First Aid Needs Assessment - Examples
These examples should be read in conjunction with the “Guide to First Aid Needs Assessments”.
Example 1:
An engineering company with 150 employees carried out a first aid needs assessment. They have 2 shifts with 75 employees on each shift. Because they are a larger employer with more than 50 staff on site they need full FAW (18 hour) training for their first aiders (irrelevant of what risks are present).
Taking account of the number of employees on each shift, the company need a minimum of 2 first aiders on duty at all times (one for every 50 people or part thereof). To ensure that this level of cover is maintained during foreseeable absences, which in this case includes annual leave, changing shifts to attend meetings and regular staff training, the company decided to train an extra 3 first aiders on each shift (total 5 first aiders per shift).
Example 2:
An accountancy company have 25 employees in an office. Manual work is limited to employees lifting small boxes. The hours of work are 9 to 5. Having considered the possible illness and injuries that could occur, the company decided to provide EFAW (6 hour) training for their first aiders. To ensure that cover was provided at all times the company trained 2 emergency first aiders. The holiday rota system was adjusted so that only one first aider could book annual leave at a time.
Example 3:
A retail store identified different areas of risk in different areas of the workplace. The company identified that the office area only required EFAW first aiders, but reviewing the accident records they identified that slips and trips had occurred in the store and a customer suffered a severe asthma attack last year. The company felt that they assumed a duty of care when customers were on their premises so they decided to provide FAW (18 hour) training for their first aiders. This ensured that the first aiders were trained to deal with the possible injuries and illness that could occur in the store and also provided adequate cover for the office.
To cover shifts and foreseeable absences, the company decided to train 3 first aiders on each shift.
Example 4:
An electrical contracting company have a team of 20 electricians who work mainly on building sites, but sometimes they work for domestic clients. The electricians work in pairs. When the electricians work on building sites, the main building contractor always assumes responsibility for first aid provision (this is documented in writing). There is no first aider provided when the electricians work for domestic clients.
The company decided that due to the risk of electrical shock, electrical burns, slips, trips and manual handling injuries they would provide full FAW training for all staff. This ensured that they could send any electrician to any job without pre-arranging that first aid cover would be provided by the customer. The company provided a first aid kit in each company van and all the staff had access to a mobile phone which ensured that they would be able to call emergency services wherever they were working.
Example 5:
A call centre employs 450 staff in a 10 storey office building. Health & Safety Executive advice recommends 1 FAW first aider per 100 employees (or part thereof), which required at least 4 first aiders on duty at all times. The company decided to train 1 first aider on each floor (10 in total) which ensured that cover was available for foreseeable absences and the first aiders would be distributed evenly throughout the building should an incident occur.
The same call centre expanded and employed a further 250 employees to work on an evening shift in the same building. An extra 5 first aiders were trained to cover this shift, they are spread over several floors but are in close proximity to where people work.
Example 6:
A small office based company have an excellent health and safety record and found that the risk of injury to staff is minimal. When considering the likelihood of illness that could occur however, the company identified that a member of staff suffered from heart problems. The company decided to provide FAW (18 hour) training for the first aiders to ensure that they were able to deal with the sudden illness that could occur.