HSE publishes guidance ahead of first aid changes
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has provided businesses with new guidance which will help them understand and implement the changes to UK first aid laws that may come into effect in October 2013.
The organisation plans to amend the First Aid Regulations (1981) in a number of ways, and the new guidance will prove very useful in helping business owners come to terms with the proposed changes.
The principal change relates to first aid training and will call for the removal of the requirement for HSE to approve first aid training providers. This will hopefully give businesses more flexibility when choosing a provider to train their workforce. At the moment, business owner’s choices can be limited, and some approved providers may not meet the needs of the business.
Explaining what the amendments aim to achieve, HSE policy advisor Peter Brown said:
“Removing the HSE approval process will give businesses greater flexibility to choose their own training providers and first aid training that is right for their work place,” he remarked.
“HSE has used the feedback from the recent consultation exercise to shape the guidance, but would welcome any further feedback on the guidance before the regulations come into place.”