and pictures on them give users a step-by-step guide. We would like to see them being as available as fire extinguishers. They cannot be wrongly used, but they can provide lifesaving first aid."

The move follows other countryside initiatives which combine existing services with threatened ones, including post vans doubling as buses, and pubs turning one of their bars into a post office.