First aid issues
Only appropriately trained and accredited staff should administer first aid.
Schools have trained first aid personnel, usually the school assistants based in the front office. As a teacher you need to be clear about who is responsible for this in your school.
Consider the following when planning your first aid plan for your classes:
- In the event of a classroom accident the teacher has the responsibility to attend to any injury.
- What this entails would depend on the nature and severity of the injury or illness. In the event of a serious injury this may involve the teacher implementing procedures, in which they were trained during the compulsory Emergency Care training, including calling for the assistance of the trained first aid officer in the school. However a less serious injury may be dealt with by sending or accompanying the student to the school's first aid clinic.
- Unless there were exceptional life threatening circumstances a teacher should not be expected to treat the injury or illness. The teacher would be expected to make a professional judgement relating to the wider duty of care responsibility to a whole class at the time of the injury or illness.
© State of New South Wales through the Department of Education and Communities, 1999 - 2011. All rights reserved.
