Posted By Sarah J Shaw I wanted to take a straw pole with other organisations to see whether any of you make additional payments to staff who volunteer to be first aiders. Currently we pay ours approx £245 pa for this additional responsibility. What, if anything, do other organisations pay? Personally I have reservations about making payments as I feel people sometimes volunteer to get the money, not because it is something that interests them. Comments please. Sarah

Posted By Roy Macpherson Our organisation does not pay its first aiders payments as such as all staff receive basic first aid training but we do have advanced first aid trained individuals, they are part of the overall emergency response team. They do receive paid gym membership, paid leave or time in lieu to attend training on and off site and various other little incentives (usually kept secret among themselves!). All of the team members do this quite freely for personal growth as well as making a huge contribution to the morale and safety management on site. We have an excellent H&S culture and have 100% management support in H&S matters and this has helped make our response team proactive and professional. This probably has more to do with the number of volunteers we have than any rewards offered to entice participation!

Posted By Andrew Powell We currently pay £520 per annum, a company not too far and linked to us pay £260 per annum. I suppose it is horses for courses. I speak to all volunteers before putting them on the course, I can usually find out why they want to do the course. 5-10 p/week is not the biggest motivator. Regards Andrew

Posted By Colette Herbert All our First Aiders receive an extra weeks ages. For this they must respond to accidents, carry out a number of safety inspections and attend scheduled training sessions. It works well for us. Regards Colette

Posted By Marie Dolman Hi Sarah, We also pay a similar amount to you. I get the impression that many of our first aiders are driven by the ability to use their qualification in their personal lives as much as for work ie. those with young families and even one person who was able to offer his new skills as part of his "other role" as a martial arts instructor! Marie.

Posted By PatrickT Being a Qualified First Aider and holder of a Current First Aid at Work Certificate, the question needs to be ask on how you are approaching the subject of your Straw Pole? I suspect that you are a manager with a budget, not a First Aider and that you have not experienced first hand the thorough training required to pass the (or ordeal) practical examination under very realistic test conditions. How about a straw pole of senior managers in your workplace - how many of them are First Aiders? Could they be interested in undertaking this role Gratis? If the going rate of was Higher, for them? I doubt it! Fat Cats are prone to TIA and Coronary Thrombosis, probably the most vunerable members of the workforce! I work for a Government Department who will not reward colleagues for undertaking the role of First Aiders in the workplace. On raising the issue of reognition for services provided, (a Hamper at Christmas), I was ruled out of hand by a manager who was a first aider sometime after the (boer)war, (things change so quickly in First Aid) & whose attitude was very similar to yours. Any incentive, financial or otherwise does not make those who volunteer to become First Aiders any less capable of delivering First Aid. I am sure that if you were ever in a position to require the services of a First Aider the last thing on your mind would be how much they are getting extra each week. From reading through the responses I believe your notion has been thoroughly rebuked by forum colleagues, Hurrahh. It would appear that colleagues support payment for First Aiders in the workplace. I would suggest (in the nicest possible terms) that you may benefit from getting your "hands dirty" and then poling colleagues on how much you think First Aiders should be paid minimally for performing such a vital role in the workplace. Sarah, take heart, there is light(heartedness) and the end of the tunnel!Think of the savings in euro's for not having to provide an occupational health support team and associated facilities costs, during your hours of business? Could an employer realisticly afford to remunerate for the piece of mind in knowing that H&S obligations are fully met? If this is getting too much why not levy a fee on visitors to your premises to pay for any incidental First Aid they may require, this could be a real money spinner! Beter still why not take it out of the Shareholders dividend? Colleagues I move that Sarah negotiates for double the remuneration that her First Aiders are in receipt of and further provide them with a decent hamper at Christmas! All those in Favour? Regards Patrick Teyhan

Posted By Robert K Lewis Just to put a bit of fat onto the fire I was paid a F/A honorarium of £220 p.a. back in 1973. That was in the chemical industry and we were paid 2hrs extra per month to receive refresher training between 3 and 5pm once per month, bear in mind this was a shift rota. If you try to work this figure out a shift salary was approx £8000 pa in those days Bob

Posted By David Brede In British Railways days (pre privatisation)employees who were first aiders were offered additional days leave and free travel tickets over the UK rail network. Since privatisation most of these concessions have been removed as firms have sought to impose 'clean' terms and conditions i.e. basic pay and holiday and nothing else. The upshot of this is that the availability of first aiders has declined as the old hands have retired and few have been incentivised to take their place. However when we use subcontractors they are obliged to provide first aiders on their sites and this usually turns out to be the foreman. So perhaps the answer is to write it into job descriptions so there is a requirement for certain staff to have this skill.