Update 4 June 2021
We hope you are all well and enjoying the lovely weather, we wanted to let you know that we have just added another Outdoor First Aid date weekend 4/5 September at Heatree Activity Centre on Dartmoor.
In case you need a course urgently, a last minute place has just become available on our June 17/18 OFA, although we have a waiting list so it may go quickly…
Remember that we also have an OFA 21/22 July 2021 also at Heatree, and this has started filling with numerous enquiries too.
For the moment, due to the sheer numbers of people requiring training, we are insisting on full payment before the course to secure your booking; Sage Pay is now up and running again so payment on booking is available – just like with Amazon!
Please continue to Stay Tuned & Stay Safe.
Very Best Wishes.
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 18 May 2021
Wow!, our June dates are now fully booked (albeit subject to confirmation on some bookings) so we have added another course 21/22 July 2021 at Heatree Activity Centre on Dartmoor.
For the moment, due to the sheer numbers of people requiring training, we are insisting on full payment before the course to secure your booking; Sage Pay is now up and running again so payment on booking is available – just like with Amazon!
Please continue to Stay Tuned & Stay Safe.
Very Best Wishes.
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 6 May 2021
Okay we’re trying again with one set of Outdoor dates now up on the website, 17/18 June 2021 at Heatree Activity Centre on Dartmoor.
More information to follow, including how to pay (we disabled our Sage Pay software whilst furloughed), but you can still book without paying (for now), but once it is up and running we will insist on payment to confirm the booking; we have too many people requiring training and with only 12 limited spaces per course, we have to be strict in this regard.
Please continue to Stay Tuned & Stay Safe!
Very Best Wishes.
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 26 April 2021
We apologise for the continued lack of dates at the moment… one of our senior trainers has regrettably sustained a broken arm which has somewhat delayed our planned return to training, we can only say how sorry we are. Please be assured that, as a consequence, we will be publishing revised dates in due course and we can only ask for your patience, yet again, until we can.
Meanwhile, one of the main questions we have been receiving regarding our Covid-secure policy is on mask exemption; as of today, our policy will be strict adherence to mask wearing by all people attending training, regardless of whether they have an exemption or not.
We have not taken this decision lightly but, if this affects you then, for the time being, you will not be able to attend our training; of course, as with everything else surrounding Covid-19, our policy will be continuously under review.
Please continue to Stay Tuned & Stay Safe!
Very Best Wishes.
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 21 April 2021
Apologies we have taken the dates down for a while due to being inundated with questions concerning Covid-19 health and safety, answers to some of which we do not have at the moment; we hope to re-publish them soon.
Please continue to Stay Tuned & Stay Safe!
Very Best Wishes.
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 20 April 2021
We are delighted to announce that we have just published our first batch of Outdoor First Aid courses in June 2021, just two sets of dates at the moment so please book quickly if you are interested!
As explained previously, our courses are going to be very different, with strict guidelines on people’s health, social distancing and of course the avoidance of cross-contamination.
As also explained, course places are going to be limited to twelve people initially, and we are insisting on FULL payment on booking to secure a course place.
We will be contacting people shortly who have booked on previous courses that were unable to run due to Covid, but if you are one of those people and you can make either of these course dates, please do let us know.
As always we ask for your understanding as we get back into training and assure you that it will be to our same high standard once things settle down again.
Please continue to Stay Tuned & Stay Safe!
Very Best Wishes.
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 25 March 2021
Great News!, further to our update 1 March, real progress has been made and we are hopeful that we may be able to resume training, with luck, from the beginning of June 2021.
Our courses are going to be very different, with strict guidelines on people’s health, social distancing and of course the avoidance of cross-contamination.
Due to these strictures, course places are going to be more limited, which means we will have to be much stricter on how you secure a course place; our plan, at the moment, is to insist on full payment before the training takes place, otherwise your place will be given to somebody else. We may also need to increase our prices but, be assured, we will avoid this if at all possible.
We are sorry for what may appear a harsh approach, however we already have a substantial waiting list of people who have been waiting to be trained and another one of people who want to book on to future courses!
All we can do is ask for your understanding and assure you that, once we get back to it, the training will be to our same high standard and will, hopefully, be worth the wait.
Please continue to Stay Tuned & Stay Safe!
Very Best Wishes.
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 1 March 2021
It has been some time since we provided an update and, at last, there appears a glimmer of hope on the horizon, with infections coming down and vaccinations going up, we do hope that you all continue to weather the storm and we can all look forward to a brighter future.
Good news is that we are currently in talks with another party on a possible collaborative way forward, which quite honestly would be win win all round, so please keep your finger’s crossed!
If this comes to fruition please be assured you will be the first to know about it, then we can plan for the future recommencement of training.
Stay Tuned, Stay Safe and Best Wishes.
