P R E S S         R E L E A S E

Ref: PRBCAS182 Date: 28 August 2012

First aid changes couldmean poorer training standards, warns Bibby Consulting & Support

The quality of first aid training is bound to decline and the medical attention given to employees could put them at risk, if the government's proposal to remove the need for training providers to be accredited by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is given the go ahead.

That's the view of Michael Slade, Managing Director of health and safety advisors, Bibby Consulting & Support, which is an HSE-certified provider of first aid training.

Under government plans based on recommendations by the Löfstedt Review, from 1 October the HSE will no longer be the awarding body for first aid training - a function it has performed since 1981. Essentially, Slade said, the practice is now going to be thrown open to the four corners to see what happens.

"Somebody has to be responsible for monitoring the quality of first aid trainers," he said,

"We, and other professional training providers like us, had to jump through hoops to in order to achieve accreditation; accreditation which we wholeheartedly support to ensure the quality of providers is consistent and to a high standard".

He went on: "But who is going to fill the gap left by the HSE? What is going to happen to standards when hundreds of organisations enter the market place and start to drive down prices?

"This change will mean that anyone who wants to offer the service will be able to and this is bound to affect the quality of the training delivered. We can only hope that employers continue to be discerning and want to use a professional training provider for their first aid courses."

Slade said that at the moment an employer can go on to a website like Bibby Consulting & Support's and see that the training provider is HSE-endorsed but if the changes go through where do they look, who do they approach before they make their choice on first aid training?

"These are worrying times," Slade said. "The idea of the Löfstedt Review was to make things much easier for businesses, not to expose them to uncertainty and a decline in standards."

- ENDS -

Editor's Notes

About Bibby Consulting & Support

Bibby Consulting & Support has earned the reputation of being one of the UK's leading providers of compliance management services. We enable employers and senior managers to attain and maintain compliance within the demanding, complex and constantly evolving fields of Employment Law, Health and Safety and Environmental legislation.

www.bibbycas.com

Media contact:

Sue Tupling

CHANGEWORKS Communications

t: + 44 (0) 1785 247588

e: sue@changeworkscom.co.uk

Company contact:

Katy Vaughan

Head of Marketing

t: +44 (0) 8453 100 600

e: Katy.Vaughan@bibbycas.com