Technically, a first aid or CPR certificate doesn't expire: your HLTAID011 or HLTAID009 Statement of Attainment has no expiry date. The yearly CPR and three-yearly first aid cycles are recommendations in Safe Work Australia's and WorkSafe Victoria's first aid codes, and many employers, industries and registration bodies make them compulsory. To see which you're due for, check the date on your statement, then your employer's policy.
Does a first aid certificate expire?
No. Your Statement of Attainment records that you were assessed as competent in a unit on a particular date, and that record doesn't lapse. Over time, though, your training can stop counting as current for work.
The units don't set a renewal period either. Both HLTAID011 and HLTAID009 point you to the work health and safety regulators for refresher requirements.
Being past your renewal date doesn't stop you helping in an emergency. If someone is unresponsive and not breathing normally, call Triple Zero (000) and start CPR. The call-taker can talk you through it.
Where do the one-year and three-year rules come from?
From two workplace first aid codes. Which one applies depends on where you work.
Every state and territory except Victoria uses the model work health and safety (WHS) laws. There, Safe Work Australia's Model Code of Practice: First aid in the workplace says refresher training in CPR should be carried out annually and first aid qualifications should be renewed every three years.
Victoria has its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. WorkSafe Victoria's compliance code, First aid in the workplace, uses the same intervals and says employers need to keep their first aid officers' qualifications current.
Both codes say should, the word they use for a recommendation rather than a legal requirement. Still, following the code is the clearest way for an employer to show it has met its first aid duties, so the intervals often end up in workplace policy.
The one-year figure doesn't come from the resuscitation guidelines. The Australian and New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation (ANZCOR), which writes them, gives no fixed interval, and if anything it treats a year as a long gap. Its basic life support training guideline says CPR skills fade within weeks to months and that retraining every 12 to 24 months is likely not enough to keep CPR at a high standard. It suggests short, frequent manikin practice, typically 5 to 15 minutes at a time.
Is refresher training mandatory?
Only when your employer, industry body or regulator makes it a condition. A few examples:
- Victoria's Department of Education requires first aid officers in government schools to complete HLTAID011 every three years and a HLTAID009 CPR refresher every year.
- AUSactive, which registers fitness professionals, requires current first aid and CPR, and treats HLTAID011 as valid for three years and HLTAID009 for one year from completion.
- In early childhood education and care, the National Regulations have set currency periods since 1 October 2023. An approved first aid qualification counts as current for three years and CPR training for one. The qualification also has to be on ACECQA's approved list, so check the list before you book.
Your employer's policy or registration standard is the rule you have to meet, and it can be stricter than the codes.
How do I work out when I'm due?
Start with the date on your latest statement, then check it against your employer's rules.
- Find your most recent Statement of Attainment and note the date for each unit. If it lists HLTAID003 or HLTAID001, the units HLTAID011 and HLTAID009 replaced in October 2020, it's more than three years old.
- For first aid, add three years to the date of your last HLTAID011.
- For CPR, add 12 months to your last HLTAID009 or HLTAID011, whichever is more recent. HLTAID011 counts because it includes CPR.
- Check your workplace first aid policy or your registration body's rules, which decide what counts as current in your role.
Can't find your statement? The RTO that issued it can send a copy, and we reissue ours free of charge. Your USI transcript also lists nationally recognised training completed since 2015. If you trained with us and agreed to renewal reminders, we'll remind you before each renewal is due.
Does HLTAID011 refresh my CPR too?
Yes. CPR is part of HLTAID011, so the year you renew first aid also counts as your CPR refresh.
One of the unit's performance criteria is performing CPR in line with Australian resuscitation guidelines. Its assessment includes the same CPR tasks as HLTAID009: at least two minutes of uninterrupted CPR on an adult manikin on the floor, following an AED's prompts to deliver a shock, and two minutes of CPR on an infant manikin.
If your employer's policy names HLTAID009 specifically, check that it accepts HLTAID011 for those years.
Which course should I book?
It depends on whether your first aid is still current.
- First aid current, CPR due: HLTAID009 Provide CPR, the shorter course.
- First aid due, or never done: HLTAID011 Provide First Aid, which covers your CPR for that year too.
- Your role only asks for CPR: HLTAID009 each year.
If you need both, that works out as HLTAID011 in year one, HLTAID009 in years two and three, then HLTAID011 again. Not sure which unit your job calls for? Read HLTAID011 or HLTAID009: which unit do you actually need?
Book whichever course falls due first. If you're organising training for a team, request a group quote for on-site training anywhere in metropolitan Melbourne.
Sources
- Model Code of Practice: First aid in the workplace – Safe Work Australia
- Compliance code: First aid in the workplace – WorkSafe Victoria
- Guideline 10.1: Basic Life Support (BLS) Training – ANZCOR
- HLTAID011 Provide First Aid – training.gov.au
- First aid qualifications and training – ACECQA
- First Aid for Students and Staff: Staff first aid training – Department of Education, Victoria
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