First Aid News from Safety 1st

New HSE Guidelines Implications for your Business

From 1 October 2009 The Health and Safety Executive have introduced two new First Aid courses.

• 3 day First Aid at Work
• 1 day Emergency First Aid at WorK.

The certificates issued will be valid for three years and during this period First Aiders are recommended to attend an annual 3 hour First Aid Refresher (FAR) course. At the end of the three year period it will be necessary to re-qualify as follows:

• HSE 2 day First Aid at Work Re-qualification ( FAWR ) course
• HSE 1 day Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) course

How many First Aiders will you need? Will you need to retrain staff? What are the implications to your business? Selecting the appropriate course will depend on the circumstances of the workplace.

First Aid Needs Assessment should consider the following:

• the nature of the work, the hazards and the risks
• work patterns such as shift work
• annual leave and other absences of first aiders
• the size of the organisation
• the organisation’s history of accidents and illness
• the distribution of the workforce

Further information is available on our downloads page. Alternatively visit www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid. Ensure you check out our First Aid Training Guide on our downloads page to assist you in understanding the new changes.

If you require any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.