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 5 November 2020
So once again we are in lockdown and we sincerely hope that you and your families are continuing to stay safe and remain well.
This is an incredibly difficult time for all of us and we feel that the time has come to consider the future of First Aid 4 Life.
It has been an absolute privilege to train so many people, so many times, for nigh on fifteen years; our ratio of repeat customers has been quite unbelievable and totally humbling.
We have met the most amazing people, some of you famous, some of you real-life heroes, some of you even Olympians; but it is clear to us that, all of you who attended our courses, were there because “you care”.
Sadly our decision may be to consider the sale of our business.
For the right minded people the existing business has great potential for growth; with so many new opportunities available including online training, that potential is almost limitless.
So if you know of any person or organisation who may be keen to take on First Aid 4 Life, please email us via info@firstaid4life.com
We look forward to hearing back and wish you all continued Good Luck for the future in these very difficult times; we will update this announcement once we know more.
Stay Safe and Best Wishes
Sam and Stella – The First Aid 4 Life Team
Update 30 September 2020
We hope that you and your families remain well and are coping in these very uncertain times.
We are still furloughed and still not planning to run courses, Covid cases are continuing to increase with a vengeance, talk continues about more stringent restrictions and the additional winter pressures are upon us.
We just don’t know where this crisis is heading, we want to continue being responsible in order to protect our clients and staff, we admit that we are struggling to come to terms with the future.
As always we are keeping the situation under constant review and if clients need training urgently, sadly they are going to have to source one elsewhere.
Thank you for your understanding and Stay Safe.
Update 31 August 2020
We hope that you and your families are well.
We continue to be furloughed, therefore still technically ‘off the air’, which makes our business a real challenge.
At this point in time we are still not planning to run courses, Covid is on the up again (no surprises there) and now the kids are back at school, so goodness knows what the knock-on effect will be.
We believe that we are being responsible, but also realise that we are risking our business, however if this protects our clients and our staff from Covid-19, then it will be worthwhile.
Accordingly we can only advise that we are keeping the situation under constant review and, if in the mean time clients need training urgently, then sadly they are going to have to source one elsewhere.
We sincerely apologise.
Update 31 July 2020
We hope that you and your families continue to be well.
We continue to be furloughed, therefore still technically ‘off the air’, which makes running our business a real challenge.
We have also been agonising over how and when to resume outdoor first aid training.
From latest UK Government and News updates, it is apparent that while levels of infection are far below their peak, the average number of cases reported each day is now slowly creeping up again.
Separate figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released today, 31 July suggest, the number of infections could be higher. A sample of households in England (excluding care homes and hospitals) which were swabbed to test for current infection, suggest cases have risen from an estimated 2,800 to 4,200 since last week.
The ONS’s estimates of daily cases are higher than those reported by the Department of Health and Social Care because they include people without symptoms who would not otherwise have applied for a test. Several countries across Europe have also reported a recent rise in cases, sparking concern of a similar resurgence of the disease in the UK; Spain as we know has seen a particularly sharp rise.
In mind of this background and whilst continually monitoring the situation, we have decided not to re-commence training until at least the end of September 2020.
We recognise how frustrating this must be for our customers, especially as some businesses have now re-started, however our opinion is that the idea that Coronavirus is under control is an illusion, a second wave will in fact simply be a continuation of the first wave and easing lockdown has created a massively false sense of security, hence signs of a deteriorating situation.
Once again, if the above timescale causes problems for individuals because of certificates expiring, even with the HSE extension provisions (see Update 21 March below), then we can only apologise; as we have already said, this crisis is not of our making, we are being swept along just like everybody else.
Please be assured that any individual already booked, who needs to book elsewhere to satisfy their qualification expiry, will in due course receive a full refund from First Aid 4 Life.
We simply continue to ask for your patience and forbearance to help us all through these unprecedented times.
Thank you.
Update 30 June 2020
We hope you and your families continue to stay well in these difficult times we all face.
We are still here, but continue to be furloughed, therefore still technically ‘off the air’.
We are beginning to consider how best to resume outdoor first aid training, which will require a huge amount of planning to meet the stringent health, safety and social distancing requirements in order to satisfy Government policy and keep both our employees and you, our customers, safe.
We do not anticipate courses commencing again until at least September 2020 and will prioritise customers (henceforth to be known as ‘priority customers’) who had already secured places on courses postponed due to the pandemic; needless to say course numbers, by definition, will have to be much smaller than we have been used to, which will create a backlog to get people qualified again.
With this in mind we have disabled the course booking facility with immediate effect so as to be able to allocate places to priority customers in due course; once we are back in business you will be individually advised of your potential place which you can accept, or it will be offered to the next priority customer.
