Responsibilities of a first aider

Being a first aider involves many important responsibilities, varying from keeping the facility’s first aid kit supplied to providing medical assistance to an injured person. It’s a very important role, requiring initial and frequent refresher training. A first aider may need to provide anything from training assistance, showing people where plasters are and helping with bandages to giving full care to someone in need. It’s down to the first aider to provide immediate medical care when needed, which may very well be lifesaving depending on the severity of the case.

Training

As you can see, a lot of pressure and expectation is put on first aiders. So it’s important you know your stuff. This means, as a first aider you must attend training as required. You will also need to undergo an annual APR update. You must also complete a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) approved three day first aid course, where you’ll obtain a First Aid at Work 9
(FAW) certificate.

Depending on your working environment, it may also be a good idea to complete training for specific hazards. For example, if you work somewhere prone to burns or poisoning, then you might think about getting training to deal with those situations.

Responsibilities

As a first aider, you’ll have the responsibility of ensuring a suitably stocked first aid kit is available on site. Be sure to check this regularly, so that if anyone needs medical care, the appropriate equipment is available. According to HSE, a suitably stocked first aid kit includes:

● A leaflet that provides general guidance on first aid
● Twenty individually wrapped sterile plasters (ensure there are various sizes)
● Two sterile eye pads
● Four individually wrapped triangular bandages
● Six safety pins
● Two large and six medium sized individually wrapped wound dressings
● At least three pairs of disposable gloves

It is your duty to take charge when someone is injured. Not only must you attend to the injured person, but you must also call for an ambulance or other appropriate professional medical help to ensure the person receives the help they need. If they’re unconscious but still breathing, it’s your job to place them into the recovery position. From here, you can assess their injuries to find out the nature and cause of them. Make notes and fill out any necessary paperwork, so that you can provide a handover when further medical help arrives.

All accidents must be reported, and you will need to ensure appropriate records of first aid activity are kept. But apart from this, information on casualties should be kept confidential.

You will also need to make sure that all local information on obtaining first aid assistance is available, and all information is kept up to date. Lastly, you’ll need to report any deficiencies in the first aid service to the first aid coordinator, who will fix/replace the equipment.

Here at SAMS we offer a number of CIEH first aid courses. These range from an introductory level through to level 3 courses. If you’d like to see what we have available, visit our courses page.