Refreshers and Requalifications
The Health and Safety Executive guidance is that employers should ensure that First Aiders should ‘remain competent to perform their role’, hence the recommendation that First Aiders should attend annual refresher courses to maintain their skills and competence, with a requalification every three years.
Refreshers and requalifications programmes are recommended on the evidence of the significant degree of ‘first aid skill fade’.
Annual Refresher
The refresher course takes a half day (minimum 3 hours), which is similar in content to the Basic Life Support course.
The syllabus is shown below, although it can be adapted to suit First Aiders operating in specific environments with a particular risk profile.
Note that the annual refresher programme applies to both the First Aid at Work and the Emergency First Aid at Work qualifications.
Requalification
The requalification course is necessary on the third year, that is to say, after the second annual refresher.
The duration of the Requalification courses is as follows:
For the Emergency First Aid at Work: one full day in the classroom (6 hours). This is identical to the initial course.
For the First Aid at Work: two days course in the classroom (12 hours).
The course contents for both are shown below.
Requalifier Course Topics
Emergency First Aid at Work Requalification
- Introduction and the principles and aims of First Aid
- Scene assessment
- Primary Survey and Unconscious Casualty
- CPR (including AED)
- Choking – recognition and treatment
- Shock – definition, recognition and treatment
- Wounds and control of bleeding (including eye injuries)
- Seizures and febrile convulsions
- Recording and Reporting incidents and accidents
- First Aid Kits
First Aid at Work Requalification
- Introduction and the principles and aims of First Aid
- Scene assessment
- Primary Survey and Unconscious Casualty
- CPR (including AED)
- Choking – recognition and treatment
- Shock – definition, recognition and treatment
- Wounds and control of bleeding (including eye injuries)
- Dressings, bandaging and slings
- Seizures and febrile convulsions
- Respiratory system, asthma, hypoxia & hyperventilation
- Anaphylaxis
- Drowning
- Chest injuries
- Circulatory system
- Skeletal system
- Heart problems
- Burns, scalds & electrical injuries
- Fractures & soft tissue injuries
- Head, neck and back fractures
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Heat stroke, heat exhaustion, hypothermia
- Poisoning by ingestion or inhalation
- Recording and Reporting incidents and accidents
- Regulations
- First Aid Kits