If the above timescale causes problems for individuals because of certificates expiring, even with the HSE extension provisions (see Update 21 March below), then we can only apologise; this crisis is not of our making, we are being swept along just like everybody else.
Please be assured that any individual already booked, who needs to book elsewhere to satisfy their qualification expiry, will in due course receive a full refund from First Aid 4 Life.
We simply ask for your patience and forbearance to help us all through these unprecedented times.
Thank you.
Update 30 March 2020
We hope you and your families are all staying well and continue to do so.
We are still here!
However, in these unprecedented times, we have had to take the decision to furlough our employees, which means we will be ‘off the air’ for the time being.
This is to protect our future, so that we have one to continue training once this nightmare passes.
It is impossible to know how long this will continue however once restrictions are relaxed somewhat and we can all see a way through this crisis, we will be back.
Until such time, please stay safe and remember #StayHomeSavesLives.
Update 25 March 2020
Guide to self isolation courtesy of the Bee Gees – with special thanks to ‘The Ulster Fry’ – we hope they don’t mind us promoting such a sensible & humorous message! #FIGHTBACK
Update 23 March 2020
We hope you are all staying well!
We find First Aid 4 Life in an interesting position, on the one hand we are being asked to continue training because first aid skills are so important in these critical times, on the other we as a society are being asked to avoid mass gatherings and our training venues are, for the time being, asking us to stay away.
On this basis we have made two important decisions that, as with everything else, may change over time, as follows: –
- With immediate effect all of our public training courses will be suspended for the time being, to be reviewed on a regular basis… just as soon as we can re-schedule, be assured that you will be the first to know.
- Several of our larger customers are considering first aid training for small groups of ‘essential people’ at their own premises, which we are very happy to provide in line with the 10 step plan advised in our update of 19 March.
We are advising individual clients not to cancel bookings at present because when training recommences the floodgates will open; if you have already booked, we will honour your booking.
Can we also please remind you of the news in our update of 21 March advising of the HSE decision to extend the validity of current first aid certificates by up to 3 months, this being also subject to constant review.
Look after each other folks!
Update 21 March 2020
First Aid at Work and Paediatric First Aid requalification and validity periods extended by up to 3 months with effect from 16 March 2020.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is aware that people holding Offshore Medic (OM), Offshore First Aid (OFA), First Aid at Work (FAW) or Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) certificates nearing expiry date, might experience disruption to access to requalification training as a result of events or circumstances generated by the coronavirus pandemic.
HSE’s current guidance on the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l74.pdf and the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (First-Aid) Regulations 1989 https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l123.pdf is that those holding an OM, OFA, FAW or EFAW qualification should undertake retraining before their original certificate expires and HSE strongly recommends that employers, and individuals holding those qualifications should plan for requalification training well in advance of expiry dates.
If however requalification training is prevented for reasons associated directly with Coronavirus or by complying with related government advice, it is reasonable and practical to extend the validity of current certificates by up to 3 months. Anyone taking advantage of this extension should be able to describe clearly their reasons for delaying requalification training, and demonstrate steps they have taken to undertake the training, if required.
This guidance comes into effect for certificates expiring on or after 16th March 2020. HSE will review this matter over the coming months and will issue further statements as necessary.
Also, the Department of Education has commented as follows:
The Department for Education supports the HSE statement regarding the extension of first aid certificates during coronavirus emergency and that it can be applied to paediatric first aid certificates held by staff in early years provision.
Update 19 March 2020
On behalf of all of us at First Aid 4 Life we sincerely hope that this crisis is not causing you and your family any health issues or related challenges.
The safety and the well-being of our customers and staff is always our main priority, and we are working closely with the authorities to follow all relevant guidelines that minimise health risks.
The government have advised against ‘social gatherings’ and for people to work from home ‘where possible’, also the advice for those who should self-isolate has been increased.
We should note that first aid training is not a ‘social gathering’. It is essential training that is needed by workplaces, particularly when it is not possible for staff to work from home.
Going forward therefore these are some ways in which we hope we can help, recognising that government advice is changing on a daily basis so stay tuned:
- we can introduce a maximum class size of six which we feel is more reassuring to our clients during this difficult time.
- we can deliver training at the customer’s venue, thereby reducing anxiety about mixing with unknown others.
- we have implemented this 10 step plan issued by Qualsafe to ensure hospital-grade infection prevention and control in the training room.
- we will teach our learners about COVID-19 infection prevention and control (much of which is included in the 10 step plan); it is the FIRST lesson on the course!
- these and other procedures will be enforced and closely supervised, to the extent that attending our training is likely to be safer than being in the majority of workplaces, or even homes.
We hope that these measures will reinforce your confidence that we are striving to continue supporting our customers while this dreadful situation develops.
Once again, we sincerely hope that you all stay healthy and reassured that this Covid-19 crisis WILL pass, life WILL return to normal.
