The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 (last amended in 2018) strongly recommend a half-day Annual Refresher Course for those who are First Aiders in the workplace who hold EFAW and FAW qualifications. This virtual course is an ideal way of updating skills and knowledge – it can be done in bite sized topic chunks or in one sitting as preferred by the candidate. This course also contains considerations and adaptations to first aid during a pandemic situations and flu season as it was set up at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – these will be useful in flu bug season too!

‘Strongly recommend’ is a strange phrase, which means it is not ‘mandatory’ however, should an incident occur and First Aiders have not undergone refresher training, the HSE and the courts could ask why this has not occurred if there any investigations by them into the incident. It was bought in as it is recognised that first aid skills and knowledge fade when not used.

Where releasing staff to attend a half-day update is tricky logistically, this virtual course is a cost-effective way of employers investing in their First Aid personnel – there is no time or expense in terms of travel for training, and the modular nature of the course allows this to be undertaken around work duties . There are also some additional bonus topics provided in the virtual course.

Note: this course does not renew a full qualification, but is designed to meet the needs of the 1st and 2nd-year anniversaries of a current qualification.