Whether you are preparing for an emergency first aid at work course or refreshing what you learned, a short quiz shows quickly what has stuck. This one mixes the employer's duties under the 1981 Regulations with the basics every first-aider must know.
What the law asks of employers
The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require employers to provide adequate and appropriate first-aid equipment, facilities and people. What is adequate depends on a first-aid needs assessment. As a minimum, every workplace needs a suitably stocked first-aid kit, an appointed person to take charge of the arrangements, and information for employees about who and where the help is.
HSE gives suggested numbers, not fixed rules. In a low-hazard workplace such as an office, it suggests at least one first-aider trained in emergency first aid at work (EFAW) for 25 to 50 employees, and one trained in first aid at work (FAW) for every 100 above that. In higher-hazard work such as construction, warehousing or food processing, it suggests one FAW first-aider for every 50 employees over 50. Shifts, several buildings and holidays all mean more people.
EFAW, FAW and refreshers
EFAW is a short course on emergency first aid: an unresponsive casualty, CPR, choking, bleeding, shock and minor injuries. FAW includes all of that and adds a range of specific injuries and illnesses, such as fractures, burns, eye injuries, poisoning and medical conditions. Certificates last three years, and HSE strongly recommends annual refresher training in between, because CPR skills fade quickly.
Since 2013 HSE no longer approves first-aid training providers. The employer has to check that the chosen provider is competent: qualified trainers, the right course content and quality assurance. The quiz is not a substitute for that training; it is a way to keep the knowledge fresh between courses.
Running the quiz
Use it at the start of a refresher session to find the gaps, or at the end of a team briefing to remind everyone who the first-aiders are and where the kit is. Questions on CPR and the recovery position are good moments to pause and demonstrate on a manikin.