First Aid and Fire Safety — Annual Instruction for Employees in Germany

18 modules · about 40 minutes · final test with 22 questions, 16 correct to pass · certificate of participation as PDF

What this course is about

First aid and fire safety answer the same question: what do I do in the first minutes, before the ambulance service or the fire brigade arrives? Almost everything is decided in those minutes — and in those minutes you are the one responsible.

No registration needed. We only ask for your name and e-mail address before the final test – just for your certificate. Your progress is saved in this browser. You can stop at any time and continue later.

Module 1 of 18

What this course is about — and what it is not

Before you start, you should know what your certificate will cover at the end — and what it will not.

What you learn here

This course takes you through the two topics that belong together in every company: first aid and fire protection. Both answer the same question — what do I do in the first minutes, before the ambulance service or the fire brigade arrives. Almost everything is decided in those minutes, and in those minutes you are the one responsible.

What your certificate covers

Employers must instruct their employees regularly on safety and health. This duty is laid down in Section 12 of the Arbeitsschutzgesetz (ArbSchG, the German Occupational Safety and Health Act) and in Section 4 of DGUV Vorschrift 1 (the accident prevention regulation “Principles of Prevention”). If you pass the final test, you receive a certificate with a number that documents exactly this annual instruction duty. It lists the contents so that an auditor can see what was actually covered.

What it explicitly does not cover

You do not become a company first aider at a screen. For that, Section 26 of DGUV Vorschrift 1 requires a course of nine teaching units at a provider authorised by the accident insurance institution. Nor does this course make you a fire safety assistant (Brandschutzhelfer): DGUV Information 205-023 requires, in addition to theory, a practical exercise with a real extinguisher. Neither can be replaced online, and anyone who files this certificate as such proof has no proof in an emergency.

Remember

This course fulfils your annual instruction duty. It replaces neither the first-aider course with nine teaching units nor the fire safety assistant training with a practical extinguishing exercise.

Typical mistake: If your company has too few trained first aiders, this course changes nothing about that. Raise it with your supervisor — module 3 shows you how many there must be.

Module 2 of 18

The legal framework in one place

All the rules this course is based on are collected here — so that you know later where to look things up.

The state side

The Arbeitsschutzgesetz (German Occupational Safety and Health Act) obliges the employer in Section 10 to take measures for first aid, fire fighting and evacuation and to appoint employees for them. Section 12 requires instruction: when hired, after changes and regularly repeated thereafter. This is specified by the Technical Rules for Workplaces, ASR for short: A1.3 for safety signs, A2.2 for measures against fires, A2.3 for escape routes and emergency exits, A4.3 for first-aid rooms and equipment.

The accident insurance side

DGUV Vorschrift 1 (the accident prevention regulation of the German statutory accident insurance) applies to all companies. Section 4 requires instruction at least once a year; ASR A2.2 names the same interval in point 7.2 for fire safety instruction. Sections 24 to 28 regulate first aid: the provision of equipment and rooms, the documentation of every first-aid measure given, and the number and training of first aiders.

Must I help, and what if I do something wrong

Helping is a duty. Anyone who does not help in an accident although it would be reasonable to do so commits an offence under Section 323c of the German Criminal Code (StGB). Conversely: whoever helps to the best of their knowledge is not liable for damage caused in doing so. And whoever gives first aid is themselves covered by the statutory accident insurance while doing so (Section 2(1) No. 13a SGB VII) — even if they are injured in the process. The fear of doing something wrong is the most common reason for doing nothing, and it is unfounded. The only real mistake is to do nothing at all.

What has changed recently

Two points are new and still shown incorrectly in older documents. First: ASR A2.2 was amended by notice of 8 May 2025 and published in the Joint Ministerial Gazette on 23 May 2025; among other things, the sections on maintenance were renumbered (now 7.4), and the former section on fire safety officers was dropped. Second: the European Resuscitation Council, ERC for short, published new guidelines on 22 October 2025 that replace the 2021 version. What this course says about resuscitation follows the 2025 guidelines.

Remember

Two levels, one goal: the state regulates through the ArbSchG and the ASR, the accident insurance through DGUV Vorschrift 1. The stricter requirement applies. Instruction takes place at least once a year.

