Is my Business Required to Provide CPR or First Aid Training?
If you run a business, there’s a chance your employees are required to be CPR certified in order to maintain your license, their licenses and legal compliance.
Examples include law enforcement, day care providers, doctor’s offices and construction companies. Even if your company isn’t required to provide CPR training, it’s never a bad idea. Not only are courses affordable, corporate CPR training can be brought right to your brick-and-mortar business, minimizing your employee’s missed work time – and the results can save lives.
Legal requirements vary from state-to-state, and across industries. When it comes to standard for first aid training in general OSHA states: In the absence of an infirmary, clinic, or hospital in near proximity to the workplace which is used for the treatment of all injured employees, a person or persons shall be adequately trained to render first aid. Adequate first aid supplies shall be readily available.
The phrase, “…in near proximity to the workplace,” leaves much to translation. How near is near? How fast is fast enough? Is my idea of near the same as a courtroom’s idea of near should a life-altering accident or incident occur at my place of business?
If you run a business in the United States…
OSHA mandates certain employees and laborers hold CPR and/or first aid certifications. These include:
- Those who work in permit-required confined spaces
- Logging operations
- Electric power generation, transmission, and distribution
- Dive teams
Furthermore, all general industry and construction employers must have either an employee trained in CPR, or:
- The work site must be located within a three to four minute response time of a hospital, clinic or infirmary if the work site contains workplace hazards that could cause life threatening injuries
OR
- The work site must be located within a 15-minute response time of a hospital, clinic or infirmary if the work site does not contain workplace hazards that could cause life threatening injuries.
Once again, legal teams can run circles around the phrase, “workplace hazards that could cause life threatening injuries.” That could include ladders, staircases, sharp blades, forklifts and loading docs, slippery floors, etc.
Certain states – or individual business owners – have taken it upon themselves to craft more specific criteria around which businesses or entities should receive formal workplace CPR classes.