We keep talking endlessly about the best way to train our workers on first aid in our safety committee. What is required by OSHA, and what is the best practice.  Somebody on the safety committee always knows an EMT who can train, but then after we finally track them down, they are either too expensive or never call back.  Anybody have any success stories here - and what is required in a manufacturing shop with 145 employees?

Good luck with the friend of a friend approach.  Our experience was the same, so i looked for somebody in our ASSE chapter who either did or knew a trainer.  That eventually brought us a good trainer. But you could call the local police, ambulance, or fire department and ask them who they use.  

As for what's required, i know you ought to have some certified first aid folks, but not sure about the regulations.

You are supposed to have at least one person on duty trained in First Aid any time a facility is within 7 minutes or more of a rescue squad (which for all practical purposes is all of the time since nothing is guaranteed).  Red Cross is the old standard, though we use a group (we are in Charlottesville, VA) called Central Virginia Safety Concepts, LLC, (434) 981-5045.  She is great and includes Bloodborne Pathogens, CPR and First Aid at once, initially.  It gets a little complicated because the refresher times are 1, 2, and 3 years for the previous respectively but then we just alternate between BBP/CPR refreshers and BBP/First Aid refreshers.  Our policy, to cover the bases, is to provide training to everyone since we can't predict who will be on duty with our shift work.

We are a manufacturing company running 3 shifts six days a week, I train the shift supervisors and their leadmen as well as the members of our emergency response team, a total of 12 people. If you are only training a few people (4-6) the simplest solution is to have the ARC come in and do the training for you on-site.If you are going to train more than that or if you have a good training budget the cheapest long term solution is to have someone at your facility become a Certified Instructor and sign an authorized provider agreement which allows you to train and certify your own people.The Red Cross, American Heart Association and the National Safety Council all have programs to do this and they are all similar in cost, training, and requirements.Once certified as an instructor there are no annual fees or cost involved to remain an instructor other than buying updated training materials as needed.

Cost of Instructors Course is ~ $250 -300.00, course length 25-30 hours (usually scheduled nights or on weekends.)If you have any questions about this drop me a line at alindsey@fibertecinc.com, take Care, Allan

I don't know where you are located, but we use a company called Zee Medical (www.zeemedical.com).  They are all over North America.  They come to you, charge $495 per session for up to 12 people at a time.  They've been great.  We have 80 employees and have 6-10 people trained at any given time. 

I’m having the "Red Cross” come in to train all the Mangers and Floor supervisors, about Ten of us .It’s going to cost $500; I’ll post and let you know if it’s worth it.