At Dovewell Training we’ve built a range of Qualsafe accredited training courses that are ideal for businesses of all types. Our offices are based in Liverpool, Skelmersdale and Birmingham but we can offer training sessions on-site for your business at almost any location in the UK.

First aid training is vital and there is often a legal requirement for businesses to have someone appropriately trained who works for them and is regularly on the premises. If something bad does happen, then you can be sure you have a trained individual who can help while an ambulance arrives.

The good news is that certified and accredited first aid training courses can be completed in 1-3 days. Our Level 3 courses are designed for all sectors including nursery and early years employees who want to meet their statutory requirements.

Here we look at why first aid training is important, the types of courses available and some industries and sectors where at least one member of staff needs to have an accredited Level 3 qualification.

The Importance of First Aid Training

Most offices seem like safe places to work but you can never be sure. Accidents do occur and people do become ill. Knowing what to do at times like these is extremely important and administering simple first aid to an individual can make a big difference to both their immediate health and well-being and their future recovery.

Saving Lives

Yes, this might sound obvious but it’s worth putting at the top of the list. First aid training is not just for work but is literally a benefit for life. It teaches you a few important life-saving techniques such as how to perform CPR if someone has a heart attack or how to administer assistance if someone is choking or has been injured.

Quick reactions in any medical emergency are vital as it can take time for ambulance staff to arrive. Learning just a few simple techniques and having the confidence to carry them out means your interaction is likely to save that person’s life.

Reducing Accidents in the Workplace

Having more awareness of the health and safety issues that you can potentially face in your workplace should also help reduce accidents from occurring.

This might not be an obvious benefit of undertaking first aid training but many people tend to look at their workplaces in a slightly different way after attending a course which can have a big impact.

Cutting Down Recovery Time

As we’ve said, the quicker you can respond to a medical emergency, the more likely someone is to recover.

In fact, prompt action on behalf of a trained first aider can reduce recovery time altogether. With something like a heart attack or accident at work, it could determine whether someone makes a full recovery or suffers from a disability.

Making Your Company a Safer Place to Work

Many larger companies have several people in different departments who are trained in first aid and they make it a priority as part of their health and safety policy. Just because you are a small or medium-sized business, it doesn’t mean you can’t do the same.

First aid courses are relatively inexpensive when you compare them to the cost of a colleague being injured.

Building a Positive Work Environment

While it’s not the only thing that helps create a positive work environment for your business, making sure that you have at least one trained first aider on-site shows staff that you care about their health and safety and have done something to protect them.

Boost Your Job Prospects

As an individual, you may have a whole range of different qualifications and experience. Adding first aid training to your CV can make a small but important difference, especially when you’re going for that new job.

Provide Life Saving First Aid Anywhere

It’s not just in the workplace where your first aid training can be useful. Wherever you are in the world, you have a qualification that could help you save another person’s life and that certainly has to be worth having.

Team Building For Your Business

Many businesses use our first aid courses as a team-building exercise for their staff, whether they’re a small company or larger. The course is a great way to learn valuable information and how to administer life-saving assistance as well as engage with other people and build relationships.

First Aid Courses

There are several different first-aid training courses that you can book on to and they vary from 1 to 3 days in duration. It’s important to book onto a Qualsafe accredited course if you want the certificate to be accepted by employers around the UK.

Qualsafe is an industry-standard provider of learning materials relating to first aid training and is widely respected across all sectors in the UK.

Here are three of the main first-aid courses that we run at Dovewell Training. These are all Level 3 and designed to fulfil the requirements many businesses and organisations have for health and safety on-site.

1. Emergency First Aid at Work Training (Qualsafe Accredited 1-Day Course)

One of the most popular accredited courses is our 1-day Emergency First Aid at Work Training which covers the most common emergencies you might come across in the workplace. It’s also a popular choice for people who play a role in the community and voluntary activities.

The types of training you will receive in this course include how to manage someone who is unresponsive, how to administer CPR, help choking victims, deal with people who are in shock and provide treatment for wounds and injuries, including burns.

The course involves both theory and practice and is designed to give you the confidence to handle emergencies in the workplace and to improve outcomes for individuals while you wait for medical aid to arrive.

2. First Aid at Work Training (Qualsafe Accredited 3-Day Course)

This is a longer, more intensive course that is designed to give participants a fuller understanding of first aid in the workplace. It doesn’t just deal with emergencies but can help individuals cope with other common health situations such as asthma attacks and allergic reactions. This is altogether more comprehensive and you will be taught to use life-saving equipment such as a defibrillator during the three days.

The course doesn’t just take you through what to do in a particular medical emergency but teaches you how to assess a situation, monitor a casualty and where to get the appropriate help. As with the 1-day emergency first aid course, you will learn through a mixture of practical and theory.

Each participant is assessed throughout the three days of the course using a mix of practical demonstrations, tests and roleplay. After completing the course you will be awarded a Qualsafe accredited certificate. This is an excellent qualification for those who have been designated as health and safety officers for a business or organisation.

3. Paediatric Frist Aid Training (1 and 2-Day Qualsafe Accredited Courses)

Certain workplaces require more specific training when it comes to first aid. If you work in a nursery with young children, for example, you will need a qualification such as Paediatric First Aid Training.

