First Aid at Work




Qualification Code:

FAAW

Awarding Body:

Qualsafe Awards

Duration:

3 day

Delivery Method:

Classroom

Cost:

£220 (VAT included)

First Aid at Work

Course Overview

Three days now, three years covered

You can book one place. Most first aid providers near you only run courses for groups, which is why their headline price looks low — it is a rate per head for six or twelve people. If you need First Aid at Work for a new job, or you are the only person in your workplace who needs it, that is no use to you.

We run First Aid at Work from our own centre in Stockton-on-Tees on scheduled monthly dates. Book one seat, or book your whole team.

Where you will train

Not a hired function room. Our Stockton centre has dedicated simulation areas built for exactly this — you will work through realistic scenarios in a space designed for them, with the equipment to hand.

Your tutors are registered clinicians who still practise. When somebody asks what a real cardiac arrest looks like, the answer comes from last month, not from a manual.

Class sizes are capped at twelve learners to one trainer, with one manikin per four learners and one AED trainer per four. You spend the three days doing it rather than watching someone else do it.

What the three days look like

  • Day 1 — immediate emergency care. Scene safety and the primary survey, the unresponsive casualty, CPR and AED use, choking, the recovery position, seizures. By the end of day one you can keep someone alive until the ambulance arrives.
  • Day 2 — injury and trauma. Life-threatening bleeding including wound packing and tourniquets, wounds and shock, burns and scalds, fractures and dislocations, spinal and head injury, eye and chest injuries, and the secondary survey.
  • Day 3 — medical emergencies and scenarios. Heart attack, stroke, asthma, anaphylaxis, diabetic emergencies and poisoning, then extended scenario practice in the simulation areas and final assessment.

Days run 9:00 to 16:30 with breaks, and there is free parking directly outside.

Is this the right course for you?

That comes from your employer’s first aid needs assessment, not from a rule. Higher-risk workplaces and larger workforces generally need First Aid at Work; lower-risk offices and small teams often need the one-day Emergency First Aid at Work instead.

If you already hold a FAW certificate that is current or recently expired, you do not need the full three days — the two-day requalification renews the same qualification for £185.

Not sure? Ring us before you book. It takes two minutes to work out and it saves you buying the wrong thing.

If you would rather we came to you

We deliver First Aid at Work at your premises anywhere we can reasonably travel to, provided there are at least ten of you. Nobody travels, you lose less time, and it usually works out cheaper per head.

The full syllabus for a designated workplace first aider, across 18 contact hours.

The role, and reading the scene

  • What a first aider is responsible for — assessing an incident, prioritising treatment, summoning help, recording what happened, and dealing with the stress afterwards
  • Your own safety first, and knowing when to stop
  • Infection control — PPE, hand hygiene, barrier devices, safe disposal of contaminated waste
  • Consent, including implied consent for a casualty who cannot give it
  • The primary survey — the DR C ABCDE sequence, including life-threatening bleeding before airway

The unresponsive casualty

  • Adult CPR — 30 compressions at 5–6cm depth and 100–120 per minute, two rescue breaths, assessed at floor level
  • Safe use of an AED, including pad placement and the situations that need care
  • The recovery position, and continually monitoring breathing once the casualty is in it
  • Seizures — keeping the casualty safe, timing it, and care afterwards
  • Choking — telling mild from severe, back blows and abdominal thrusts, and what changes when they lose consciousness

Bleeding, shock and wounds

  • Life-threatening bleeding — recognising it, wound packing, and tourniquet use including improvised
  • Controlling external bleeding and dressing a wound
  • Shock — recognising it, including on dark skin tones, and treating it
  • Minor injuries — cuts, grazes, bruises, splinters, nosebleeds, minor burns and scalds

The secondary survey and injuries

  • Casualty history and a systematic head-to-toe survey
  • Fractures, dislocations, sprains and strains, and applying support and elevated slings
  • Head and spinal injuries — the jaw thrust, keeping the head and neck in line, and moving a casualty whose airway is at risk
  • Chest injuries, including penetrating chest wounds
  • Burns and scalds — dry and wet heat, chemical and electrical
  • Eye injuries — dust, chemicals and embedded objects

Sudden illness

  • Anaphylaxis — recognition, and giving adrenaline with an auto-injector training device
  • Heart attack and stroke, including the FAST test
  • Asthma attack, including assisting with an inhaler and spacer
  • Hypoglycaemia, and giving 15–20g of glucose
  • Poisoning — ingested, inhaled, absorbed and injected, and how corrosive substances change the response
  • Record keeping and reporting, including what RIDDOR expects

Taught to Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025. These replaced the 2021 guidelines in October 2025 and changed the adult sequence — you now call 999 for any unresponsive casualty before checking for breathing. HSE’s due-diligence guidance expects adult basic life support to follow current Resuscitation Council UK guidance, so if your first aiders were trained before 2026, what they were taught has moved on.

