Choosing The Right First Aid Training For Your Team

Choosing the right First Aid training for your team can be quite daunting, especially as it is no longer a necessity for first aid training to be approved by the Health & Safety Executive.

This gives businesses, organisations and clubs more freedom to choose a first aid course that is more reflective of your needs. But it does now mean that finding the right first aid training course provider could prove tricky, especially when there are so many different organisations offering a range of courses all geared towards different requirements and environments.

If your looking for help as an individual try here: How to choose the right First Aid qualification

What Training?

Considering the right training for your team is really important, especially when you consider the type of activity you undertake.

It can be confusing as (for example) almost all Emergency First Aid at Work courses (1 day) do not include drowning, hypothermia, hyperthermia!

It is also important to consider where you paddle, coach, instruct and how quickly help (Health Professionals) can get to your team. The majority of First Aid courses are delivered in a classroom setting, assuming an ambulance is only 15mins away.

For these reasons we recommend you consider the type of course and provider carefully and we would recommend you consider courses designed to support remote workplaces or outdoor activity based programmes.

How Many First Aiders Do I Need??

The Health and Safety Executive provides detailed support to help you decide what provision you need to make and support to help you undertake a first-aid needs assessment. This assessment should consider the circumstances of your workplace, organisation or Club, your team and the hazards and risks that may be present. The findings will help you decide what first-aid arrangements you need to put in place.

In assessing your first-aid needs, you should consider:

• the nature of the work you do
• workplace hazards and risks (including specific hazards requiring special arrangements)
• the nature and size of your workforce
• the work patterns of your staff
• holiday and other absences of those who will be first-aiders and appointed persons
• your organisation’s history of accidents

You may also need to consider

• the needs of travelling, remote and lone workers
• the distribution of your workforce
• the remoteness of any of your sites from emergency medical services
• whether your employees work on shared or multi-occupancy sites
• first-aid provision for non-employees (eg members of the public).

Anything Else I Should Look Out For?

1. One of the most important considerations is ensuring your training course in accredited by a professional, trusted and well-respected organisation.
2. Choose a provider that is dedicated to equality and diversity.
   • • Ensure all your team are trained to the same, professional level.
     • Check for the government’s two ticks logo to ensure they are ‘Positive about Disabled People’
     • Enquire about how they would overcome language barriers.
     • Ensuring your team have access to the support and assistance they require is essential to success.
     • A good first aid training provider will make course materials available for all learners online or ahead of the training.
3. Find a Provider  that  will adapt their style and methods, to include the specific risks that are present.
   1. • Consider providers with an outdoor education or adventure tourism background.
4. Make sure it counts! check the British Canoeing Awarding Body First Aid Policy to ensure the training will meet the assessment requirements of your team.
5. One of the best ways to assess the quality of the training, the flexibility of the organisation and the professionalism of the staff, is to see if the company have any testimonials or case studies displayed on their website. This is a quick and easy check that could tell you all you need to know about the organisation!