Health care and first aid on offshore installations and pipeline works

Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (First-Aid) Regulations 1989. Approved Code of Practice and guidance

This Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and associated guidance provides practical advice and will help you understand what you have to do to comply with the requirements of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (First-Aid) Regulations 1989, as amended in 1993, 1995, 1999 and 2015. The amendments to the regulatory text are shown in square brackets.

The ACOP covers the provision of adequate first aid and basic health care for all personnel, including visitors, who are injured or become ill while on offshore installations. It also considers the role, responsibilities and competencies of offshore medics and offshore first-aiders and the assessment of basic first-aid and healthcare needs.

The ACOP and associated guidance has been reviewed and, where necessary, updated in order to clarify and simplify some of the information. The main changes have been widely consulted on and include:

• the addition of 'medical practitioner' to the ACOP text associated with regulation 2 to specify the registration and licence requirements they must have (the roles and responsibilities of the practitioner have been explained);
• greater emphasis on the employers' responsibilities to identify the competencies needed for someone to be appointed as an offshore medic, and to not rely solely on them having a valid offshore medic qualification;
• the removal from the ACOP of conditions of approval for HSE-approved training providers. HSE has specific guidance for training organisations on how they can gain and maintain approval for offshore first aid and medic qualifications. The guidance can be found in HSE document MS39 (existing training providers should read this document in conjunction with the ACOP);
• the incorporation of offshore medic and first aid training syllabuses into two new appendices that cover roles, responsibilities and competencies of offshore medics and first-aiders. The training content has been aligned with the HSE document MS39 referred to above.