HSE Revising First Aid Training Requirements
Starting Oct. 1, employers no longer need to utilize trainers approved by the Health and Safety Executive.
Acting on the review completed by Professor Ragnar Löfstedt, which recommended changing the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981, Britain's Health and Safety Executive is about to end the requirement that HSE approve all first aid training providers. Löfstedt had suggested the HSE approval process went beyond the minimum requirement laid out in EU legislation, and HSE agrees that removing the HSE approval process will give businesses more flexibility to choose a training provider and appropriate first aid training. Providers will be required to meet a certain standard set by HSE.
The change takes effect Oct. 1. Employers still will have to ensure they have an adequate number of trained first aiders based on a first aid needs assessment.
HSE solicited comments and completed two draft guidance documents that reflect the proposed regulatory changes and the arrangements needed to put an adequate first aid program in place.
Businesses are not required to take any action until the new regulations come into force, but HSE cautioned that the existing law continues to apply until that happens.