In 2003/2004 the HSE conducted a review of the FAW Regulations, aimed at evaluating whether the current regulations were still effective in meeting the needs of modern businesses. HSE commissioned research and consulted with a wide range of stakeholders to provide them with sufficient findings to analyse and propose changes.

HSE state that the main drivers for change was to help employer duty holders to access competent first aid, provide a more proportionate response to their first aid needs, and to minimise the burden on business. In brief, this has resulted in a new course structure being set up which are to be introduced sometime in 2009, and revised guidance by the HSE to help employers select more accurately the first aid needs for their organisation, in particular for those working in low risk industries.

At the moment, the decision for employers with less than 50 employees in a low risk area, about the level of first aid need is quite woolly and generall depends on the attitude of the employer as to what level of first aid is to be provided. Even if a first aid assessment takes place, it is not always clear what the needs really are and many small firms have no first aid provision at all.

The current situation is that HSE only approve the First Aid at Work (FAW) qualification, leaving an array of other courses available for the appointed person. These vary in both content, quality and course length, with some people gaining a full first aid certificate after a couple of hours of training and not really feeling competent or confident in a crisis.

New Course Structure 

The proposed new course structure to be released in 2009 will now consist of 2 different types of courses :

•  The First Aid at Work will be reduced to 3 days of training with a certificate being valid for 3 years. An annual refresher course will be required in year one and year two consisting of a minimum of 3 hours refresher training by an approved trainer. In year 3 a 2 day requalification course is required
• An approved Emergency First Aid at Work one day course. This will have to be approved by either the HSE or another Awarding Body, and again will be certificated for 3 years. An annual refresher course will be required in year one and year two consisting of a minimum of 3 hours refresher training by an approved trainer. In Year 3 the full one day course will have to be re-taken.

Benefits 

One of the major benefits of these new proposed changes will be that the HSE have an influence on the standard and quality of general first aid training, and this can only be of benefit to all those first aiders out there in the workplace.

Impact for ourselves

Emergency First Response (EFR) who accredit our  first aid qualifications are well ahead of the game in this respect and so the proposed changes will have little impact on us. EFR are an international accrediting body with their British division situated in Bristol. Under the current EFR legislation, all EFR instructors go through a programme of rigorous training before qualifying. We pay annual membership to EFR and are required to be actively delivering courses all year round in order to re-apply as a member. We have access to a quarterly newsletter which updates us on training standards, changes to legislation and allows us to share good practice with other EFR Instructors. We also have a network of instructors and assessors on which to draw from from First Aid at Work qualifications.

As EFR Instructors we are required to keep a CPD file which is inspected by a Course Director to ensure that we ourselves are keeping up to date with training and that evaluation from our courses are meeting the exacting standards expected by EFR as an awarding body.

For further information on the proposed changes, visit the HSE website on http://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/review/nov07.htm