As an employer, you are responsible for first aid at your workplace. This includes having the right number of first aid attendants on-site with a valid WorkSafeBC-issued certificate. Your first aid evaluation and Schedule 3-A: Minimum Levels of First Aid will help you determine whether your business needs first aid attendants on-site. Your first aid assessment will also show what level of certification each volunteer should have.
Each first aid attendant must:
- Be at least 16 years old.
- They must have completed a WorkSafeBC-approved first aid training course or taken and passed a WorkSafeBC-administered examination.
- They must have a valid first-aid certificate from WorkSafeBC or an agency that is approved by WorkSafeBC like Primary Care First Aid (see samples of certificates accepted in B.C.).
First aid attendants’ responsibilities
First aid attendants must make sure that the first-aid personnel he or she employs are aware of their obligations and carry them out to the best of their abilities. The following is a list of responsibilities:
- Promptly providing injured workers with a level of care that is within the scope of each attendant’s training.
- Objectively recording and reporting any injury signs and/or exposure symptoms.
- If an injury is beyond the training of an attendant or if it is serious, then that work must be referred to medical treatment.
- It necessitates the ability to operate equipment and tools, safely and effectively perform all related tasks, and respond appropriately in case of an emergency.
The training agency must receive an Occupational First Aid Statement of Fitness from anyone attempting to obtain a level 2 or 3 certification. WorkSafeBC may demand instead that a first-aid attendant submit a medical certificate of fitness at any time. For more information on these documents, see Forms and Records.
Availability of first aid attendant
First aid workers must be available at all times at the workplace to give treatment as quickly as possible if a worker is injured. This implies you must not put the attendant on projects that would impede his or her ability to provide immediate first aid care. To ensure timely and efficient first-aid services are always accessible in your company, consider the following:
- Attendants must be available in the region they work at all times, even if workers aren’t actually working, such as during lunch or coffee breaks.
- Attendants, first aid equipment, and facilities should be ready to receive injured workers no more than five minutes after being called.
- Within 10 minutes of all staff should be the central first aid station at each workplace.
Backup for absent first aid attendants
Occasionally, the typical workplace first-aid provider will be absent from work. Vacations and appointments may be planned as absences. They might also be unplanned, such as when an attendant becomes ill or some other unforeseen event occurs.
Employers are responsible for having shift-coverage procedures in place to provide first aid attendants coverage during absences. In the case of planned absences, a substitute first aid attendant should be ready to take over all related duties. For unplanned absences, a substitute attendant must be in place by the halfway point of a shift.
