Fully certified first aid training is being offered by Specflue, a leading supplier of flues, chimneys and renewable heating products based in Sudbury. Local facilities offering this type of training are very limited so the move is expected to be welcomed by local businesses as well as individuals. It is a legal requirement for companies to offer some first-aid provision because employers need to ensure that an employee who is injured or taken ill at work receives immediate attention. The Specflue first aid training is open to anyone over 16 years old who wishes to participate.
Workplace welfare authority the Health and Safety Executive will always prosecute in cases where there is a significant risk, a disregard for established standards or persistent poor compliance with the law.
Specflue can provide four levels of first aid training. The first – ‘First-Aid at Work’ – takes 18 hours and is delivered over three consecutive days. The course comprises practical and theoretical classroom work, as well as a practical assessment on CPR and first aid.
It results in a qualification, valid for three years, by delivering the comprehensive set of practical skills needed by first aiders in most workplaces, enabling attendees to deal with first aid emergencies to the standards required to help comply with Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations.
The course covers a range of content including head injuries; managing an emergency; resuscitation; burns and scalds; severe allergic reaction; chest pains; shock and eye injuries.
The second course – ‘First-Aid at Work Refresher’ – is run over two days and enables attendees to requalify as a first aider. The aim is to update and refresh attendees’ knowledge of the First Aid at Work syllabus, while allowing time for revision and practice sessions in preparation for a written assessment.
The third – ‘Emergency First-Aid at Work’ – is a six-hour course delivered in one day. The course comprises of practical work and theoretical classroom work, including practical assessment on CPR and first aid. It is designed to help attendees meet regulatory first aid requirements in smaller, low-risk workplaces. The course provides basic lifesaving first aid and workplace health and safety regulations, covering things like the role of the first aider; Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations; adult CPR; communication and casualty care; seizures; bleeding; choking, and using a defibrillator.
Finally, Specflue will offer half-day first aid annual refresher training suitable for people who have completed either the three-day First Aid at Work or the one-day Emergency First-Aid at Work courses.
Specflue’s David Ebbs, who will run the courses, has 29 years’ experience as a first aid trainer. He said: “It is strongly recommended that holders of a first-aid certificate should attend at least an annual update. The majority of first aiders hope that they are not going to be called upon to use the qualification, but, without practising the skills they will lose the knowledge and abilities they’ve gained. There will also be of changes in procedures to contend with.
“Bearing in mind that it is a legal requirement to have first aiders at work, if nobody was available or somebody offered first aid incorrectly, then it opens up a massive potential for a law suit against the business.”
Specflue can also offer paediatric first aid courses for nurseries and schools. Furthermore, automated external defibrillator courses are available at the Specflue training facility, either as standalone training or as a ‘bolt-on’ to an existing first-aid qualification.
For more details, contact training@specflue.com or call 0333 9997974.
