This awareness-level qualification introduces learners to:

• The role and responsibilities of a first aider and appointed person
• The legal framework, including the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981
• The importance of the first-aid needs assessment
• Assessing an incident and ensuring personal safety
• The primary survey and the priorities of first aid
• The management of an unresponsive casualty and the recovery position
• Awareness of CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED)
• The control of external bleeding and the management of shock
• The treatment of minor injuries
• Summoning help and the recording and reporting of incidents

• The first person there is rarely the first aider. What a bystander does in the first minute shapes everything that follows.
• Rescuers become casualties. Confined spaces, electricity and gas incidents regularly kill people who went in to help.
• Defibrillators are made for untrained users. They give instructions aloud and will not shock a rhythm that should not be shocked.
• Emergency call handlers coach callers. A caller who stays on the line will be talked through what to do.
• Recognition is knowledge, not skill. Knowing what a stroke, cardiac arrest or anaphylaxis looks like is learnable without practical assessment.
• Most people do not know their own workplace arrangements. Who the first aiders are, where the kit is and where the defibrillator sits are frequently unknown until they are needed.

• Foundation-level (Level 1) awareness qualification suitable for all employees
• Minimum of 4 hours’ instructional contact time, designed for flexible short-course delivery
• Delivered entirely online through the Britsafe learning management system (LMS) no physical classroom attendance is required
• Course materials are provided digitally (soft copy) via the LMS
• Assessed via an online examination through the Britsafe Examination Management System (EMS), with a minimum pass mark of 70%
• Certification issued with an anti-counterfeit hologram security seal, available both as a physical copy and as a soft (digital) copy
• Clearly and repeatedly positioned as awareness training that does not create first aiders
• Focused on bystander recognition and immediate action, which are genuinely teachable online
• Explains defibrillator use and why untrained bystanders should not hesitate
• Covers the employer’s first aid duties and what adequate provision means
• Available fully online to learners in the UK and internationally

Knowledge developed:

• The workplace first aid framework and employers’ duties
• Danger assessment and avoidance of becoming a casualty
• Recognition of the principal medical emergencies
• Defibrillators, emergency calls and bystander actions
• First aid provision, infection control and record keeping

Skills developed:

• Assessing whether it is safe to approach before doing so
• Recognising when a situation is a medical emergency
• Raising the alarm and summoning trained help without delay
• Making a clear, useful emergency call and staying on the line
• Sending someone to fetch a defibrillator without delaying other actions
• Knowing where their workplace kit, defibrillator and first aiders are

This Award is suitable for all employees, and is particularly relevant for:

• Employees in any sector requiring first aid awareness
• Office, retail and customer-facing staff
• Warehouse, production and site personnel
• Lone and remote workers
• Drivers and mobile workers
• Supervisors and team leaders
• Reception, security and front-of-house staff
• Volunteers and community organisation members
• Contractors and agency personnel
• Those considering training as a workplace first aider
• Small business owners assessing their provision
• Health and safety advisers and coordinators

No prior qualification is required this Award is intended as an accessible entry point into the subject.

There are no formal academic prerequisites for this Level 1 Award. It is open to learners aged 16 and above with a reasonable standard of spoken and written English, sufficient to engage with course materials and complete the assessment. No prior knowledge is assumed.

Course content is structured around progressive learning blocks covering awareness versus competence; employers’ first aid duties; the first aid needs assessment; appointed persons and first aiders; danger assessment and rescuer safety; recognising an unresponsive casualty; cardiac arrest and the urgency of defibrillation; how defibrillators work and who can use them; bystander actions while awaiting help; recognising stroke; recognising heart attack; severe bleeding; choking; seizures; anaphylaxis; diabetic emergencies; burns and head injuries at awareness level; making an effective emergency call; directing emergency services on site; first aid provision and equipment; infection control; record keeping and reporting; and knowing local arrangements.

Assessment is conducted through an online examination via the Britsafe Examination Management System (EMS). Learners must achieve a minimum score of 70% to pass. On successful completion, learners receive a certificate, available both as a physical copy and as a soft (digital) copy. Results and certificates are typically issued promptly following successful completion.

