Leading groups of people in remote areas, or participating in any outdoor activities can bring with it unknown hazards. Common injuries sustained in the outdoors range from simple cuts and grazes to broken limbs, head and back injuries and hypothermia. Being prepared to deal with any emergency should always form part of your emergency plan and you should be prepared to deal effectively with first aid related incidents when working in this environment.

Delays in emergency service attendance times, lack of effective communication and difficulty in evacuation of casualties all present additional problems for the first aider when working in the outdoors. The focus of the WorkSafe First Aid for Outdoor Education programme is to address these issues. Students receive training to provide first aid for longer periods than would be expected in more urban environments.
Techniques such as splinting, ongoing casualty management and evacuation are all covered during the programme in addition to more general first aid techniques. The course is delivered with lots of practical scenarios and is ideally suited to a residential style two day programme with access to outdoors for the practical element of the programme.