EFAW or FAW: What’s the Difference?

EFAW: Core Workplace Emergencies

Emergency First Aid at Work covers cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), using a defibrillator, helping someone who is choking and caring for an unresponsive person. You also learn about bleeding, burns, seizures and EpiPen use. Practical exercises use CPR manikins, defibrillators, choking jackets, EpiPen trainers and more.

• The standard course takes one day.
• Places on public courses suit individual staff; private training brings the team together at your workplace.
• The certificate lasts three years after completion and assessment.

FAW: Additional Injury and Illness Training

First Aid at Work includes the EFAW skills and the wider topics below:

• Serious injuries: fractures, head, spinal, chest and eye injuries, and more complex trauma.
• Sudden illness: recognising and responding to heart attacks, strokes, seizures, asthma and diabetes.
• Other situations: poisoning, shock and assessing a casualty.

For example, a team working around machinery may need more detailed injury training. A workplace with known medical needs may also benefit from the broader illness content. FAW has three days of learning, with a two-days-online/one-day-in-person blended option.

Choose a Course for Your Workplace

Think about the work, likely injuries, existing medical needs, shifts, lone working and how quickly help could arrive. Include cover for holidays and sickness, so a trained person is available when needed.

Your employer should assess the workplace’s First Aid needs. Guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on how many First Aiders to train can help you plan staffing and training levels. Choose the course based on your workplace’s needs, rather than the company’s size alone.

On private workplace courses, we can customise the training specifically to meet your workplace needs.