Just conducting annual review of First Aid Procedure. Under First Aiders duties, is the statement • To complete at least 35 hours of voluntary first aid cover per year.

I cannot find anything reference in the regulations, HSE site etc. to backup this statement. Anyone got any idea if this is a legal requirement, guideline or one of those statements whose origin gets lost in time but carried forward from review to review.

Many Thanks

Had a similar question posed to our organisation during an external audit. "How do you assess your first aiders are competent?". The First At Work qualification is every 3 years, but there is no legal requirement for annual refreshers etc. Although there are refresher training courses available.

It was suggested that a "table top" exercise for first aiders would be a possible solution and the use of a helpful 'phone app from the British Red Cross.

Overall there is no legal requirement to maintain annual refreshers, but more to assess your first aid requirements and then implement what you assess particular to your needs.

".........................Under First Aiders duties, is the statement-- To complete at least 35 hours of voluntary first aid cover per year"

To me that implies that the completion of voluntary first aid cover by the first aider is additional to the "normal" cover for the employer. It may be because of the nature of the undertaking or simply undertaking a good deed. ???

It needs to be understood in its proper context why the provision of "voluntary first aid cover", limited to a mere 35 hours per year is included in the duties of the first aider.

The refresher training etc are separate issues, IMHO

Extract from HSE website below.

In the spirit of the scheme you are advised to refresh annually, but as a first aid training provider, we are never taken up on this.

Refresher training
HSE strongly recommends that first-aiders undertake annual refresher training, over half a day, during any three-year certification period. Although not mandatory, this will help qualified first-aiders maintain their basic skills and keep up to date with any changes to first-aid procedures.

Phil

A study was done in the wind industry to assess how much students retain in their safe work at height and rescue mandatory qualification, in between the 2 yearly requalification period. Results were that after 3 months there is a marked reduction in skill retention and ability. I would imagine first aid would be the same. From anecdotal experience of training fire services for their trauma course, a similar trend is shown in skill fade around the 3 month mark.
But until the refresher is made mandatory in FAW, and not just advisory by the HSE, then Companies will send their staff on a course every 3 years, and expect them to perform life saving interventions, despite offering them no CPD, or refresher training.

Phil

The O.P identifies as being a member of sports grounds and events... So the first aiders could be volunteers getting 'free entry' to matches, festivals, galas and whatever. The organisers will have to do some admin for any volunteers to check qualifications etc, which costs time and money. It would make sense to ask volunteers for a minimum annual commitment of five days or so to justify the admin time and effort? Makes sense to me....