Posted By Steve Layzell
I am a Health and Safety Adviser for a large British-Based scaffolding firm and have been tasked to create guidelines for our managers throughout the UK with regards the numbers of first-aiders required.

This sounds simple at first since it is well regulated, however, in reality there are so many variables to take into consideration.

Each branch and yard has rather varying staffing levels. This could vary anything from 3 to 20 people.

The scaffolders themselves could vary from 2 to 10 or more depending on the task. They may work well awa from an urban area, and the teams may vary from day to day or (in some cases) from night to night.

Most construction site have their own dedicated first-aiders and first aid posts - but not all.

It may be compliant to have one first-aider per team, however, what if the first aider becomes the injured party?

The risk assessment and method statements for each job would give a clue to the requirements, but to put together a single guideline to be published throughout the country is rather complex.

A 'one size fits all' policy is impractcal, and so I envisage some sort of a matrix which can be read alongside the risk assessment/s bearing in mind these may (and often do) change on a daily basis.

Does anybody have any ideas or experience in this which could help me complete the guidelines required?

Thanks,
Steve Layzell

Posted By Paul Oliver
hi steve,

i am in a similar position to you myself. my comopany employs sub-contract labour and we depend on site providing first aid cover most of the time. i would suggest that you carry out a cost-benefit analysis of sending everyone on an appointed persons first aid course. that one could be quite tricky for the board but at least you could cover all your bases. i know it doesn't sit well morally, but as long as you have made the proposals then the decision rests furhter up the food chain.
you can also base your assessemnts on employee competency,levels of training, difficulty of particular scaffolding taks etc. in order to clarify the type and level of first aid cover you require, even down to how far away is the hospital or what are the average response times of ambulances in the area etc. also look at your accident stats and identify the largest cause of accidents, with the view to removing the hazard causing the problem. however if you say back trouble is the main accident, thats gonna be quite difficult. i could go on for ages, but i think information, training and instruction and going to be the control measures you will identify in order to reduce your current level of risk
cheers