Module 3 of 18

First aiders, first-aid equipment and first-aid rooms

How many first aiders a company needs is not a matter of judgement — the number follows from a calculation. And equipment is only useful if it is complete, within its use-by date and easy to find.

The number of first aiders

Under Section 26 of DGUV Vorschrift 1: if two to twenty insured persons are present, at least one first aider must be there. Above twenty present, it becomes a percentage — in administrative and trading companies five per cent of the insured persons present, in all other companies ten per cent. For day-care centres one first aider per group applies, for universities ten per cent. The decisive word is present: holidays, shift work and field service count if they mean nobody is left on site.

Training and refresher

You become a first aider by attending a course of nine teaching units at an authorised provider. Anyone trained in a health profession or with paramedic or rescue service training is treated as equivalent. The refresher follows every two years, again with nine teaching units. If the deadline is exceeded, a refresher is usually no longer possible and a new full course is required. The costs are borne by the accident insurance institution, the time counts as working time.

First-aid kits

For companies there are two sizes. The small first-aid kit is described in DIN 13157, the large one in DIN 13169; one large kit corresponds in content to two small ones. Do not confuse these with DIN 13164 — that is the first-aid kit for cars and is not sufficient for a company. How many kits are needed depends on the number of employees and the type of company; the requirements are in ASR A4.3.

Check and restock

Dressing material has an expiry date. Sterile dressings become unusable after expiry, even if the packaging looks intact. The stock must be checked regularly and restocked after every withdrawal. It is one of the simplest and at the same time most frequent findings in an audit: a kit from which items have only been taken for years.

Signs and rooms

First-aid facilities are marked with the emergency signs under DIN EN ISO 7010 — white cross on a green background (sign E003). From certain company sizes a first-aid room is additionally required; its requirements are also regulated by ASR A4.3. Important for you as an employee: you should know where the nearest first-aid kit hangs without having to search.

Remember

Two to twenty present: one first aider. Above that five per cent in the office, ten per cent elsewhere. Training nine teaching units, refresher every two years. DIN 13157 is the small, DIN 13169 the large company first-aid kit; DIN 13164 is the car kit and is not sufficient in a company.

Typical mistake: The most common gap is not the number on paper but availability: three first aiders are of no use if all three are on holiday at the same time. And: expired sterile material is not clean material — check the expiry date before you need it, not while you need it.

Module 4 of 18

The chain of survival and the emergency call

The emergency call is the link in the chain of survival that is in your hands — and the one that most often comes too late.

The chain of survival

It starts with immediate measures at the scene, leads via the emergency call and first aid to the ambulance service, and ends in the hospital. Each link carries only as much as the previous one has delivered. Your links are the first three.

Secure the scene and protect yourself

Before you help, make sure nothing happens to you. On the road this means high-visibility vest and warning triangle, in the company switching off the machine or isolating the power, and not entering a room when there is smoke. A second casualty does not halve the help, it ends it.

The emergency call 112 and the five W questions

112 reaches the control centre everywhere in Europe, free of charge and from every telephone. The control centre asks structured questions, and you can remember them as the five W's:

The last point is the one almost everyone forgets. Do not hang up. The control centre ends the call, not you — until then it guides you through the measures and can even instruct you in resuscitation (telephone CPR).

Guide them in

If possible, send someone to the entrance to guide the ambulance service in. On large company sites, the search for the right gate costs more time than the whole journey.

Remember

Five W's: where, what, how many, which injuries, wait for questions. Stay on the phone until the control centre ends the call.

Module 5 of 18

Finding an unresponsive person

The order of the first thirty seconds has changed with the ERC Guidelines 2025.

Check, Call, Compress

This is the sequence to remember from the ERC Guidelines 2025. Check: is it safe to approach, does the person respond to being spoken to and gently shaken by the shoulders. Call: make the emergency call immediately, preferably on speaker so that your hands are free. Compress: start chest compressions as soon as it is clear that the person is not breathing normally.

What is new

It used to be taught to first calmly check breathing and only then make the emergency call. The 2025 guidelines reverse this: the emergency call is made immediately, the assessment of breathing takes place afterwards and with the support of the control centre. The reason is simple — every minute without chest compressions costs survival probability, and lay rescuers often take too long to check breathing. The focus is on the first three to five minutes.

