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QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work (RQF)
Three days, and the qualification behind a fully qualified workplace first aider. Built for higher risk workplaces, larger teams, and anywhere a first aid needs assessment asks for more than the one day award.
About this course
The QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work is the full workplace first aid qualification. Three days, nationally recognised, and the one a first aid needs assessment normally lands on where the hazards are higher, the team is larger, or the site is a long way from an ambulance.
It goes a long way past the one day award. Candidates learn to assess an incident, manage an unresponsive casualty, carry out CPR, use the recovery position, and deal with choking, bleeding, burns, fractures, shock, head and spinal injuries, chest injuries, eye injuries, anaphylaxis, poisoning and major illness including heart attack, stroke, asthma and diabetic emergencies.
It is practical rather than theoretical. Most of the three days is spent on the floor with manikins, slings and scenarios drawn from real workplaces, because a first aider who has only read about it will hesitate and hesitation is the whole problem.
We run it at our centres in Stoke-on-Trent, Derby, Manchester and Liverpool, and onsite at employers' own premises nationwide. Through our partner network we can also open up local options where a centre date does not suit.
- The role and responsibilities of a first aider, consent, and minimising the risk of infection
- Assessing an incident: the scene survey, the primary survey, and summoning appropriate assistance
- When to administer CPR, and demonstrating adult CPR on a manikin
- The recovery position, monitoring a casualty in it, and managing a seizure
- Choking, mild and severe, and controlling external bleeding
- Recognising and treating shock, and dealing with minor injuries, burns and scalds
- Conducting a secondary survey, and injuries to bones, muscles and joints including support and elevated slings
- Head and spinal injuries, chest injuries including flail chest and penetrating injury, and eye injuries
- Sudden poisoning, and anaphylaxis including the use of an adrenaline auto injector
- Major illness: heart attack, stroke, epileptic seizure, asthma attack and diabetic emergency
How completing this course helps you
- QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work, valid for three years
- A designated workplace first aider who can handle a serious incident, not just a simple one
- Support for your duties under the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981
- Practical, observed competence rather than classroom theory
- A qualification recognised across construction, manufacturing, logistics, education and beyond
Who should attend?
People appointed to act as designated workplace first aiders, plus supervisors, team leaders, health and safety representatives and managers responsible for first aid provision. It is normally chosen by organisations with higher risk activities, larger teams, or specific needs identified through a first aid needs assessment.
Entry requirements. None. You need to be physically able to carry out practical first aid on the floor, including CPR on a manikin, and to have enough English to follow the training and the written assessment.
Ready to take the next step?
Choose a delivery option, compare dates and book with confidence, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Choosing the right one
Which first aid course does your workplace actually need?
The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 do not name a course. They tell an employer to carry out a first aid needs assessment and then provide what that assessment says is adequate, which is why two businesses next door to each other can land on different answers.
The rough shape is this. Lower hazard workplaces usually land on Emergency First Aid at Work, one day. Higher hazard workplaces, larger headcounts and anywhere with specific risks usually land on First Aid at Work, three days. Early years settings have their own rules through the Department for Education. Outdoor and remote work adds distance from the ambulance, which changes the answer again.
If you are not sure where you sit, ring us with what your people actually do and we will talk it through. Sending somebody on the wrong course costs more than the phone call.
Do the needs assessment first
Hazards, headcount, shift patterns, lone workers and how far you are from help. The HSE guidance is the starting point and it is short.
Match the course to the answer
EFAW for lower hazard, FAW for higher hazard, plus any specific qualification your setting or your insurer requires.
Plan the three years
Certificates last three years and the HSE recommends an annual refresher in between. Diary it when you book, not when it expires.
