First aid at work in Australia is set by the WHS Regulations and the first aid Code of Practice, and the skills come from the ANZCOR guidelines. This quiz brings both together in thirteen questions, useful before a course or as a refresher in between.
What a workplace must provide
Under the model WHS Regulations (regulation 42) a PCBU must provide first aid equipment, access to facilities for giving first aid, and an adequate number of workers trained in first aid, or access to other trained people. The Code of Practice First aid in the workplace explains how. It suggests one trained first aider for every 50 workers in a low-risk workplace such as an office or a shop, one for every 25 in a high-risk workplace such as a factory or a workshop, and one for every 10 in remote high-risk work. Every worker must be able to reach a first aid kit, and a first aid room is recommended from 200 workers in a low-risk workplace or 100 in a high-risk one.
Training and refreshers
First aiders should hold nationally recognised training from an RTO, at the level the workplace needs. The Code recommends renewing first aid qualifications every three years and doing CPR refresher training every year. Workplaces with particular hazards, such as remote sites, chemicals or water, may need extra content.
The emergency skills follow the ANZCOR guidelines: check for danger and response, send for help on 000, open the airway, check breathing, start CPR at 30 compressions to 2 breaths and attach a defibrillator as soon as one is available. Burns are cooled under running water for 20 minutes; a suspected snakebite gets a pressure immobilisation bandage and the patient is kept still.
Using the quiz
Play it at the start of a refresher to see what people remember, or at a toolbox talk to remind everyone who the first aiders are and where the kits and the AED are kept. Questions on DRSABCD and on snakebite usually lead to the best discussions. The quiz does not replace a first aid course with hands-on practice.