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QNUK Level 3 Award in Emergency First Aid at Work (Management of Catastrophic Bleeding) (RQF)
The standard one day workplace first aid qualification, with catastrophic bleeding control added. Tourniquets and haemostatic dressings, taught properly, for workplaces where a major bleed is a realistic risk.
About this course
This is Emergency First Aid at Work with the catastrophic bleeding unit built in. Everything the standard one day award covers, plus the skills and the kit for a bleed that will kill somebody in minutes rather than hours.
Catastrophic bleeding used to be treated as a military or pre hospital speciality. It is not any more. Public access bleed control kits are appearing in the same places as defibrillators, and any workplace with cutting tools, machinery, glass, blades or vehicles has a credible route to an arterial bleed.
The added unit covers recognising catastrophic bleeding, direct pressure done properly, wound packing, haemostatic dressings, and applying a tourniquet and writing the time on it. You practise on training limbs until the sequence is automatic, because it is not a skill you will have time to think through.
Everything else is the standard EFAW: the role of the first aider, assessing an incident, CPR, the recovery position, choking, shock, minor injuries and minor burns. Certificate valid for three years.
- The role and responsibilities of an emergency first aider, consent and infection control
- Assessing an incident, the primary survey, and summoning help
- When to administer CPR, and demonstrating adult CPR on a manikin
- The recovery position, and monitoring a casualty in it
- Choking, mild and severe
- Recognising catastrophic bleeding, and why it comes before the airway
- Direct pressure, wound packing and haemostatic dressings
- Applying a tourniquet correctly, and recording the time it went on
- Shock, minor injuries, and minor burns and scalds
How completing this course helps you
- QNUK Level 3 Award in Emergency First Aid at Work (Management of Catastrophic Bleeding), valid for three years
- A one day workplace first aid qualification that covers the bleed your risk assessment is actually worried about
- Staff who can use the bleed control kit on the wall rather than look at it
- The same standing as standard EFAW for your first aid needs assessment
Who should attend?
Workplaces where a major bleed is a credible risk: construction, manufacturing, engineering, warehousing, forestry and grounds work, kitchens and food processing, glazing, and any site with cutting tools, blades or machinery. Also chosen by venues and transport operators putting public access bleed control kits in.
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 qualification is structured around the management of health and safety and the practical application of risk assessment.
The emergency first aider
- The role and responsibilities of a first aider
- Minimising the risk of infection to self and others
- Consent
- Conducting a scene survey and a primary survey
- Summoning appropriate assistance
Emergency first aid
- When to administer CPR and demonstrating adult CPR
- When and how to use the recovery position
- Seizures
- Choking, mild and severe
- External bleeding and shock
- Minor injuries, and minor burns and scalds
Catastrophic bleeding
- Recognising catastrophic bleeding and why it is treated first
- Direct pressure, and why most people do not apply enough
- Wound packing
- Haemostatic dressings and how they work
- Applying a tourniquet and recording the time
- Handover to the ambulance service
Method of assessment
How this qualification is assessed
Assessment runs through the course rather than being bolted on at the end. Your tutor observes the practical work as you go, and the written paper closes it off.
Practical observation
Observed through the day: primary survey, adult CPR, the recovery position, choking, and the catastrophic bleeding sequence including wound packing and a tourniquet on a training limb.
Multiple choice examination
A written paper at the end of the day covering the emergency first aid content and the catastrophic bleeding unit.
Certification
Issued by QNUK and valid for three years, exactly as standard EFAW is.
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.
Classroom
Tutor-led at one of our centres, with everything provided.
Ask us to open a classroom date →or ask MB nowDates and locations
Arrange this course
There are no scheduled dates for this course at the moment. It is normally arranged around you.
Tell us roughly when you need it and how many people are going, and we will come back with dates and a price.
Also available
In-company training
We run this one to order, at your place or ours.
Onsite / in-company
Run EFAW with Catastrophic Bleeding 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
EFAW with Catastrophic Bleeding FAQs
Bleeding severe enough to kill in minutes, typically arterial and typically from a limb or a junctional wound. It is treated before the airway, which reverses the order most people were taught, because a casualty who bleeds out in three minutes will not benefit from anything else you do.
Yes. Standard EFAW covers controlling external bleeding with pressure and dressings. This adds the catastrophic end: wound packing, haemostatic dressings and tourniquets, with practical work on training limbs so that the sequence is rehearsed rather than read about.
If you are training for it, yes. A tourniquet you have trained on and do not own is no use. We can talk through what a sensible kit looks like for your site and where it should live, which is usually next to the defibrillator.
Yes. It is a full Emergency First Aid at Work qualification with the catastrophic bleeding unit added, so it satisfies the same requirement and then some.
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 Emergency First Aid at Work (Management of Catastrophic Bleeding) (RQF), accreditation number 603/2568/9. We are an approved QNUK centre.
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