First Aid

Having staff fully trained and prepared for a First Aid emergency is essential in the Arboriculture & Forestry industries but for some can be considered as a ‘nice to have’.

As an employer you have a duty to provide adequate equipment, facilities & personnel, which in the Arboriculture & Forestry industry will vary greatly depending on many factors, location job complexity, and will change frequently all of which need to be considered when you are assessing for your First Aid requirements. Follow this link where the HSE details & guidance can be found http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l74.htm

How many First Aid trained personnel are needed?

For a high hazard industry HSE guidelines are 1 appointed person for under 5 employees and 1 Emergency First Aid at Work or First Aid at work trained person for 5 or more employees but is this enough for your company? Technically having 1 trained first aider covers the requirement for up to 50 employees what if those employees are spilt into teams of 4 all working in different areas – are you providing adequate personnel?

As an employee faced with a life or death situation are you prepared to save somebody’s life, and do you feel safe that your work colleague could save your life?

Who’s the ‘first aider’ if the first aider is in need of first aid?!

These are just some of the questions you should be asking when assessing for your First Aid requirements.

To help answer these questions and more Sorbus are running the Emergency First Aid +F, an Arb & Forestry First Aid course that is focused on relevant first aid for the industry on the 16th of October 2018.

The course provides and includes

• Nationally recognised 3-year First Aid Certification

• Hands on practical scenarios to include neck & spine injury, crush injury, suspension trauma, major haemorrhage, anaphylaxis and more

• Ability to deal with an unconscious casualty