- The right equipment that is appropriate
- Certain facilities
- Employees able to provide immediate attention if they fall ill or are injured at work
All of these requirements apply to everyone who runs a business whether they have one employee or 500,000. Therefore you must ensure that you are aware of what is expected, what the laws are and provide health and safety training to those appointed to treat the ill or injured, as well as yourself. One way of checking that your equipment, facilities and personnel are all adequate is to perform a risk assessment.
The risk assessment is required for all areas of health and safety in the workplace. The assessment is able to highlight what the risks are and establish what needs improving. The assessment will establish what trained personnel are requires as well as what needs to be included in the first aid supplies and whether a set room is required for treatment.
Training Appointed Persons for First Aid in Your Organisation
Those that are chosen to perform first aid for injured and ill workers will have to have first aid training. The Emergency First Aid at Work course is recognised by the Health and Safety Executive. It lasts for just one day and is surprisingly cheap therefore there is no excuse to skimp on this necessary training. On the course your employee will be given a number of skills that will help to provide basic life support and treatment for other injuries. After the training has been completed the candidate will receive a certificate to prove they have received the training and are capable of filling the role as the Appointed Person within your organisation.
You may need to provide this first aid course to more than one of your employees. This is to ensure that an Appointed Person is available within the workplace at all times. If so you may be able to request in house training.