The Qualsafe Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work (RQF), qualification number 603/2384/X, valid for three years.

How you are assessed

Assessment is continuous across the three days, plus two short written papers. Nobody is put on the spot in front of the room — your trainer will have seen you perform everything before you are signed off.

  • Practical assessment of CPR and safe use of an AED; a choking casualty; an unconscious casualty; wounds, bleeding and shock; a secondary survey; management of fractures; and management of anaphylaxis
  • Two multiple-choice papers — one of 15 questions, one of 25 — taken in the classroom

If you are referred on any element you get the chance to be reassessed. The qualification must be completed within ten weeks of starting, including any reassessment.

What it means for your employer

HSE stopped approving first aid training providers in October 2013. Since then the duty sits with the employer: they must make reasonable enquiry into the provider they choose, using HSE’s due-diligence guidance (GEIS3).

A nationally regulated qualification is the simplest way to discharge that duty, because the regulator has already done the checking. Your certificate shows the provider, the qualification title, the reference to the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, the start date and the three-year validity — which is precisely the list an inspector works through.

We will supply our Qualsafe centre approval, trainer and assessor records and quality assurance arrangements on request. Ask any provider for those before you book; the ones who cannot produce them are the reason the duty moved to you.

Keeping skills current afterwards

HSE recommends an annual refresher in the years between requalifications, because three years is a long time between courses. It is a recommendation, not a legal requirement. Ours is the First Aid Annual Refresher online — about two and a half hours at a desk.

  • You are 14 or over on the first day. There is no upper age limit.
  • You can take part physically. CPR is assessed on the floor, on a manikin, for a minimum of two minutes. If kneeling or getting down to the floor is difficult, tell us before you book — it is rarely a barrier, and we would far rather sort it in advance than on the morning.
  • Your English is good enough to follow instruction and complete two short written papers. There is no formal literacy requirement, but Level 1 English is a sensible benchmark. Tell us if anyone would like support and we will arrange it.

No prior qualification is needed. Most people arrive with none.

If you already hold First Aid at Work

If your certificate is current, or has recently expired, you do not need the full three days. The two-day requalification awards the same qualification for another three years, at £185. Bring your existing certificate, or a photograph of it.

If your certificate lapsed more than a month ago you can still take the two-day route, but we are required to tell you beforehand that the pace is faster, that HSE considers a lapsed holder no longer competent to act as a first aider, and that HSE suggests the three-day course may be the more prudent option. We will ring you and talk it through before your course rather than leave you to find out on the day.

An Emergency First Aid at Work certificate does not qualify you for the shortened route. EFAW and FAW are different qualifications. If EFAW is what you hold, this three-day course is the one you need.

£220 including VAT per place — or £187 each when you book four or more. There are several ways to pay, and a few ways to pay less.

Multiple booking discount

Employers booking four or more learners receive 15% off the total, including any optional services added at checkout.

Returning learners

Trained with us before? Take 10% off your next refresher with us.

Course fee money-back 100% guarantee

Attend the course, complete the learning and follow your tutor’s guidance. If you still do not pass, we refund your course fee. On eligible courses.

Secure your place with a 20% deposit

You do not need to pay in full to book. Pay 20% at checkout and secure your place on the date you want. The balance is due before your course starts.

Pay in full with Klarna

Choose Klarna at checkout and spread the cost on Klarna’s terms. Your place is paid in full and confirmed straight away. Subject to Klarna’s eligibility checks.

Employer invoicing

Employers booking several people can be invoiced rather than paying at checkout, and we can invoice monthly rather than per booking if you put people through across the year. Get in touch and we will set it up.

Ask your employer first

If your workplace needs a first aider, this is their legal duty, not your expense. The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 put the obligation on the employer. It is worth asking before you pay for it yourself.

On-site delivery

For groups of ten or more we come to your premises, which usually works out cheaper per person than sending everyone to us. Ask for a quote.

Can I book just one place?

Yes, and this is the main thing that separates us from most local providers. Our courses run on scheduled monthly dates, so a single learner can book a single seat. Most of the first aid market sells whole courses to employers, which is no use if you are the only person who needs it.

How long is the certificate valid?

Three years from the date you complete. Put a reminder in your diary at two years and nine months — requalifying before it expires is cheaper, shorter and avoids any gap where your workplace is uncovered.

