Not One CPR/ First Aid Trained Teacher At My Kids School

My youngest child suffered an injury at school (2010) not one teacher had up-to-date first aid training, and the school principal was out of the building who had the ONLY current training. I was told this was not a safety issue but a union issue because, making teachers take first aid and CPR training would have to be approved of by the Ontario teachers unions.

This is not entirely true The school violated The First Aid Requirements (WSIA Regulation 1101) It is true teachers are not required to have currant First Aid or CPR Training, but Ontario Workplaces are required to have some staff currently trained in First Aid/ CPR at each workplace with more than four employees. A school is a workplace.

All employers covered by the Workplace Safety Insurance Act are required to have first aid equipment, facilities and trained workers, this means usually only about two trained people (employees) in every school, need to be trained.

The training classes at the local St. Johns Ambulance First Aid Station did not have any of the teachers/staff at my child's school take any classes the week after my child's emergency. Not till SEVERAL parents complained to the school, was a large number of teachers trained at my child's school. A teacher (employee covered by WSIB Ontario) at the school also had a medical emergency later that same month, the school principal who had the only first aid training was in the building at the time, but not at the time of my child's emergency.


Workplace Safety and Insurance Board First Aid Information

In Canada, first aid certificates can be issued by one of four training organizations that provide first aid training in up to ten provinces and three territories (thus, nationally) Canadian Red Cross Society, (Royal)Lifesaving Society (Canada), St. John Ambulance, and Canadian Ski Patrol.

Ontario Approved First Aid Courses

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act
(1) A first aid station shall contain,
(a) a first aid box containing the items required by this Regulation; and
(b) a notice board displaying,
(i) the Board’s poster known as Form 82,
(ii) the valid first aid certificates of qualification of the trained workers on duty, and
(iii) an inspection card with spaces for recording the date of the most recent inspection of the first aid box and the signature of the person making the inspection. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1101, s. 1 (1).

The school also violated this regulation by not having valid first aid certificates of qualification of the trained workers {teachers or other staff} on duty at the first aid station.

In theory one teacher could complain to the Ontario Teacher's Union that they are working in a unsafe environment with no one trained in CPR/ First Aid, while another teacher could complain to the Ontario Teacher's Union they are feeling pressured to take a First Aid Course. If I knew this information I would have filled a complaint with WSIB, not "just" have asked a person running for the position of school trustee, to see if they knew that teachers did not need to be trained in First Aid/ CPR. She was shocked when she did her own research and discovered that only two teachers were trained in First Aid/ CPR at her own child's school. (2010) She talked to the school trusties (at the time) in each ward in our city, who told her that teachers are not mandated to take First Aid/ CPR training.

A teaching assistant told me, in private, that she avoids getting First Aid/ CPR training because she would be more likely to get a student who had more medical needs.

I wish to thank all the parents who complained to the school my child attended, that did not have one teacher with first aid training. I now would like it to become mandatory for all teachers to have currant First Aid and CPR training. Tell your trusties, your MPs you want all teachers (who are able bodied) to get the training.

Please share with other parents, the fact that Ontario teachers do not need current First Aid training under current laws.



If you wish to share your story (anonymously or by name)contact firstaidinschools@outlook.com I've had a lot of spam on this post, ADs mostly for First Aid Training.