How often do I need to do a First Aid Course?

In Australia, the first aid qualification required by most workplaces would be the HLTAID003 Provide First Aid, (previously called Senior First Aid, or Apply First Aid).  People are always asking me, “how often do I need to do another first aid course?”.

The answer is every 3 years for the full course, and in most cases, every year for the CPR component.

The Provide First Aid qualification is valid for 3 years.  If you renew, by attending another first aid course, before your certificate expires – then you are generally eligible for a ‘Refresher’ course.  If your Provide First Aid certificate has expired – even by one day – you will generally be required to complete the full Provide First Aid course.  Some training organisations will require you to attend training over 2 full days, at extra cost.  At Port Lincoln Training we require just the 1 day of face to face training,  for the same cost of a Refresher.

As for the CPR – well, it’s not so cut and dried.   The recommendation from the Australian Resuscitation Council is that CPR should be updated every 12 months, this is based on many studies that show we just don’t retain our CPR training for very long.  That is the recommendation, but it does depend on your industry if they will require you to update your CPR every 12 months.  The CPR qualification is called HLTAID001 Provide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

So, check the date of your previous first aid certificate and book a new course just before your old one expires to be eligible for the Refresher.   Check with your workplace if they require you to update your CPR each 12 months – but honestly, for a morning update session on how to provide CPR, which may possibly help to save your family members life – consider re-booking every 12 months to update your CPR skills.