Mon - Sat: 8:30-18:00
Last updated
Offices are low-hazard environments, which means training is not really about injuries. It is about two things: sudden cardiac arrest, which is the leading cause of workplace death in low-risk settings and is survivable with prompt CPR and defibrillation, and choking, which happens in kitchens and at desks. A workshop that spends its time on these rather than on cuts and sprains is pitched correctly for an office.
AED access is where most offices fail on paper and in practice. A defibrillator on the ground floor of a six-storey building is not accessible to the fifth floor within the window that matters, and a unit locked in an office nobody can open after six is not accessible at all. Walk the route from the furthest desk to the nearest AED and time it, that number tells you whether your provision is real.
Plan for who is actually in the building. Hybrid working means the trained responders may be at home on any given day, so the number to aim for is enough certified staff that every likely working pattern still has coverage, including the quiet days. Reception, facilities and whoever regularly works late are usually the highest-value people to train, because they are the ones most reliably present.
Updated for 2026. Updated in 2026. What follows is the position as it stands today.
Taken as blended learning, the CPR/AED in-person session is 170 minutes (2 hours 50 minutes) on top of the online coursework. First Aid runs 240 minutes (4 hours) in the classroom and 120 minutes (2 hours) in person when blended.
No certificate is issued on online coursework alone, which is worth checking against any provider advertising a fully online card.
Reviewed by Jackie Stern, Lifeguard Instructor, Firefighter and EMT. Jackie Stern has taught lifeguarding for more than 20 years and works as a firefighter, EMT and swim instructor. She reviews course content, prerequisites and rescue standards against current certification requirements.