Running a childcare service in Australia means navigating a fair amount of regulation, and first aid is one area where the rules are clear — and the stakes are high. If you’re responsible for an early childhood service, understanding exactly what’s required under national law isn’t just good practice; it’s your legal obligation.
Here’s a plain-language breakdown of what your service needs to know.
The Legal Framework: National Law and National Regulations
First aid requirements for education and care services are set out in the Education and Care Services National Law and the Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011. These are administered in Victoria by the Department of Education and regulated nationally through the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).
These laws apply to long day care, family day care, outside school hours care (OSHC), and preschool and kindergarten services. They’re not optional — failure to comply can result in formal notices, compliance directions, and in serious cases, suspension of service approval.
How Many Trained Staff Do You Need?
This is where services often have questions. Under Regulation 136, at least one educator with a current approved first aid qualification must be on the premises at all times the service is operating. For family day care, the educator providing care must hold the qualification themselves.
ACECQA specifies that approved first aid qualifications must include:
- HLTAID012 Provide First Aid in an Education and Care Setting (or the predecessor HLTAID004), or
- HLTAID011 Provide First Aid combined with a paediatric first aid component
Services must also ensure that at least one person present holds current anaphylaxis management training and current emergency asthma management training. These are separate certifications and must be kept current independently of the main first aid qualification.
What Does “Current” Actually Mean?
This catches services out more often than you’d expect. A staff member might have completed first aid training several years ago — but if it’s outside the renewal period, it doesn’t count for compliance purposes.
- First Aid (HLTAID012 or HLTAID011): Valid for 3 years
- CPR (HLTAID009): Must be renewed annually
- Anaphylaxis training: Annual renewal (as per ACECQA guidance and ASCIA recommendations)
- Asthma first aid training: Annual renewal recommended (consistent with Asthma Australia guidelines)
Some services try to get by with the absolute minimum — one trained person on-site at any given time. Practically speaking, this creates coverage gaps whenever that person is away, on a break, or unexpectedly absent. Having multiple trained staff across your team is both safer and smarter from an operational standpoint.
First Aid Kits and Equipment
Compliance isn’t just about people — your service also needs to maintain appropriate first aid equipment. Regulation 89 requires education and care services to have a first aid kit that is:
- Readily accessible at all times during service operation
- Kept in good order and fully stocked
- Stored in a location known to all staff
ACECQA doesn’t prescribe the exact contents, but the Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) and Safe Work Australia guidelines are the standard benchmarks. Your kit should include wound care supplies, gloves, a CPR face shield or mask, and a current first aid manual, among other items.
If children enrolled at your service have a diagnosed allergy, you’ll also need to ensure prescribed adrenaline auto-injectors — such as EpiPen, Jext, or the newer Neffy nasal spray — are on-site and accessible, along with a current ASCIA Action Plan for each affected child.
Policies, Procedures, and the National Quality Framework
Compliance isn’t just about ticking off certificates. Under the National Quality Framework, services are expected to have clear, written first aid policies and procedures that are regularly reviewed and available to families.
Quality Area 2 of the National Quality Standard — Children’s Health and Safety — requires services to demonstrate that health and safety practices are built into everyday operations, not just filed away in a folder.
In practical terms, this means:
- All staff know where the first aid kit is and how to use its contents
- Clear procedures exist for calling 000 and notifying families after an incident
- Anaphylaxis and asthma management plans are in place and current for relevant children
- Incident reporting processes are understood and consistently followed
Your service’s Authorised Supervisor is responsible for ensuring compliance is maintained, documentation is current, and staff training records are up to date and accessible.
Common Compliance Gaps in Childcare Settings
Working with childcare services across Victoria, a few issues come up repeatedly:
Expired CPR certificates. Because CPR must be renewed annually — not every three years like the full first aid qualification — it’s easy for it to slip. Staff renew their first aid cert on time but don’t realise their CPR component has lapsed in the meantime.
Relying on a single trained staff member. If your only first aid-qualified educator calls in sick or goes on leave, you may not be legally compliant to operate. Building training across your team removes this single point of failure.
Out-of-date anaphylaxis action plans. ASCIA Action Plans should be reviewed annually and whenever a child’s medical management changes. An old plan in a child’s file isn’t a current plan — and it won’t serve them in an emergency.
No accessible training records. Services need to demonstrate compliance during assessment and ratings visits. If you can’t produce records showing current certifications for your team, it creates problems — even if the training was completed.
What to Do If You’re Not Sure Where Your Service Stands
Start with an honest audit of your team’s training records. Check when each person’s first aid certificate, CPR, anaphylaxis training, and asthma training were completed — and when each one expires. Map that against your rosters to see where gaps might exist.
If you’ve found gaps, they’re straightforward to fix. AB First Aid offers HLTAID012 Provide First Aid in an Education and Care Setting, designed specifically for childcare professionals. Our trainers understand the early childhood context — the scenarios, the language, the regulatory backdrop — and we work with services across the Tullamarine area and surrounds.
Group bookings are available for services wanting to upskill multiple staff at once, and we can often accommodate training at your premises to reduce disruption to your operations.
Stay Compliant, Stay Confident
First aid compliance in childcare isn’t a once-and-done exercise. Certificates expire, staff change, and regulations are updated. The responsibility sits with you as an approved provider to keep your team trained, your records current, and your policies up to date.
If your service is due for a refresh — or if you’re not confident your training records would hold up under scrutiny — now is a good time to act. Book your first aid training with AB First Aid in Tullamarine, or view the full course schedule and enrol online. Our team is ready to help your service stay safe, capable, and compliant.
References
- Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). Guide to the Education and Care Services National Law and National Regulations. www.acecqa.gov.au
- Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011 (Vic), Regulations 89 and 136
- Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC). Guidelines. resus.org.au
- Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA). Anaphylaxis Management in Schools, Preschools and Children’s Education and Care Services. www.allergy.org.au
- Asthma Australia. Asthma First Aid. asthma.org.au
- Safe Work Australia. First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice. www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au
- Department of Education Victoria. Early Childhood Regulation. www.education.vic.gov.au
