24th March 2020
Covid-19 First Aid Extension
The Health and Safety Executive and Department for Education have recently released a statement, which extends the validity of various qualifications by 3 months, including Emergency First Aid at Work and First Aid at Work.
This allows any qualifications to be postponed until a later date; this also applies to qualifications held by First Aid trainers and IQAs, Please click here for the full statement from the HSE.
The statement takes effect where requalification training is prevented for reasons associated directly with coronavirus or by complying with related government advice, it is reasonable and practical to extend the validity of current certificates by up to 3 months. Anyone taking advantage of this extension should be able to describe clearly their reasons for delaying requalification training and demonstrate steps they have taken to undertake the training if required. This guidance comes into effect for certificates expiring on or after 16th March 2020. HSE will review this matter over the coming months and will issue further statements as necessary, and Lighthouse will keep you up to date on this.
The Department for Education supports the HSE statement regarding the extension of first aid certificates during coronavirus emergency and has also stated that it can be applied to paediatric first aid certificates held by staff in early years provision also.