My certificate has expired. Do I have to do the full three days again?

Not necessarily. The two-day requalification is open to anyone producing a current or recently expired FAW certificate. If yours lapsed more than a month ago we will contact you first to talk through whether the three-day course would be the safer option, because the requalification covers the same ground at a significantly faster pace.

What is the difference between FAW and EFAW?

Emergency First Aid at Work is one day and six hours, covering the immediate life-saving essentials. First Aid at Work is three days and 18 hours, adding injuries, fractures, spinal and head trauma, the secondary survey and a much wider range of medical emergencies. Which you need comes from your employer’s first aid needs assessment — higher-risk workplaces and larger workforces generally need FAW.

Is annual refresher training compulsory?

No. HSE strongly recommends an annual refresher to keep skills current between three-yearly requalifications, but it answers that question directly in its own guidance and the answer is no. We run a short online refresher for exactly that purpose. Anyone telling you it is mandatory is mistaken.

Is MediPro HSE approved?

Nobody is. HSE stopped approving first aid training providers in October 2013. Since then your employer is responsible for checking the provider is competent, and the simplest evidence is a nationally regulated qualification — which is what you get here, through Qualsafe Awards.

How do I check a provider is competent?

HSE’s guidance (GEIS3) sets out what to ask for: that the qualification comes from an Ofqual-regulated awarding organisation, that trainers and assessors hold appropriate qualifications, that there is a working quality assurance system, and that the syllabus and certification meet the standard. We will send all of it on request. It is a reasonable thing to ask any provider, and a revealing one.

Who teaches the course?

Registered medical professionals who still work in practice. That is not the norm in workplace first aid training, and it shows most in the scenario work, where the questions get specific and the answers come from experience rather than a manual.

How many people are on a course?

No more than twelve learners to one trainer, which is the cap the qualification sets. We also work to one manikin per four learners and one AED trainer per four.

Do I need to be fit to take part?

You need to be able to kneel and perform CPR on a manikin on the floor for at least two minutes. If that is a problem, tell us before you book — we can usually accommodate it, and we would rather sort it in advance than on the day.

What happens if I fail?

You get the chance to be reassessed on whatever you were referred on, as long as the whole qualification is completed within ten weeks of starting. And if you attend, complete the learning and follow your tutor’s guidance and still do not pass, we refund your course fee.

Can you deliver this at our workplace?

Yes, anywhere we can reasonably travel to, provided there are at least ten of you. We bring the manikins, AED trainers, auto-injector training devices and everything else. You need a room with space to work on the floor. It usually costs less per head than sending everyone to us.

Are you teaching the current resuscitation guidelines?

Yes — Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025, which replaced the 2021 guidelines in October 2025 and changed the adult sequence. It is worth asking any provider this, because HSE’s due-diligence guidance expects adult basic life support to follow current RCUK guidance, and not every provider has updated.

Where is the centre and is there parking?

Faraday House, Sopwith Close, Stockton-on-Tees TS18 3TT, with free parking directly outside. We are straight off the A19 and A66.

What should I bring and wear?

Comfortable clothes you can kneel in. Everything else is provided.

Over 10,000 people have begun their clinical career with us.

We support NHS ambulance services, dental practices, community pharmacies, care providers and offshore operators. Here is what some of them say.

Both Rob and Tony the CERAD tutors were absolutely amazing, helpful and patient with us. Couldn’t have asked for better trainers or a better bunch of people to take this journey with!

Tia Sayer

Apprentice Emergency Technician

I completed my level 3 CERAD in March of this year, this was the third course I have done with Medipro in the last 14 months. In all of the courses I have done with Medipro I have found nothing but genuine, friendly, top class people. 

Phil Brazier

Level 3 CERAD

The teacher was very knowledgeable and made the lessons fun so it was easy to absorb. I am new to the Medical Diving field so it was very exciting learning more and going deeper into medical conditions and illnesses specific to diving. Being a diver, it will be a great asset for me to recognise and be able to administer aid should it be needed.

Kevin

Diver Medic Technician

Medipro is a very responsive apprenticeship training provider. They help us build and retain a very skilled, competent and patient care focused team of Emergency Care Assistants.

James Tavener

Training Manager

I would definitely recommend you guys to others. I feel like there’s a lot of support when needed. It’s been really enjoyable.

Imogen Fitzgerald

Apprentice Emergency Medical Technician

I think the course so far has been really good. I’ve liked the practical sessions. It’s clear what we need to learn and there’s a lot of support as well.

Amy Palfreyman

Apprentice Emergency Medical Technician

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