HI Jonathan
There are so many variables to consider including obligations under the Health and Safety Act and the type of supports you provide and the cohort of staff you have.
Where I currently work and oversee safety we only have nominated First Aiders at site which we pay for training and pay them an allowance under the SCHADS Award. The OHS Act outlines the quota of first aiders depending on staff onsite. There are other staff that have their first aid qualifications which we keep on record but it is not something we pay for, they generally maintain their own training due to their professional expectations - ie Early intervention staff may have qualifications as a Teacher or OT etc. We mainly deliver coordination and therapy based supports. Our community supports are peer mentors and any first aid is Emergency service contact first of all.
In a previous organisation we provided high risk complex personal care and administered medication so we had nominated first aiders whos training was paid for but all staff were given CPR training and Medication Handling training on an annual basis (usually a few sessions arranged onsite by the organisation). Our provision of first aid kits was more extensive, at all sites, in emergency bags and in vehicles.
Suggest weigh up the risk to the organisation. Similarly I have had many requests for defibrillators on all sites - I regularly need to look at the risk of any participant or staff member needing this and what alternate we have in place. My risk assessment has consistently been that we train all staff in CPR and all our sites are on the Vulnerable Persons/Sites Register locally so are set as priority when calling Emergency Services. By the time a staff member leaves the affected person, finds the defibrillator (also they have a short lifespan) and ensures it is charged then they have lost a lot of time where they could have manually administered CPR.
That is just my take on First Aid.
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Kind Regards,
Leeanne Rule (she/her)
Senior Quality and Compliance Lead
Access Your Supports Pty Ltd
m: 0422 241 894
w:
https://ays.com.au------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 16-10-2024 16:00
From: Jonathan Burgess
Subject: Payment for First Aid and CPR Training
Hi All
First Aid and CPR are nationally recognised units of competency and considered transferable qualifications between employers.
I am interested to know what other NDIS organisations are doing in terms of paying for First Aid and CPR course fees and/or paying for staff to attend this training? We expect new staff to have up to date First Aid and CPR but are currently pay for refresher training fees and staff time to attend.
Jonathan Burgess
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