First Aid Training for Music Festival Volunteers and Staff.

Any sizable music festival on a remote site requires a certain standard of medical facilities and people trained to administer first aid. Legal requirements can vary but most festival organisers will have to comply with local authority and health and safety regulators in order to be granted any licences required to run the event.

Festival organisers often arrange for on-site medical facilities which can include fully equipped ambulances and qualified doctors available for the duration of an event. In addition, a number of first aid posts are usually placed around a site. When recruiting volunteers organisers will usually have a preferential selection process for anyone who is first aid qualified but some organisers also find it beneficial to provide first aid training to selected volunteers and staff. 

First Aid Training Providers. 
In the UK there are a number of recognised first aid training providers to choose from but festival organisers should check that any potential provider has the necessary accreditation form the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the First Aid Industry Body (FAIB). The most well know first aid training organisations are St John’s Ambulance and the British Red Cross with both offering a variety of courses for organisations that can be tweaked for specific environments like a festival site. There are also a number of independent training providers who must be accredited by the FAIB. 

Course Selection and Content. 
There are a number of recognised courses which can include Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) and First Aid at Work (FAW) but providers can tailor a course for a festival environment and the number of volunteers attending along with course length. Course content typically will include basic life support techniques (CPR), managing bleeding and wounds and recognising and responding to medical emergencies such as heart attacks, strokes, and seizures. The most common injuries seen on festival sites can include sprains, strains, and heat-related illnesses. 

Training Delivery. 
Depending on the number of people to be trained and length of training a provider can deliver first training on a festival site which can make the training more relevant as volunteers can make themselves more familiar with the site layout, alternatively training can be conducted at one of the provider’s designated training facilities. 

Certification. 
All participants that successfully complete the first aid training will obtain a certificate which confirms their first aid competency. These are usually valid for 3 years and need to be updated with refresher training to extend the certification validity. 

Having a significant number of first aid trained volunteers and staff during a music festival can help to minimise any potential medical emergencies. Poor provision of first aiders on a festival site can be disastrous for festival organisers impacting on bad press and issues with the HSE and public liability insurance providers. Festival organisers should always make the provision of adequate medical and first aid facilities a priority when planning their events. 

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by manseok_Kim via Pixabay

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