Fieldwork First Aid

The outdoors contain many unique challenges compared to an indoor environment. We have designed this course specifically to tackle these challenges, to help you in the field. It covers the sort of accidents and scenarios you are most likely to face in a somewhat remote environment and the more advanced skills required to handle injuries when help is further away. 

This is a blended course. In order to save time out of work and assist with knowledge retention, we teach practical skills in the classroom and theory in our virtual learning environment. This course contains 8-10 hours of e-learning and 8 hours in the classroom. This complies fully with HSE standards, is approved by FAIB and is just as valid as a standard first aid course, only in a more convenient, flexible package. Marlin is one of only a few companies in the UK to offer fieldwork first aid training by this route.

Our training is research led and practical. We teach you why you are doing something and then give you the time to practice so the skill so you remember what to do. We teach simple, logical protocols, such as one spinal roll that works for all situations and needs just one person.

We teach you advanced skills (such as tourniquets, wound packing and splinting) so you can act in the treatment vacuum, and keep the patient alive until further assistance arrives.

We check skills continuously during the course, not via a stressful practical exam at the end.

Our fieldwork course is generally run indoors, as people learn better when warm and dry. Therefore, we use a combination of classroom skill sessions and video scenarios to bring the outdoors indoors. Where appropriate, we also run outdoor scenarios, to allow staff to practice their skills in a realistic environment.

Course Content

  • Introduction, wilderness safety, survival and rescue.
  • Scene assessment, communication & delegation, safety & hygiene.
  • Initial assessment: trauma and non-trauma, recovery position and spinal immobilisation.
  • CPR and factors affecting use in the field.
  • Airway problems such as choking.
  • First aid kits for work and the field.
  • Advanced bleeding control: tourniquets & coagulants.
  • Shock – types, treatment and importance when help is delayed.
  • Recognising and treating illness in the field.
  • Recognising and treating injuries in the field.
  • Practical session on splinting using both improvised commercially available splints.
  • Practical sessions on spinal immobilisation and moving patients.
  • Environmental problems such as, heat, cold and poisonous flora and fauna.
  • In addition we can also cover other topics which are relevant to your group.

Who is it for

  • Staff who work in the field either away from conventional medical services, or a few hours from help.
  • University lecturers who take students on field trips.

Course Length

  • 2 days (16 hours)
    • 1 day eLearning
    • 1 day practical

Add On Modules

First Aid at Work (FAW)

Fieldwork First Aid is great for field trips, but if you also work in a lab, office or university or work out of hours you probably need a workplace First Aid at Work (FAW) too.

However, rather than spending three days doing a FAW course, you can just undertake an additional eLearning module. This increases the length of the course to the required 18 hours.

The module covers subjects such as legal requirements, chemical burns and workplace accident reporting.

No more practical skills are required as you will have already done more than enough during the main fieldwork course.

Additional Add-On Modules

Latest Standards

We take the latest advice from organisations such as the UK & European Resuscitation Organisations, Royal Colleges, Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care, etc and update our eLearning immediately as changes take place.

GDPR Compliant

Our system meets all the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as it applies in the UK, tailored by the Data Protection Act 2018.

FAIB Approved

This system was developed with a panel of experts at the First Aid Industry Body to ensure that it is educationally sound, medically correct and fully meets the requirements for first aid training.

IOL Approved

Course is mapped to the First Aid standards of the Institute of Outdoor Learning, giving national validity and acceptance for outdoor qualifications.