While this Level 1 Award is an awareness qualification and confers no first aid competence, it provides relevant grounding for:

• Employees in any role requiring first aid awareness
• Supervisors and team leaders with emergency responsibilities
• Reception, security and front-of-house personnel
• Lone and remote workers
• Volunteers and community organisation members
• Those preparing to undertake accredited first aid training
• A stepping stone toward Emergency First Aid at Work and First Aid at Work qualifications

Offices and professional services

• Retail, hospitality and leisure
• Manufacturing and production
• Warehousing, logistics and transport
• Construction and civil engineering
• Education and public services
• Health and social care
• Charities and the voluntary sector
• Events and venues
• Agriculture and land-based industries
• Any workplace requiring first aid provision

• Extends first aid awareness beyond the small number of qualified first aiders
• Reduces the risk of colleagues becoming additional casualties during a rescue
• Improves the speed and quality of emergency calls made from site
• Increases willingness to use a defibrillator, where minutes determine survival
• Improves knowledge of local arrangements, kit locations and first aider identities
• Supports the first aid needs assessment by raising general understanding
• Encourages employees to undertake accredited first aid training
• Provides documented evidence of awareness training for audit purposes

• A recognised, portable credential relevant to every workplace
• Knowledge that applies at home and in public as much as at work
• A flexible short-course format (minimum 4 hours) that fits around any working pattern
• Confidence to act rather than freeze in the first minute
• Understanding of why fetching a defibrillator is something anyone can do
• A foundation before accredited first aid training

Learners can apply this qualification directly to:

• Checking for danger before approaching any casualty
• Recognising situations where approaching would create a second casualty
• Raising the alarm and calling for the workplace first aider immediately
• Calling the emergency services and providing clear location information
• Staying on the line and following instructions from the call handler
• Sending someone to collect the nearest defibrillator
• Keeping bystanders back and clearing space around a casualty
• Meeting and directing the ambulance crew to the casualty
• Knowing where first aid kits, eye wash and defibrillators are located
• Knowing who the trained first aiders are on their shift
• Recording incidents in the accident book
• Reporting first aid kit contents that are missing, used or out of date

This Award is an awareness foundation only. Learners should progress into:

• Emergency First Aid at Work, delivered face to face with practical assessment
• First Aid at Work, for those requiring the fuller qualification
• Paediatric first aid where relevant to the role
• Defibrillator and resuscitation training
• Mental health first aid, which is a separate discipline
• Level 2 and Level 3 occupational health and safety qualifications

• Accredited workplace first aider qualifications
• Emergency response and site medical support roles
• Health and safety coordination pathways
• Occupational health support routes
• Professional membership routes with relevant safety and first aid bodies

Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited delivers this qualification fully online, making it accessible to learners across the UK and internationally without the need to attend a physical training centre. Recognition of medical emergencies, the principle of not becoming a second casualty and the operation of defibrillators are consistent internationally, and resuscitation guidance derives from international consensus. Emergency service numbers, statutory first aid requirements and qualification structures are national, so learners working outside Great Britain should confirm the arrangements applicable locally.

1. Does this qualification make me a workplace first aider?
No. This is the most important thing to understand before purchasing. Workplace first aiders hold certificates from accredited providers delivered face to face, with practical assessment of skills such as resuscitation and managing an unresponsive casualty. Those skills cannot be taught or assessed online. This Award provides awareness for people who are not first aiders, and it does not satisfy an employer’s duty to provide first aid personnel.

2. What is this qualification actually for, then?
For the people who are present before the first aider arrives, which in most emergencies is everybody else. Recognising that something is seriously wrong, avoiding becoming a casualty, raising the alarm, making a good emergency call and fetching a defibrillator are all things a bystander can do, all of them matter enormously, and all of them can be taught without practical assessment.

3. What must an employer provide?
Adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and personnel, determined by a first aid needs assessment that considers the hazards, the number of employees, the layout of the premises, shift patterns, lone workers and the distance from emergency services. In a small, low-hazard workplace this may amount to a suitably stocked kit and an appointed person; higher-risk workplaces need qualified first aiders and may need additional provision.

4. What is the difference between an appointed person and a first aider?
An appointed person takes charge in an emergency, calls the emergency services and looks after the first aid equipment. They are not required to hold a first aid qualification and should not attempt first aid beyond their competence. A first aider holds a current certificate from an accredited provider and can provide treatment within the scope of that training.