The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework requires all businesses like nurseries to have at least one person who has successfully passed a certified paediatric first aid training course. These courses run over 1 and 2 days and cover a range of skills such as assessing a child and what to do if someone is unresponsive, spotting problems like meningitis and dealing with potential head and spinal injuries.

Again, assessment is through practice and theory with a range of different tests to assess an individual’s competence. Successful completion means that you are awarded an accredited Qualsafe certificate. 

First Aid Training Near me

It can be challenging to find accredited first aid training near where you work or live. The great thing about Dovewell is that we offer coverage across the UK. We do have central offices in Skelmersdale, Liverpool and Birmingham where we carry out training sessions regularly throughout the year.

We understand that local businesses like to hold training sessions on-site and that’s a great option too, especially if you want to train several employees at the same time.

Our courses can be delivered on clients’ premises nationwide. We’re used to setting up our training sessions in offices and manufacturing businesses as well as schools and nurseries. We aim to be as flexible as possible when it comes to the businesses around the UK that we deal with.

The benefits of holding training sessions on-site means that employees are not taken away from the business or organisation and there is less cost in travelling. All you need is a suitable room with some space and we will bring all the equipment required to train your staff. That includes one, two and three-day courses depending on your requirements.

First Aid Training for Schools

One sector where we often deliver first aid training courses is education. Schools are duty-bound to have at least one or two staff who have a relevant first aid certificate, whether that’s someone in the classroom or for field trips outside the school.

With so many pupils in one place, having staff trained in first aid not only gives you more peace of mind as a school head but can also quite literally save someone’s life. The good news is that it’s relatively easy for our expert team to set up in a classroom and deliver quality courses at a time of your choosing. Heads often arrange first aid training during the holidays or half terms when there are no pupils in classes.

Unfortunately, injuries and accidents can happen in schools and it’s important to have relevant experience on hand. Schools do have nurses available but these very often work across several organisations and are not always immediately available. Giving staff training ensures that if an accident or injury does occur there is someone to assist until medical staff or the ambulance can get there. 

First Aid Training for Nursery Staff

All nurseries are required to have at least one member of staff who has passed a Paediatric First Aid training course at Level 3. Many newly qualified nursery professionals who have been through their Early Years Foundation Stage now have first aid training.

The EYFS has outlined the necessity for all newly qualified staff to have Level 2 and 3 first aid training. It was made mandatory by the government in 2015 following a campaign by parents Joanne and Dan Thompson who lost their daughter, Millie, in 2012. A new certificate has been created called Millie’s Mark which nurseries can display if they have achieved the gold standard provision.

Older staff may not have the qualification but more and more nurseries are asking new members of staff to take the certificate. While the current legislation is that nurseries have at least one member of staff who is trained in paediatric first aid, this may change in the future to include all people who work in a particular establishment.

There are several benefits for any nursery of having all staff trained to administer first aid. First, it puts parents’ minds at ease. They know that staff are fully qualified and that their child is in safe hands. Ensuring there is always someone on site who knows how to handle an emergency is also a life-saving measure that can make a huge difference.

First Aid Training for SIA Licence

While schools and nurseries are obvious places where staff need to be trained in administering first aid, there are plenty of other sectors where it is also becoming increasingly important. One of these involves the Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence which is needed if you work as a security guard, or CCTV operator, and handle cash and valuables in transit.

If you are applying for a security guard, close protection or door supervisor licence, you need to have a first aid qualification already nowadays. This change was introduced in 2021 and further changes are expected in 2022. It applies to newly qualified people applying for an SIA licence but will also be applied to those who are going to renew. That means that individuals will need to update or top up their training in some circumstances if they want to retain their licence.

Adding first aid training to some areas of the SIA licence makes perfect sense because most of these employees are working directly with the public. A medical emergency can arise out of the blue and having trained staff on-site can, of course, make a big difference while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. The minimum qualification you need is Level 3 Emergency First Aid at Work which is a one-day course that covers the basics such as how to administer CPR and deal with injuries as well as assess an individual.

First aid training is no longer sector-specific. While many businesses are not mandated to have someone who is trained in first aid on-site, many see it as a personal obligation and an important qualification to have. Every day around the UK, first aiders are there to help people who have fallen ill, had an accident or suffered a severe health event and their actions do save lives.

Why Choose Dovewell for Your First Aid Training

At Dovewell Training we’ve been providing high-quality training for a variety of industries for several years now. Our staff are all fully trained and have worked in areas like healthcare as paramedics or nurses in the past before becoming educators. They understand the vital role that first aid training plays in helping to save lives. We are constantly working with education bodies like Qualsafe to make sure we are presenting attendees with the latest updated information and training approaches relating to first aid.

We have offices in both Skelmersdale and Birmingham and often run training sessions throughout the year at these locations. But we also provide in-house training anywhere in the UK for businesses and organisations. Whether you run an office, have a manufacturing plant or are in charge of a local nursery or school, making sure you have qualified staff who can administer first aid is vital. In fact, most of our training sessions involve our staff going out to businesses around the UK and setting up a classroom for a 1, 2 or 3-day course – it’s simply more convenient for businesses and organisations.

If you would like to find out how our amazing first aid training courses can help your business or organisation, contact our expert and friendly team today.