Does an online first aid course count?

 

If you have ever tried to look for a first aid training course online you will have found a confusing number of courses available; from courses that last a few hours to 1 day and even multi-day courses with training directed at treating children, adults, and even specific groups of patients. 

If that was not confusing enough there is also regulated and non-regulated first aid training, face-to-face first aid training in a classroom and online first aid training via e-learning. 

 

During the coronavirus pandemic many people turned to online first aid training as lockdown restrictions made it more difficult to source face to face training. 

This article will look specifically at online first aid courses and whether they are considered adequate by the Health and Safety Executive (who govern this kind of thing). 

 

So, lets start with what constitutes an online e-learning first aid training course. An online e-learning first aid course is one that is done over the internet via an e-learning provider. As it is a remote course there is no practical element, no practical assessment and they tend to be shorter in duration than a face-to-face classroom course. 

 

 

The piece of legislation that relates to provision of first aid training is the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981. To satisfy the due diligence requirements an employer must ensure that: 

 

“…sufficient time is allowed to classroom based learning and assessment and “...elements of the syllabus requiring practical demonstration of First Aid administration should be assessed by direct observation to ensure the competence of candidates” 

 

So, you can see that by the very nature of the training being online it cannot meet the requirements that the Health and Safety Executive has laid out for workplace first aid provision. 

 

If you are talking to a training provider about first aid training provision and offer you an online e-learning option, they may try and tell you that course meets the legal requirements this is not true; they are either trying to hoodwink you into buying the course or they themselves do not know the difference. Taking the course and using as your first aid provision may land you in hot water if an accident is investigated or you are inspected by a regulator. 

To recap, the reasons why online e-learning first aid training is not suitable are: 

• Not long enough to meet legal requirements 

• No opportunity to practice 

• There is no assessor present to ensure the person has successful 

That is not to say however, that there is not a place for online first aid training. An online first aid course can be great as refresher course in between course renewal dates and will help to keep learners up to date. 

 

For more information: 

 

Classroom first aid training visit www.meducatetraining.co.uk 

 

More information about the legislation mentioned in this course can be found by visiting https://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/legislation.htm.