Statement on the delivery of first aid training
Further to the advice regarding first aid training that was issued by the First Aid Industry Reference Committee on 25 March 2020, the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) Emergency Response Sub-Committee has issued updated advice for CPR. Given the high risk of transmission of COVID-19 through bodily fluids such as saliva, RTOs must provide a “reasonable adjustment” to all students when teaching and assessing the performance of ventilations on a manikin.
This means that for the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, RTOs must not allow students to breathe directly into a manikin. Instead, students are to be assessed performing breaths to the side of the manikin. Assessors are to use their professional judgement in assessing competence of students’ capacity to perform CPR under these new circumstances. RTOs must still assess students against all other aspects of CPR as per the unit of competency requirements set out in the HLT Training Package.
For further information, please see https://www.aisc.net.au/content/communiques-and-training-package-updates
