CPR Certificate Course at Your Workplace

What this course is about

Most people know they should do something in a cardiac emergency — but without hands-on practice, knowing and doing are two very different things. Our CPR Certificate Course on site closes that gap in three hours, without pulling your team out of the building.

The session is built around doing, not watching. Every participant spends substantial time on the manikins — building the muscle memory for correct hand position, compression depth (5–6 cm for adults), rate (100–120 per minute) and full chest recoil. Your experienced instructor guides each person through the technique until they genuinely feel confident, then walks the group through how the steps change for children and infants.

By the time the session ends, everyone in the room will know exactly what to do in the first critical minutes of a cardiac arrest — before an ambulance arrives. That window is what CPR is designed to fill.

Who is this course right for?

This course suits any team that wants broad CPR awareness across a large number of staff — without the time commitment of a full regulated first aid course. No previous training is assumed. Typical bookings come from:

• Office, retail and hospitality teams wanting CPR confidence for all staff, not just nominated first aiders
• Warehouses, logistics and distribution sites running the CPR Certificate Course at your workplace as part of a wider health and safety calendar
• Care homes and healthcare support staff who need annual CPR skills refresh alongside clinical training
• Schools and nurseries giving all teaching assistants and admin staff a resuscitation grounding
• Sports clubs, leisure centres and community groups where cardiac events carry a genuine risk
• First aid certificate holders due for renewal who want a focused CPR top-up between three-year requalifications

If your organisation also needs a regulated HSE workplace first aid qualification, our Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) and First Aid at Work (FAW) courses include CPR as part of a full accredited programme.

What your team will learn

The session follows the Resuscitation Council UK's Chain of Survival framework — the four-step sequence that gives someone in cardiac arrest the best chance of survival: early recognition and call for help; early CPR; early defibrillation; post-resuscitation care. Every element of the course maps onto one or more of those links.

Recognising cardiac arrest and calling for help

• Understanding the difference between a cardiac arrest and a heart attack — two very different emergencies requiring different responses
• Recognising the signs: unresponsive, not breathing normally (gasping or no breath at all)
• Calling 999 immediately and following the call handler's instructions while CPR begins
• Managing bystanders — delegating the 999 call, sending for an AED, keeping the area clear

Adult CPR technique

• Correct hand position on the centre of the chest; heel of the hand, fingers interlaced and lifted
• Compression depth of 5–6 cm and full chest recoil between each compression — why both matter
• Rate of 100–120 compressions per minute and how to maintain a steady rhythm without tiring
• Rescue breaths: head tilt, chin lift, pinching the nose and achieving a visible chest rise
• The 30:2 compression-to-breath cycle — and when compression-only CPR is the right choice
• Switching between rescuers smoothly to maintain quality over time

Child and infant CPR

• Key differences for children (aged 1 to puberty): 5 initial rescue breaths before compressions begin, then a 15:2 ratio for trained rescuers
• Key differences for infants (under 1 year): 5 initial rescue breaths, gentle chest compressions with two fingers, infant-neutral airway position (avoid over-extending the neck)
• Why paediatric cardiac arrests are usually caused by a breathing problem rather than a heart problem — and what that means for technique

AED awareness

• How an AED analyses the heart's rhythm and only allows a shock for shockable rhythms (ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia)
• Pad placement for adults and children; safety considerations (wet skin, chest hair, implanted devices, medication patches)
• Minimising the pause in chest compressions when attaching pads and delivering a shock
• Continuing CPR immediately after the shock is delivered

How the session runs

Your trainer arrives before the group assembles, sets up manikins and equipment, and is ready to begin on time. There is no projector, no slideshow and no extended theory block at the start. Instead:

• A brief, plain-English introduction explains what a cardiac arrest is, why speed matters and what participants will be able to do by the end
• Participants move quickly into hands-on practice — beginning with adult compressions, then building to rescue breaths, then the full 30:2 cycle
• Child and infant technique follows, with clear demonstrations before each practice round
• AED awareness is woven in, with trainer-unit demonstrations
• The session closes with scenario practice — participants working in pairs or small groups to put everything together in a realistic sequence
• A short Q&A gives everyone the chance to raise anything they are unsure about

Three hours passes quickly when the group is actively engaged. There is no sitting and watching for long stretches — your trainer keeps the pace moving throughout.

Assessment and certificate

There is no written exam. Your trainer observes each participant's technique throughout the session and offers guidance as needed — the assessment is continuous, practical and supportive. Formal failure is extremely rare for anyone who attends fully and engages with the practice rounds.

Each participant who completes the session receives a Certificate of Attendance from First Aid Training On Site. This is an in-house certificate confirming completion of the CPR Certificate Course. It is not a Qualsafe, Ofqual-regulated or FAIB-accredited qualification — certificates from those programmes are issued through our EFAW and FAW courses. Many employers use this certificate as evidence of an annual CPR skills refresh for staff who hold, or are working towards, a regulated first aid certificate.

All manikins, AED trainer units, face shields and printed course materials are supplied by us. You do not need to source or purchase any equipment.

Why deliver this CPR Certificate Course on site?

Sending staff to a public course feels straightforward until you add up the true cost: travel time, mileage or fares, half a day lost per person, the logistical effort of booking individuals onto scattered dates. With our CPR Certificate Course at your workplace, none of that applies.

Legal and standards context

The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require every employer to carry out a first aid needs assessment and provide adequate provision for their workplace. For most employers, that means having at least one person trained to give hands-on first aid — and CPR is a core skill that sits at the heart of any first aid response.

This course is not itself a standalone regulated qualification under those Regulations — it issues an in-house Certificate of Attendance. However, it is widely used as:

• An annual skills refresh for employees who hold a current EFAW or FAW certificate (HSE strongly recommends regular refreshers to maintain skill levels during the three-year certificate period)
• A broad CPR awareness session for the wider workforce, complementing the formal training of nominated first aiders
• A supplementary course for teams that already have regulated first aiders in place and want to extend resuscitation readiness across more of the team

If your needs assessment identifies that you require a formally regulated workplace first aid qualification, our Emergency First Aid at Work (FAIB-accredited, 1 day) and First Aid at Work (FAIB-accredited, 3 days) courses are the appropriate next step. Both are accepted by HSE, Ofsted and most insurers.