Recognising agonal gasps

Immediately after a cardiac arrest, about one in three people takes occasional, noisy breaths that look like gasping or rattling. This is not normal breathing but a sign of cardiac arrest. Anyone who takes this for breathing puts the person in the recovery position and waits — and that is exactly what people die of. When in doubt: not breathing normally, so compress.

Remember

Check — Call — Compress. The emergency call comes before the detailed breathing check, not after it.

Typical mistake: Agonal gasps are not breathing. When in doubt, start chest compressions: with a person who is in fact breathing, you will notice immediately — they resist.

Module 6 of 18

Resuscitation and AED

Chest compression is the one measure with which you as a lay rescuer demonstrably save lives — and it can be learned in three sentences.

How to compress

The person lies flat on their back on a firm surface. The heel of your hand goes on the centre of the chest, the second hand on top, fingers interlocked. Arms straight, shoulders vertically above the hands. Compress at least 5 centimetres deep and at most 6 centimetres, at a rate of 100 to 120 per minute. After each compression, release the chest completely without lifting your hands.

With or without rescue breaths

Anyone practised in rescue breathing alternates between 30 compressions and 2 breaths. Anyone who is not, or who feels unsure, compresses without interruption. This is expressly permitted and far better than nothing. Interruptions are the greatest avoidable harm — every pause lets the blood pressure collapse.

The AED

An automated external defibrillator talks to you and announces every step. Use it as soon as it is available; someone else fetches it while you keep compressing. The pads are stuck onto the bare chest. If the device announces that a shock is advised, make sure that nobody is touching the person, deliver the shock and continue compressions immediately. An AED cannot deliver a shock against your will and cannot deliver a wrong shock — the device does the analysis.

For how long

Until the ambulance service takes over, until the person visibly recovers, or until you physically cannot go on. Swap every one to two minutes if there are two of you.

Remember

At least 5 and at most 6 centimetres deep, 100 to 120 per minute, ratio 30:2. Untrained: compress without interruption. Use the AED as soon as it is there.

Typical mistake: You cannot do anything wrong in chest compressions that would be worse than doing nothing. Broken ribs heal; a cardiac arrest without help does not.

Module 7 of 18

Unconsciousness and the recovery position

Unconscious and breathing is the one situation in which the recovery position is right — and only then.

Why the recovery position

In an unconscious person the muscles go slack. The base of the tongue can fall back and block the airways; vomit or blood can run into the windpipe. The recovery position keeps mouth and nose as the lowest point and the airways clear. It is therefore not a matter of comfort but an airway measure.

When it is used

Only for a person who is unconscious and breathing normally. If they are not breathing normally, module 6 applies: compress. If they are conscious, they do not need the recovery position but a position according to how they feel.

How to do it

Kneel beside the person. Place the near arm bent upwards, palm facing up. Bring the far arm across the chest and place the back of the hand against the person's cheek; hold the hand there. With your other hand, grasp the far leg at the thigh, bend the knee and pull the person towards you. Position the upper leg so that thigh and knee are at a right angle. Finally tilt the head back and open the mouth slightly so that fluid can drain. If you are not confident with the hand movements: all that matters is that the person lies stably on their side and the mouth is the lowest point.

And afterwards

The emergency call must be made as soon as someone is unconscious — alongside the positioning or before it. Then monitor breathing continuously: look, listen, feel, at least every minute. If breathing stops, turn the person onto their back immediately and start chest compressions. Cover the person; unconscious people cool down quickly, even in mild temperatures.

Remember

Unconscious and breathing normally: recovery position, cover, monitor breathing. Not breathing normally: chest compressions.

Typical mistake: The recovery position is not a final state. Anyone who puts a person in it and then walks away has not done the actual task — monitoring the breathing.

Module 8 of 18

Wounds, severe bleeding, shock

For wounds there is a single rule, and it is: do as little to them as possible.

Wound care

A wound is treated as it is found. Put on disposable gloves — this protects both sides. Cover the wound with sterile material without touching the dressing on the wound side. What you do not do: wash out the wound, disinfect it, apply ointments or pull out foreign bodies. Cleaning, disinfecting and removing foreign bodies are the job of medical professionals. An embedded foreign body is padded around, not pulled: it may be sealing exactly the vessel that would otherwise bleed.

