Today I saw someone had some sort of attack in the middle of the street, no one knew what to do and everyone was staring, incluiding me. I dont want to feel useless again in a situation like that so i decided to do a first aid course, i saw that red course has some courses partially online but they are quite expensive for me. I also cannot find them pirated anywhere, if you know where to find the red cross or any other first aid course for free please let me know :)
Do not under any circumstances pirate a First Aid course. Even if you learn the material completely, you’ll have no legal protection if/when something goes wrong. Moreover, much of the material requires hands-on training, not something you can learn from a book or article.
If you want the certification and course, check with your employer. Many will enroll you on their dime since they need a certain number of staff to be certified at all times. It’s typically a 2-4 day course and you’re paid your salary while doing it.
I’m First-Aid CPR/AED certified. If I see someone in need of help I have certain protections the general public doesn’t. Mainly that person can’t sue me for breaking a rib, causing an AED burn, etc.
Note: This is accurate for Ontario, Canada. I’m sure other Western jurisdictions work similarly.
You are partially correct. The general public also has protection written into in law in Canada (Yukon and Nunavut being current exceptions).
From the Ontario “Good Samaritan Act (2001)”, Section 2:
What you are saying really only applies to people who are rendering aid in some kind of professional capacity, or for remuneration. (So a higher bar of competence should be met if it is part of your job to give such assistance, as the above text would not apply to you if it is your job.)
If you are simply helping someone with no expectation of payment, you are not liable for any damages due to your negligence, unless you are acting with gross negligence. And educating yourself in first aid would be a good first step in avoiding negligence.
Gross negligence requires recklessness, or purposeful ignoring of health and safety. If you are acting with good intentions and with due consideration for the health and well being to the best of your ability, it is difficult to see how the bar for gross negligence would be met.
Such “good samaritan” laws are a common feature in many countries around the world, although it should be noted that there are regions (including some in Canada: Yukon and Nunavut) where such laws do not exist.
As usual, there’s more nuance to this than I realized. Thank you for this.
Thank you, now that you mention it i might be able to get my company to pay for it
I’ve never heard of this. What’s the Act (or whatever) that gives those protections? I have a Red Cross first aid certification through my employer and it’s only been something useful to have on a resume, there was no mention of legal protections, we are still treated just like any other bystander by the law. My understanding was that protections were only given to people like first responders and the rest was the good samaritan act.
Great question!
The Good Samaritan Act in specific is what I’m referring to. As I understand it, we’re granted the same protections as first responders under it but must relinquish control once someone with more ability arrives. So long as we stick to what we were trained on, no legal action can be taken.
That’s the key to it though. The General Public has no formal training, and therefore less protection.
Basically all major countries have Good Samaritan laws on the books. The only exception I am aware of is China, where people regularly get sued for rendering first aid.