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We understand that choosing the right first aid course to meet your company’s legal obligations and budget is a very important decision.
The following questions and answers are here to help you make that decision, but of course we are only a phone call or email away should you feel you need a little more help!
The HSE (Health & Safety Executive) website states: “In the event of injury or sudden illness, failure to provide first aid could result in that person's death. The employer should therefore ensure that an employee who is injured or taken ill at work receives immediate attention”
You need to make an assessment of your needs:
“Employers are required to carry out an assessment of first aid needs. This involves consideration of workplace hazards and risks, the size of the organisation and other relevant factors, to determine what first aid equipment, facilities and personnel should be provided.”
What does that mean to me?
Here are a couple of examples, are any of these companies similar to you?
- Small Office or Shop: With relatively few employees and a low risk environment, the one day Emergency First aid at Work Course will be sufficient to meet your needs.
- Large Retail Store or Light Engineering: With a high number of staff spread over a large area or several floors, this medium risk environment with areas like loading bays and kitchens or perhaps Construction Site or Chemical Manufacturer: A high risk environment such as this with noise, dangerous machinery and / or large loads would require staff to attend the three day First Aid at Work Course irrespective of staff numbers.
Download the official guidance from the HSE by clicking on this link.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg214.pdf
The HSE have also recently launched a First aid at work assessment tool to help companies through this process
What if I work with children?
If you act as a child minder, or work in a nursery or pre school, you will need to attend a special twelve hour course called First Aid in the Early Years / Paediatric course.
This course meets the course programme as laid down by the NCMA, Pre-School Learning Alliance, OFSTED and Surestart to meet the requirements of the National Standards for the purpose of registering as an early years professional.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families produced the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Within the practice guidance for setting the standards for learning, development and care for children from 0–5 years there is a Paediatric course overview.
Just click on this link and open the pdf.
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/eyfs_practiceguid_0026608.pdf
PS. Its in appendix 1 page 23 (save you having to read it all)
What if I work in a school?
Until recently the first aid requirement at a school had been to cover the needs of the staff (as employees) rather than the first aid needs of the children.
So now we have a couple of considerations, again dependant on the number of employees, you could choose either the Emergency first aid course for schools, or a First Aid at Work course.
In addition to this (from September 2008) the Department for Children, Schools and Families produced the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Within this document there is a statutory duty that all schools with Year R classes must have at least one person who has a current paediatric first aid certificate on the premises at all times.
Download the official guidance from the Department for Children, Schools and Families by clicking on this link.
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/00267-2008BKT-EN.pdf
Go to the pdf, be warned it’s a big document but we are here to help so go to page 26 (now that saved you some reading didn’t it!)
You can find the course content for the Paediatric course in the Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage this can be found in, Appendix 1 on page 23. Just click on this link and open the pdf.
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/eyfs_practiceguid_0026608.pdf
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