First aid at work: do you comply with the law?

According to Health and Safety Executive Health and Safety at Work Summary statistics for Great Britain (2017) over 600,000 injuries occurred in the workplace between 2016 and 2017.  Also, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that the current cost of injuries and ill health to businesses is £14.9 billion.  All organisations need to comply with the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.  These regulations apply to all workplaces, regardless of size or number of employees.  All employers should assess their first aid needs based on the hazards and risks that exist. 

Companies should consider the following points: -

• The size of the organisation – how many first aiders will be needed?  Including cover for shifts, holidays etc
• The nature of the work – are your staff at risk of specific accidents or injuries?
• If there are multiple sites, do they have different hazards? How quickly can a first aider move between them?

If you have staff who:

• have medical conditions, do you need specific training for these?
• travel, work alone or remotely, do they have a mobile phone and first aid kit in case of emergency?
• work in shifts or out-of-hours, what arrangements need to be made for them?

If you are a school with non-employees (students) what extra factors need to be considered?

For more advice on completing a needs assessment, you can visit the HSE website.

Once the risk assessment has been undertaken, if it is identified that the organisation needs first aiders, they are required to be trained and qualified to the standards outlined by the HSE.  However, research recently carried out found that there’s only a 50:50 chance that someone would feel confident about helping in an emergency situation.

Make 2018 the year you learn how to save a life.

First aid skills can help save lives and help to prevent minor incidents from becoming more serious.

Confident, qualified first aiders can save both time and money for businesses by reducing the cost of injuries and working days that could be lost due to an accident or injury.

Here at First Response (First Aid) Ltd, we offer first aid training courses to clients throughout the UK.   We have a real passion for what we do and we feel that this shows in every single one of the first aid courses that we offer. 

Our trainers get excellent feedback! 

Every week we have courses across the West Midlands, Warwickshire and Leicestershire, or we can come to you.  Check out the dates on our website or give us a call on 01543 372888

If you would like additional information on the first aid courses that we offer, be sure to get in touch with our experienced team today. We're always here to take your call and assist you in any way we possibly can.