First Aid at Work Open Course

Description

Who this course is for

FAW is the right qualification where the injuries you could reasonably expect are serious ones. Manufacturing and engineering, construction, warehousing with vehicles and racking, workshops, laboratories, farms, anywhere people work at height or with machinery that can crush or amputate.

It is also the right course for the person who holds overall charge of first aid in a larger organisation, even in a lower-hazard setting, because the depth of the three days is what lets someone plan provision rather than just respond to it.

If your workplace is an office or a shop with ordinary risks, the one-day Emergency First Aid at Work course is very likely the proportionate answer. The decision belongs to your first aid needs assessment, and we compare the two directly in First Aid at Work: one day or three?

What the course covers

Three days is enough time to practise properly, make mistakes and be corrected, rather than watch a demonstration once. Most of it is group work and hands-on scenarios.

• The law on first aid at work, and the first aider’s role and limits
• Assessing an incident, communication and delegating at a scene
• An unresponsive casualty, the recovery position, CPR and using a defibrillator
• Choking
• Major and minor bleeding, and shock
• Breaks, dislocations, amputations and spinal injury
• Head injuries
• Burns
• Poisoning
• Asthma and hyperventilation
• Angina, heart attack and cardiac arrest
• Epilepsy and diabetes
• Recording incidents and reporting

How you are assessed

Two parts: a written paper, and an individual practical assessment where the trainer watches you manage a casualty on your own. The practical element is the one that matters most, and HSE’s guidance is clear that practical first aid skills should be assessed by direct observation. That is why this qualification cannot be completed wholly online.

Your certificate

Three years from the day you complete the course. HSE guidance sets out what the certificate must show: the training organisation, the qualification name, your name, the three-year validity, and that it was delivered for the purposes of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.

The awarding organisation is named on the certificate. Ask us before you book if you want to know which one, and read how to choose a first aid training provider for the other questions worth asking any provider, ourselves included.

Open course or group course?

	Open course	Group course
Charged	Per person	Per course
Where	Bolton	Your premises, anywhere in Greater Manchester
Scheduling	Three published consecutive days	Consecutive days, separate weeks, or split to suit your shifts
Best for	One or two people	A team, especially where three days off the floor at once is impossible

Being able to split the three days is often the difference between a group course being affordable and not, because it keeps more of your team working on any given day. The group course is priced per course rather than per person. We set out where the crossover sits in how much does first aid training cost.

We run group courses for up to 16 people. HSE guidance notes that class sizes above 12 raise concerns about assessing everyone properly without an additional trainer, so tell us your numbers and we will confirm how your course will be staffed before you commit.

Keeping the qualification current

Three years, then a two-day requalification rather than the full three days. Book it before the certificate expires. A lapsed certificate holder is no longer considered competent to act as a first aider, and although HSE guidance permits requalifying after the expiry date, it suggests the full three-day course may be the prudent choice once more than about a month has gone by.

In between, HSE strongly recommends annual refresher training. It is guidance rather than law, but the legal duty to make sure your first aiders remain competent is real, and a half-day refresher is the usual way employers satisfy it. How long a first aid certificate lasts covers the timings in full.

Frequently asked questions

How long is a First Aid at Work course?

Three days, eighteen contact hours excluding breaks. HSE guidance sets eighteen hours over at least three days as the minimum, in blocks of no less than two hours, completed within ten weeks if it is split.

How long does a First Aid at Work certificate last?

Three years from the date you complete it. Renewal is a two-day requalification course, not the full three days, provided you requalify before the certificate expires.

Can the three days be split up?

Yes, and on a group course at your premises that is usually the sensible approach. HSE guidance allows the course to be split into blocks of no less than two hours, as long as the whole thing is completed within ten weeks.

What is the difference between First Aid at Work and Emergency First Aid at Work?

Eighteen hours against six. FAW adds spinal injury, head injuries, poisoning, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, heart conditions, fractures and amputations, and includes an individual practical assessment. EFAW covers the immediate life-threatening emergencies only.

Is there an exam?

Yes, a written paper, plus an individual practical assessment where you manage a casualty on your own while the trainer observes.

Can I do First Aid at Work online?

Not wholly. The practical assessment has to be observed directly. Blended delivery, with theory completed beforehand, is acceptable but requires the employer to do extra due diligence on the provider.

What do I get with the course?

A full colour manual, an individual first aid kit and a practice kit, along with the assessment and certification.

Do I need First Aid at Work or is EFAW enough?

Your first aid needs assessment decides. Broadly, higher-hazard workplaces and anyone with overall charge of first aid need FAW. Lower-hazard workplaces are usually served by EFAW.

What happens if my certificate has already expired?

Once it has expired you are no longer considered competent to act as a workplace first aider, so stop acting as one. HSE guidance is that you can still requalify at any time after the expiry date, but that where more than about a month has passed it may be prudent to take the full three-day course instead. That call belongs to your employer. Tell us the expiry date and we will talk it through.

Not sure which course your needs assessment points at? Call 0845 838 4643 or use the enquiry form. If the shorter course would do, we will tell you.