Changes to First Aid Training

Implementation of Changes to First Aid Training and Approval Arrangements

In recent years, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted a review of the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981. This was aimed at evaluating whether the Regulations were still effective in meeting the needs of modern businesses.

Whilst undertaking the review, the HSE commissioned research and consulted extensively with stakeholders – employers, employees, first aiders and first aid training providers.

Following analysis of the review’s findings, the HSE agreed that the Regulations and accompanying Approved Code of Practice should not be changed but that within this framework there should be a new training regime for first aiders in the workplace.

The main elements of the new changes are as follows:

• The First aid at work course will be shortened to 3 days
• A new 1-day Emergency first aid at work course has been created which covers the most common risks. The syllabus for this course has been specified by the HSE and can only be taught by HSE approved providers of the First aid at work course or Ofqual (QCA) registered providers.
• A 3-hour annual refresher course has been specified by the HSE. The HSE strongly recommend that this course is completed annually between requalification to keep first aid skills fresh.
• The HSE is updating the rules about the number of first aiders needed in a workplace. It is expected that the HSE will reduce the categories of risk to two: low and high.

Employers will not be required to retrain all their first aiders as soon as the implementation date is reached. First aiders with a valid first aid at work certificate will only enter the new arrangements when their certificate expires. This means that it will take three years post implementation before all first aiders in the workplace are captured within the new training structure. The HSE intends to introduce the changes to first aid training courses from 1 October 2009 so employer duty holders will need to implement them from this date. Guidance on the changes to approval arrangements will be available for first aid training providers at an earlier date to enable them to prepare for the new training course structure.

Detailed guidance for employers will be available as a revision of the current document produced by HSE: First aid at work - The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 – Approved Code of Practice and Guidance (L74). Within this, it is only the guidance that is being revised, the Regulations and Approved Code of Practice will remain the same. HSE also intends to revise its guidance for small and medium sized enterprises in First aid at work – your questions answered (INDG214). Both publications will be available for 1 October 2009. It is intended that L74 will continue as a priced publication and INDG214 will be available as a free leaflet that can be downloaded from HSE's website.

The first aid web pages of the HSE’s website will also be revised to take account of the changes.