First Aid Cover During Reduced Staffing as a Result of Covid-19

First Aid Cover During Reduced Staffing as a Result of Covid-19

If first-aid cover for your business is reduced because of coronavirus (perhaps your first aiders are furloughed or working from home) or you can’t get the first-aid training you need, there are some things you can do so that you still comply with the law.

You should review your first aid needs assessment and decide if you can still provide the cover needed for the workers that are present and the activities that they are doing.

If there are fewer people coming into your workplace, it may still be safe to operate with reduced first-aid cover. You could also stop higher risk activities.

Share First Aid Cover with Another Business

You could share the first aiders of another business, but be sure that they have the knowledge, experience and availability to cover the first aid needs of your business.

Shared first aiders must:

• be aware of the type of injuries or illnesses that you identified in your first aid needs assessment and have the training and skills to address them
• know enough about your work environment and its first-aid facilities
• be able to get to the workplace in good time if needed.

Whoever provides the temporary cover must make sure they do not adversely affect their own first-aid cover.

First-aid Certificate Extensions

If your first aiders hold a first-aid certificate that expires on or after 16 March 2020 and have not been able to access requalification training because of coronavirus, they may qualify for a three-month extension. This applies to the following courses:

• Offshore Medic (OM)
• Offshore First Aid (OFA)
• First Aid at Work (FAW)
• Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW).

To qualify for the extension, you must be able to explain why they have not been able to requalify and demonstrate what steps you have taken to access the training, if asked to do so.

Courses are now available for requalification. In England, the final deadline for requalification for these qualifications is 30 September 2020. There is no deadline yet for Scotland and Wales, but employers or certificate holders are encouraged to arrange requalification training as soon as they can.

There are also online options for first aid training. We use a company called IHASCO. Contact them by clicking here.

Contact us should you require further information.