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Posted By James McLay
I have been 'advised' by a colleague that there is legislation forthcoming that makes it a requirement to pay employees for provision of first aider and/or emergency response team services.
I've carried out a search of HSE, dti, IPD, and UK Government websites but cannot find anything.
Is anyone aware of any forthcoming legislation that includes this requirement?
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Posted By Neil Pearson
News to me. I know they're reviewing the Firs Aid at Work regs but I can't see why this would include anything about pay. There's no consultative doc out about it.
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Posted By Chris Turner
I have not heard anything relating to paying first aiders, however there is a research report (RR069) This was undertaken to investigate whether the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations were still serving there purpose.
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Posted By Stuart Nagle
As stated above there is to be a review of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations, which is due now. Watch the HSE web site for developments.
As far as pay for first aiders is concerned, I doubt if this is likely to be considered within a review of the regulations, as this is purely an agreement between employer and employees. It is worth noting however, that in manufacturing industries, many employers pay an 'allowance' to employees are first aider qualified - often as a result of the employer paying for them to attend the course and covering their absence from the workplace.
If I was to be cynical I could quote the Management Regs in respect of competent persons assisting the employer in their undertaking, and state that if the employer paid for your training, and you agreed to go on the training, your employer has a right to expect your assistance in helping him comply with the first aid regs by being a first aider, thereby assisting him in his undertaking - without having to pay you as well!!
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Posted By Nigel Singleton BSc
Having put my 'two pennies worth' into the consultation document and also receiving the results from the consultation, no mention is made of pay for 1st aiders.
One point which may appear even more cynical than Stuart. Section 7 HASAWA states an employee should never put themselves in a position of danger. dealing with a 1st aid incident, particulary involving blood these days is surely doing just that. Does an employee have a responsibility not to do first aid? Or should employers realise that the position is a responsible one and should merit some sort of 'danger money :-)'
If the conclusions from the document are put into place, the FAW course will become an annual thing rather than every 3 years, this in itself is going to be a huge drain on employers in terms of cost, which may result in employers cutting first aid cover to the bare minimum, which may make it even more important to reward them for their services?
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Posted By John Murgatroyd
The course for the (2) first aiders at work cost £180.00 for 3 days, plus wage(s) at £65.00 per day.
We have 3 first aid men..the other paid for his own course and is a fully qualified St Johns member (working to ambulance technician). None of them is paid any extra for their first aid work.
None of them are allowed to treat injuries.
Insurance !
ANY injuries get a loose dressing and sent to hospital.
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Posted By Chris Abbott
At my last posting, in a manufacturing site, the First Aid staff were paid a supplement for their status, because they assisted the Occupational Health team buy dealing with first action / aid themselves - the company recognised the value of paying people for their service because they volunteered to do additional work "beyond & above" so to speak.
As to legislation regarding paying "first aid staff" - can't see how that would work - would the next step be to produce additional legislation - update current regulations so that DSE Assessors or Manual handling Assessor / Kinetic Handling Assessors get a token payment? What about Fire Marshalls ….
Not sure how companies would react to being "forced" to make some sort of payment, it's the smaller companies I feel sorry for!
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Posted By Paul Adams
I had a previous position where I received an incentive as a first aider. In my current location, I don't, and I don't think you should.
First aiders are special people, they do it because they want to and sometimes it is not very nice.
From one extreme where one of our staff wanted to be a first aider as long as she didn't have to deal with anything particularly unpleasant, to a person who still suffers mentally having attempted to resuscitate a child at a road accident several years ago, but still trains and is still a first aider.
Apart from the strain on smaller employers, an incentive will, if not pitched correctly, attract innapropriate first aiders.
FACT: People who genuinly help people do so because they want to help people, not because of financial reward. And so it should be.
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Posted By Shane Johnston
I agree with the previous posting. Idealy you should able to rely on an individual wanting to be a first aider, rather than doing it for the money. However we needed a certain number of FA, but could not get enough volunteers, so we were forced to offer an incentive. We now pay all FA £100 pa.
Regardless of whether the employer wants to pay or not, sometimes you have no choice.
Shane.
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Posted By Lee Ainsworth
I work for a steel company, which does not have a nurse on site, but we do now have access to a 24 hr medical centre within 5 minutes drive. Before we had the medical centre first aiders were paid a sum of £250 a year for their service, this has now been dropped to £50. Rats and sinking ship come to mind when it was announced.
If any body is thinking of paying first aiders, which isn't a bad thing, be sure you can afford it and maintain that payment which is set.
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