What to expect from an emergency first aid at work course

During emergency first aid at work training, you will learn valuable skills that could help you to provide life-saving assistance, both in and outside of work, in the event of a medical emergency.

Quite simply, taking an emergency first aid course for work could help you to save lives. Not just the lives of colleagues, patients, or customers, but of your friends, family members, and neighbours.

The knowledge you will gain and the skills you will learn on an emergency first aid course will help you to remain calm during a medical crisis and react swiftly, confidently, and competently to provide life-saving care until an ambulance arrives on the scene.

Why take an emergency first aid at work course?

The most common reason that people enrol on emergency first aid courses is because their employer requires them to do so. However, the skills learnt during a professional first aid course can be used in any setting.

According to the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, it is an employer’s legal duty to ‘provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities, and personnel to ensure their employees receive immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill at work.’

Whilst the regulations do not strictly require employers to make first aid provisions for non-employees, the Health and Safety Executive website ‘strongly recommends that non-employees are included in an assessment of first-aid needs and that provision is made for them.’

According to the Health and Safety Executive, ‘where an employer provides first-aiders in the workplace, they should ensure they have undertaken suitable training, have an appropriate first-aid qualification and remain competent to perform their role.’

Completing a professional emergency first aid at work course run by a trusted healthcare training provider will offer individuals with no prior knowledge of first aid the skills they require to become the organisation’s nominated first aider.

What to expect from an emergency first aid course

An emergency first aid course can usually be completed in just one day and participants are not required to have any previous knowledge or qualifications to enrol. During the training, you will be taught first aid theory and required to participate in practical learning too.

The course is very hands-on and engaging, providing learners with the emergency first aid skills and confidence they require to provide life-saving care in the event of a medical emergency at work.

Course content

Professional emergency first aid courses should all include:

• Practical demonstrations.
• Role-playing scenarios.
• Question and answer sessions.
• A range of engaging, practical activities.
• Practical experience carrying out first aid techniques using a manikin.

An emergency first aid course should provide extensive training in how to provide life-saving care during a variety of different medical emergencies that may be encountered in the workplace.

Some of the skills that are covered during emergency first aid training include:

• Carrying out a risk assessment.
• Controlling bleeding.
• Dressing wounds.
• Treating burns.
• Assisting a person who is choking.
• Putting a person in the recovery position.
• Treating shock.
• Treating seizures.
• Carrying out CPR.
• Using a defibrillator.
• Responding to someone unresponsive.
• Treating cuts, grazes, and bruises.

Assessment

You will be assessed by the trainer during the training session. To be awarded the qualification you must pass both a theory assessment and a practical assessment. The theory assessment is in the form of multiple-choice questions, whilst the practical assessment requires you to demonstrate your ability to safely perform several important first aid techniques, including CPR and first aid for someone who is choking.

The role of a qualified first aider

Upon completion of this course, an employee will be able to act as an organisation’s first aider and confidently respond to any medical emergencies that should arise in the workplace.

A first aider’s training should give them the knowledge, skills, and confidence they require to carry out the following responsibilities:

• Look after first aid equipment and supplies.
• Carry out an initial assessment of the person who is injured or ill.
• Take charge in the event of a medical emergency.
• Call the emergency services if required.
• Use first aid equipment safely.
• Give appropriate first aid until an ambulance arrives.
• Manage the accident reporting procedure.

It is important to note that this qualification is only valid for three years, after which time it will need to be renewed.

How much practical work is involved?

The theory behind emergency first aid is very important, but the practical skills you will learn are even more so.

Whilst it is useful to know the conditions that may cause someone to collapse or what is happening when someone is choking, in the event of either happening, it is most important that the first aider can react quickly and confidently to provide life-saving care.

Reading about what to do in the event of a medical emergency and performing the actions are two very different things. Whilst your training cannot fully prepare you for dealing with high pressure, real-life medical emergencies, the practical side of the course aims to prepare you as much as is possible.

Emergency first aid training will require learners to role-play real-life emergency scenarios and practice life-saving first aid skills such as performing CPR, putting a person into the recovery position, and performing the Heimlich manoeuvre using training manikins.

Participants must be able to carry out the practical side of the training course, which may require learners to spend some time kneeling on the floor. You will not be able to pass the course if you cannot participate in the practical activities. If you have any doubts about whether you will be able to physically manage the session, then contact the training provider before booking to discuss the course’s requirements in more detail and find out if it is appropriate for you.

Choosing an emergency first aid training course

There are many different first aid courses available to choose from. The qualification and certification you receive at the end will depend on which course you are enrolled on.

The professional course that we run here at Care Business Associate Training is the QA Level 3 Award in Emergency First Aid at Work (RQF).

Here at CBAT, we are CPD and Qualsafe qualified and our Emergency First Aid at Work course is a regulated qualification. This means that when you enrol employees onto it, you can rest assured that the qualification will be of very high quality and will more than satisfy your legal responsibility and the HSE’s criteria for providing designated employees with professional first aid training.

If you do choose to enrol employees on an unregulated first aid course you will be required to undertake due diligence to ensure that the course covers everything required for your business to meet its legal responsibilities.

Here at CBAT, class sizes for our Emergency First Aid at Work training course are small and intimate with no more than 12 people in the class at a time, allowing plenty of time for one-on-one learning and questions and answers.

We can also tailor your training to your organisation’s specific requirements if you require us to do so.

We are proud to be a trusted training provider for some of the largest healthcare organisations nationwide. Our regulated first aid courses are run by trainers with extensive practical knowledge of first aid and healthcare, so you can rest assured that we will provide you with high quality, engaging lessons.

If you would like a group of staff to train in Emergency First Aid at Work for use in your workplace, please call our sales team today on 01772 816922.