Have you identified and assessed your workplace hazards recently?

First Aid in the Workplace

Following a review of the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, the HSE have introduced changes to the qualifications available and the way in which First Aid in the Workplace should be approached.

It is an employer's responsibility to ensure they have sufficient qualified First Aiders to fulfill their First Aid needs at all times. It is also the employer's responsibility to decide what those First Aid needs are.

In line with the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, employers must ensure that first aid provision is 'adequate and appropriate in the circumstances'.

To fulfill this criterion it is recommended that employers assess their First Aid needs by identifying any specific work hazards and ensuring that sufficient first aid equipment, facilities and personnel are available to deal with the possible consequences of these hazards. This could range from calling for an ambulance to providing assistance to a casualty by administering first aid.

There are two approved First Aid in the Workplace qualifications;

• Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) - A Qualification achieved through a 1-day course that enables a first-aider to give emergency first aid to someone who is injured or becomes ill at work. Suited to working environments that have a minimum amount of hazards along with a low number of employees.
• First Aid at Work (FAW) - A Qualification achieved through a 3-day course that includes all the features of the EFAW and also equips the first-aider to administer first aid to a range of specific injuries and illness. This course replaces the old 4-day course. More suited to working environments that have a high hazard count and/or a high number of employees.