Course content
What you will cover
The first aider and the incident
- The role and responsibilities of a first aider
- How to minimise the risk of infection to self and others
- The need for consent to provide first aid
- Conducting a scene survey
- Conducting a primary survey of a casualty
- Summoning appropriate assistance when necessary
Life threatening emergencies
- When to administer CPR, and demonstrating adult CPR on a manikin
- When to place a casualty into the recovery position, and demonstrating it
- First aid for a casualty who is experiencing a seizure
- Choking, mild and severe
- Identifying the severity of external bleeding and controlling it
- Recognising and treating shock
Injuries
- Minor injuries: small cuts, grazes, bruises and small splinters
- Minor burns and scalds in line with accepted current practice
- Conducting a head to toe secondary survey
- Fractures, dislocations, sprains and strains
- Applying a support sling and an elevated sling
- Suspected head and spinal injuries
- Suspected chest injuries, including flail chest and penetrating chest injury
- Burns and scalds, and the factors affecting their severity
- Eye injuries: dust, chemicals and embedded objects
Poisoning, anaphylaxis and major illness
- The routes poisons take into the body, and first aid for sudden poisoning
- Sources of information for treating poisoning
- Common triggers for anaphylaxis and recognising it
- Using an adrenaline auto injector training device
- Heart attack and stroke
- Epileptic seizure, asthma attack and diabetic emergency
Method of assessment
How First Aid at Work is assessed
Two steps. Practical observation through the three days, then a written paper at the end.
Practical observations
You are observed carrying out the scene and primary survey, summoning assistance, adult CPR on a manikin, the recovery position and monitoring, choking, identifying and controlling life threatening external bleeding, a head to toe survey, support and elevated slings, suspected spinal injury management, and use of a training adrenaline auto injector.
Multiple choice examination
A forty question multiple choice paper. The pass mark is twenty eight correct answers and the maximum time allowed is sixty minutes.
Certification
Issued by QNUK and valid for three years. Requalification is the two day First Aid at Work Requalification, and it must be done before the certificate expires.
Ways to learn
How you can take this course
Every route covers the same accredited syllabus and the same support. Pick the one that fits how your people work.
Dates and locations
Pick a date
Live availability from our booking system. Prices exclude VAT.
No dates match that filter. Ask us for one.
Can't see a date that works? Request one - we add dates most weeks.
Also available
In-company training
We run this one to order, at your place or ours.
Onsite / in-company
Run First Aid at Work at your site
We deliver anywhere in the UK, on your dates and around your shift patterns. For six or more people it is usually cheaper per head than sending everyone to a centre, and nobody loses a day travelling.
Tell us roughly how many people and when, and we will come back with options and a price, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
What onsite includes
- The same tutor, materials and certification as our centres
- Your venue or one we arrange near you
- Dates and start times built around your operation
- One invoice and one point of contact for the whole group
- Content examples drawn from your own workplace
First Aid at Work FAQs
It is the three day workplace first aid qualification for designated first aiders. It covers practical emergency response including CPR, choking, bleeding control, burns, fractures, spinal injuries, anaphylaxis and major illness, and it is assessed by observation and a written paper.
That comes out of your first aid needs assessment rather than a rule. Lower hazard workplaces usually land on the one day EFAW. Higher hazard workplaces, larger headcounts, shift working, lone workers and remote sites usually land on the three day FAW. If you are between the two, ring us and describe the work.
Three years. HSE guidance also recommends an annual refresher in between, which is a half day, and a good many employers now book that as a standing date for the whole first aid team.
Practical observation across the three days, plus a forty question multiple choice paper at the end. The pass mark is twenty eight out of forty and you have sixty minutes.
Yes. It is the qualification most construction, manufacturing, warehousing and engineering employers ask for, and where a major bleed is a credible risk there is also a version with catastrophic bleeding control built into it.
None formally. You should be physically able to carry out practical first aid on the floor, including CPR on a manikin, and have enough English to follow the training and the written paper.
Yes, anywhere in the UK, across three consecutive days or split around your shift patterns. For six or more people it is normally cheaper per head than sending everybody to a centre.
Three years. The HSE also recommends an annual refresher in between, which is a half day and keeps skills and confidence current rather than letting them fade for three years at a time.
Yes, anywhere in the UK. For six or more people it is normally cheaper per head than sending everybody to a centre, and nobody loses a day travelling. We work around your shift patterns.
At our centres in Stoke-on-Trent, Derby, Manchester and Liverpool, at your own premises nationwide, and through our partner network where a local option suits you better. Pick a date from the board on this page or call 0330 124 2165.
QNUK, an Ofqual regulated awarding organisation. This one is QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work (RQF), accreditation number 603/2453/3. We are an approved QNUK centre.
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