Best Practices Guide: Fundamentals of a Workplace First-aid Program

First aid is emergency care provided for injury or sudden illness before emergency medical treatment is available. The first-aid provider in the workplace is someone who is trained in the delivery of initial medical emergency procedures, using a limited amount of equipment to perform a primary assessment and intervention while awaiting arrival of emergency medical service (EMS) personnel. A workplace first-aid program is part of a comprehensive safety and health management system that includes the following four essential elements: 1) Management Leadership and Employee Involvement, 2) Worksite Analysis, 3) Hazard Prevention and Control, 4) Safety and Health Training. The purpose of this guide is to present a summary of the basic elements for a first-aid program at the workplace. Those elements include: a) Identifying and assessing the workplace risks that have potential to cause worker injury or illness; b) Designing and implementing a workplace first-aid program that: Aims to minimize the outcome of accidents or exposures, Complies with OSHA requirements relating to first aid, Includes sufficient quantities of appropriate and readily accessible first-aid supplies and first-aid equipment, such as bandages and automated external defibrillators, Assigns and trains first-aid providers who: receive first-aid training suitable to the specific workplace, receive periodic refresher courses on first-aid skills and knowledge; c) Instructing all workers about the first-aid program, including what workers should do if a coworker is injured or ill. Putting the policies and program in writing is recommended to implement this and other program elements d) Providing for scheduled evaluation and changing of the first-aid program to keep the program current and applicable to emerging risks in the workplace, including regular assessment of the adequacy of the first-aid training course. This guide also includes an outline of the essential elements of safe and effective first-aid training for the workplace as guidance to institutions teaching first-aid courses and to the consumers of these courses.