5. Why is danger assessed first?
Because rescuers become casualties with grim regularity. Confined spaces containing an oxygen-deficient atmosphere, electrical incidents where the supply is still live, and situations involving toxic gas have all killed several people in succession the original casualty, then the colleague who went to help, then the next one. Approaching is not automatically the right thing to do, and where it is not safe the correct action is to raise the alarm, keep others back and wait for people with the equipment to enter safely.

6. Can anyone use a defibrillator?
Yes, and this is the point most people get wrong. Public access defibrillators are specifically designed for untrained users. They speak instructions aloud, some show diagrams, and the device analyses the heart rhythm itself it will not deliver a shock unless the rhythm requires one. There is no way to shock someone who should not be shocked. Survival from cardiac arrest declines sharply with every minute without defibrillation, so hesitating because you have not been trained costs the only thing that matters, which is time.

7. What should I do if someone collapses and is not breathing normally?
Call the emergency services immediately, send someone for the nearest defibrillator and for the workplace first aider, and follow the instructions the call handler gives you. Ambulance call handlers are trained to coach callers through resuscitation over the phone, and they will do so. You will not be left to work it out alone.

8. What should I say when I call for an ambulance?
Where you are, as precisely as possible, and what has happened. Location is the single most useful thing you can provide: a full address with postcode, a building or unit number, the nearest entrance, and on large or rural sites a location reference or grid detail. Then stay on the line, answer the questions and follow the instructions. Send somebody to the entrance to meet the ambulance and lead the crew directly to the casualty.

9. How do you recognise a stroke?
By checking the face, the arms and the speech, and acting on time. A drooping face on one side, an inability to raise both arms and keep them raised, and slurred or confused speech are the recognised warning signs. Any one of them warrants an immediate emergency call, because treatment options depend heavily on how quickly the person reaches hospital.

10. Is a heart attack the same as a cardiac arrest?
No, and the difference matters. In a heart attack the blood supply to part of the heart is blocked; the person is usually conscious, often in pain, and needs an ambulance urgently. In a cardiac arrest the heart has stopped pumping effectively; the person is unresponsive and not breathing normally, and needs resuscitation and defibrillation immediately. A heart attack can lead to a cardiac arrest, which is why neither should be dismissed.

11. What should not be in a first aid kit?
Medication. Workplace first aid kits do not contain tablets, painkillers, creams or ointments, because first aid at work does not extend to administering medicines. Contents are broadly dressings, bandages, plasters, gloves and equipment appropriate to the assessed needs of the workplace, kept in date and replenished after use.

12. Does this cover mental health first aid?
No. Mental health first aid is a separate discipline with its own training, and it addresses a different set of needs. Anyone whose role includes supporting colleagues in mental health crisis should undertake that training specifically.

13. Should I move an injured person?
Generally not, unless leaving them where they are would expose them to further danger. Moving someone with a possible spinal or head injury can cause additional harm, and there is rarely any advantage in relocating a casualty before trained help arrives. Making the area safe around them is usually better than moving them out of it.

14. Who is this qualification aimed at?
All employees, office and site staff, lone and remote workers, drivers, supervisors, reception and security personnel, volunteers, contractors, small business owners and anyone considering accredited first aid training.

15. Are there any entry requirements?
No formal prerequisites are required. Learners should have a reasonable standard of English and be aged 16 or above.

16. How long does the course take to complete?
The qualification has a minimum instructional contact time of 4 hours, making it a compact, focused course suitable for induction-level delivery.

17. How is the qualification assessed?
Through an online examination via the Britsafe Examination Management System, with a minimum pass mark of 70%.

18. What materials are provided with the course?
Learners receive digital (soft copy) course materials via the Britsafe learning management system. The course is delivered entirely online; there is no physical classroom attendance or physical course material.

19. What happens after I pass the exam?
Successful learners receive a certificate from Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited, featuring an anti-counterfeit hologram seal for authenticity. The certificate is available both as a physical copy and as a soft (digital) copy. The certificate confirms completion of awareness training and is not a first aid certificate.

20. Is this qualification recognised internationally?
Yes. Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited delivers this qualification fully online to learners across the UK and internationally, though emergency numbers, statutory requirements and first aid qualification structures are national and should be checked locally.

21. What should I do next?
If your role involves first aid responsibility, book an accredited face-to-face first aid qualification. This Award is a starting point and a complement to that training, not an alternative to it.