All staff should be heart start trained minimum.
Some wings are trying to get all AFA qualified though.
Only justification I can think of is if they are the nominated Sqn 1st Aid Officer or if no one on the sqn holds it.
In the case of the former, I haven’t seen anything in b+w stating it, but can understand a preference. For the latter, they should be encouraging ANYONE to do it.
If neither then I don’t know…
Not seen anything official from Corps, I as an OC am encouraging all of my staff to get AFA as it is a sensible thing to all have. (It means anyone can be the medic on my Range for a start!)
There may be a wish to get all staff AFA qual’d, but until Wings can provide enough AFA courses, it will never happen!
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Wouldn’t be so bad if a little common sense was used. I’m FAAW trained, which I understand to be ‘higher’ than AFA, why isn’t that enough?
And why are some Wings now saying all cadets must be bronze badge trained?
It is.
Never heard of that specifically. Perhaps they are idiots?
ACTO8 was written badly and lists YFA as mandated within 18 months, regardless of practicality. Similarly, Heartstart (blue) is “mandated” within 3 months. TG1 needs to wind that back a bit.
I know a chap who was told that he absolutely had to attend the AFA course and also the RAFAC Risk Assessor’s Course, and that because someone hadn’t made a record of his most recent pass he’d have to resit another Safeguarding refresher… This guy was a NEBOSH assessor, Safeguarding and security manager for an NHS trust and a St John’s Ambulance instructor trainer… For all three of those he holds a higher qualification (and actively uses it) than the people in the RAFAC delivering these courses.
The AFA was apparently “mandatory” because it’s specific to our organization - his higher qualifications weren’t specific enough.
I later attended the AFA course which is ‘absolutely not FAAW and is totally and specifically aimed at the type of outdoor events that we do’… The slides, videos and training included a heart attack in a stock cupboard, and someone getting grumpy in the school.
Aside from some quickly covered “fact based” theory about ticks, rats, and snake bits, there was nothing “specific” at all… How do you treat someone who’s passed out half way down an abseil tower? No idea… But here’s how to treat a scald from a cup of tea.
It’s higher, or its enough?
Because while I agree on the former, I’ve heard very different on the latter!
It is definitely enough. I woudln’t go so far as to say it was higher (it is longer) but it is at the very least equivalent. It is considered an appropriate qualification to allow the teaching of YFA, just as AFA is.
I have FAAW,
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What he said, FAAW is perfectly adequate.
Is this written anywhere?
We accept qualifications gained outside of the organisation, compatible with the RAFAC requirements. The Wing or Regional First Aid Officer should be contacted for advice in these cases.
Acto 8
They wont say specifically that they accept FAAW as there are many many courses that meet HSE requirements that are called weird things and listing them would take forever.
ACTO 8 give SJA 16 hour AFA as the preferred, but others are accepted and seeks advice. The recommendation is a minimum 16 hour course to meet requirements for other activities that are separately legislated.
You shouldn’t have a problem getting your FAAW recognised by your Wing bod.
I’ve been FAAW since 1988 and no intention of doing an AFA.
You shouldnt have to…it superceeds AFA
I know, but it seems some around the country are having to or being told that FAAW is irrelevant to the ATC’s needs.
Id tell them where to go. The latest FAAW is level 3 course…AFA is a be nice to have St John Course. I truely believe that the Silver Badge should be FAAW
Thanks for the info all.
ACTO 008 tells me that heartstart is the minimum requirement for a cfav, and that AFA is the preferred minimum level. It also tells me that there is a list of activities and their first aid requirements in ACP5 proceedure 22. When I go there it explains what a first aider is, and tells me that a risk assessment for a particular activity may require more than one first aider.
I found both documents on SharePoint, using my phone (still “at work”) ACTO 008 (last updated 16-10-2017) and ACP5 (last updated Nov 2017)…years ago I was told “always refer to the copy on SharePoint”… unfortunately now every region and wing seems to need their own copy, and the search function doesn’t always find the ‘official’ item. I can’t oven locate key documents on my mobile, I get a list of apps and sub sites.
So, two possible helps here:
First, do you have 3 little dots in the bottom? You can change the view:
Second, this is how you can find stuff (happy to be shown a simpler way if anyone has it):
Thank you Giminion,
It seems I found the correct ACP5 but the ACTO 008 had one more update: Remove Master Air Cadet from eligibility of Gold course
Can I safely state that the minimum first aid requirement for a cfav is heartstart unless they are running shooting, fieldcraft , AT etc?