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QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work +F (RQF)
Three days, aimed at those undertaking higher risk activities on Forestry Commission land. The full workplace first aider qualification with the forestry unit built into it.
About this course
This is First Aid at Work, the three day qualification for designated workplace first aiders, with the forestry unit added. QNUK aim it squarely at people undertaking higher risk activities on Forestry Commission land, which in practice means chainsaw work, felling, harvesting and anything else where the injury potential is severe.
The three days cover the full workplace syllabus: assessing an incident, CPR, the recovery position, choking, bleeding, shock, burns, fractures, head and spinal injuries, chest injuries, eye injuries, poisoning, anaphylaxis, and major illness including heart attack and stroke.
The forestry unit then adds what the setting demands: catastrophic bleeding with wound packing, haemostatic dressings and tourniquets, crush injury and entrapment, remote casualty care, and summoning help where there is no address and often no signal.
If your team is already working to a site first aid plan on Forestry Commission land, this is normally the qualification named in it. For lower risk forestry work the one day EFAW +F is usually enough, and we will say so rather than sell you a longer course.
- The role and responsibilities of a first aider, consent and infection control
- Assessing an incident in a forestry setting, and the hazards beyond the casualty
- Summoning help from a remote location and giving a position somebody can reach
- Catastrophic bleeding: direct pressure, wound packing, haemostatic dressings, tourniquets
- Adult CPR, the recovery position, seizures and choking
- Crush injury, entrapment and prolonged casualty care
- The secondary survey, and injuries to bones, muscles and joints, including slings
- Head, spinal and chest injuries, burns and scalds, and eye injuries
- Sudden poisoning and anaphylaxis, including the adrenaline auto injector
- Major illness: heart attack, stroke, seizure, asthma attack and diabetic emergency
How completing this course helps you
- QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work +F, valid for three years
- The three day qualification for higher risk activities on Forestry Commission land
- Catastrophic bleeding and remote casualty care alongside the full workplace syllabus
- A qualification that satisfies a standard FAW requirement as well as the forestry one
Who should attend?
Forestry workers on higher risk activity, chainsaw operators and fellers, harvesting and timber teams, arborists and tree surgeons, and contractors working to a first aid plan on Forestry Commission land. Also supervisors and team leaders carrying first aid responsibility in forestry operations.
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 first aider and the incident
- The role and responsibilities of a first aider
- Minimising the risk of infection to self and others
- The need for consent
- Conducting a scene survey and a primary survey in a forestry setting
- Summoning appropriate assistance from a remote location
The forestry unit
- Catastrophic bleeding and treating it first
- Direct pressure, wound packing and haemostatic dressings
- Tourniquet application and recording the time
- Crush injury and entrapment
- Prolonged casualty care while waiting for help
- Forestry first aid kit contents and carriage
Life threatening emergencies
- When to administer CPR, and demonstrating adult CPR on a manikin
- The recovery position and monitoring
- Seizures
- Choking, mild and severe
- External bleeding and shock
Injuries
- Minor injuries, minor burns and scalds
- Conducting a secondary survey
- Injuries to bones, muscles and joints, including support and elevated slings
- Suspected head and spinal injuries
- Suspected chest injuries
- Burns and scalds, and eye injuries
Illness and poisoning
- Sudden poisoning and the routes into the body
- Anaphylaxis, including the adrenaline auto injector
- Heart attack and stroke
- Epileptic seizure and asthma attack
- Diabetic emergency
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 observations
Observed across the three days: scene and primary survey, adult CPR on a manikin, the recovery position, choking, bleeding control, head to toe survey, slings, spinal injury management, the adrenaline auto injector, and the catastrophic bleeding sequence on a training limb.
Multiple choice examination
A forty question multiple choice paper. The pass mark is twenty eight correct answers and the time allowed is sixty minutes.
Certification
Issued by QNUK and valid for three years. Requalification is the two day First Aid at Work Requalification.
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 FAW +F 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
FAW +F FAQs
QNUK aim it at those undertaking higher risk activities on Forestry Commission land. In practice that means chainsaw work, felling, harvesting and similar operations where the credible injuries are severe and help is not close by.
It is the same three day qualification with the forestry unit added: catastrophic bleeding with wound packing, haemostatic dressings and tourniquets, crush injury and entrapment, and casualty care over a long wait in a remote location.
If the work is higher risk forestry, the forestry unit is the part that matters and standard FAW does not include it. Depending on where people are in their three years it may be worth timing the change to coincide with requalification, which we can help you plan.
We can run it at your premises, and where there is a suitable and safe area we can take scenarios outside. Practising a tourniquet on wet ground with cold hands is a genuinely different exercise from doing it at a table.
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 +F (RQF), accreditation number 603/2464/8. We are an approved QNUK centre.
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