Hi,

I work in a licenced premises in Scotland - we are required to have first aid provision between 1am-5am as a mandatory condition of a liquor licence.

What first aid qualification is appropriate? (helpfully the legislation doesn't say)



The reason I ask is that we have a mixture of gigs and clubs, for the gigs we are required to put in place "event cover" by HSE so we have the Red Cross come in.  For the club nights however, which can be just as busy there is only me (anywhere from 200-1000 customers) - I have a first aid at work qualification. 



I think this qualification is wholly unsuitable, not many employees are drunk when they injure themselves at work - the last time I was required to see someone who had an obvious head injury I had no idea which symptoms were alcohol induced and which were caused by the fall.  I felt like an idiot calling 999 for them to turn up and say he was fine.

This isn't the only example, several people have fallen over the years, have experienced no pain (drunk hides everything), minimal swelling or bruising, only to be in agony when they are sober and be subsequently found to have broken something.  I could go on with many more examples all of which are common in clubs but weren't even covered in my first aid course - it is completely knocking my confidence and ability to cope with first aid incidents, is there a course that is designed for the hospitality trade??

As for the number of first aiders to people attending then there are several bits of legislation that may apply but I don't know the systems in Scotland so can't really comment.



But in the sort of environment you are talking about first aiders should really work in pairs. 



Firstly for your own safety (both in the physical sense, but also when drunk a says I don't want treatment walks outside and collapses at least there is a witness to what happened, but remember "if it isn't written down it didn't happen") secondly it cut downs the chances that you will be accused of anything inappropriate. and thirdly it gives you someone to talk to about concerns you may have.