Severe bleeding

With heavily bleeding wounds, pressure counts. Place a sterile dressing on the wound, a pressure pad on top, and wrap both firmly with a bandage — this is the pressure bandage. If it bleeds through, a second bandage is placed over it; the first stays in place. Raise the affected limb. And in every case: emergency call.

Recognising shock

Shock is a circulatory failure and can occur even without visible bleeding. Signs are pale, cold, clammy skin, a fast shallow pulse, shivering, restlessness or striking apathy. Lay the person flat on their back, raise the legs at an angle — no higher than about 45 degrees — and cover them.

When not to use the shock position

There are cases in which the shock position does harm. In German first-aid teaching this is remembered with the 8-B rule (eight German words starting with B): with injuries to the head (“Birne”), chest (“Brust”), abdomen (“Bauch”), pelvis (“Becken”), legs (“Beine”) and back (“Buckel”), as well as with shivering (“Bibbern”) and unconsciousness (“Bewusstlosigkeit”), the person is not put in the shock position. And one more thing: the emergency call takes priority over positioning, not the other way round.

Remember

First step with a bleeding wound: disposable gloves, sterile covering, pressure bandage. Do not cool, do not wash out, do not pull out foreign bodies.

Typical mistake: Cooling belongs to the burn, not to the bleeding wound. Confusing these two is the most common mistake in old instructions.

Module 9 of 18

Burns, chemical burns, smoke inhalation

The recommendation on cooling burns has changed — in the direction of: less.

Burns and scalds

A burn is caused by dry heat, for example a hotplate or an open flame. A scald by moist heat, i.e. hot liquids or steam. For first aid this makes no difference, for the extent it does: scalds often affect larger areas because the liquid runs.

Cooling — but correctly

Cooling serves only to relieve pain, not to protect the tissue. Therefore: only for small-area burns, roughly up to the size of a palm or about five per cent of the body surface, and only as long as the person reports pain. Use tap water of about 20 degrees, not ice-cold water and never ice. Unconscious persons are not cooled. With children only on the limbs, not on the trunk and head.

Large areas: do not cool

With extensive burns, do not cool with water. The skin can no longer hold the body temperature, and hypothermia quickly becomes more dangerous than the burn itself. Instead: cover with sterile material, keep warm — cover the person —, emergency call. This reversal surprises many who still learned the old rule of twenty minutes of cooling.

What never goes on a burn

Powder, flour, oil, burn ointments and home remedies form a breeding ground for germs and make later assessment more difficult. Blisters stay closed.

Chemical burns and smoke

With chemical burns, rinse the affected area with plenty of water, the eye from the inside outwards and with the eyelid open so that the chemical does not run into the healthy eye. Remove soaked clothing. With smoke, self-protection comes first: smoke contains carbon monoxide, which is colourless and odourless and causes unconsciousness within a few breaths. Bring those affected into fresh air, emergency call, and have them medically examined even if they seem well — symptoms appear with a delay.

Remember

Small areas: cool briefly with water of about 20 degrees, only if there is pain. Large areas: do not cool at all — cover with sterile material, keep warm, emergency call.

Typical mistake: The old rule “cool for at least twenty minutes” is still in many documents. With large-area burns it is dangerous.

Module 10 of 18

Documenting the first-aid measure

The note after the plaster is not paperwork — it is the ticket into the statutory accident insurance.

What must be documented

Under Section 24(6) of DGUV Vorschrift 1, every event in which first aid was given must be recorded — expressly including the smallest accident. Recorded are the name of the person affected, date and time, place, what happened, type of injury, the help given, and the names of helpers and witnesses.

With what

Usual are the reporting pad under DGUV Information 204-021 or a documentation form; electronic recording is also permitted if the details are secured equivalently. The formerly common term “Verbandbuch” (first-aid logbook) means the same thing.

Five years and data protection

The records must be kept for at least five years. They contain health data and must therefore be secured against access by unauthorised persons — a first-aid logbook lying openly on a shelf, in which everyone can read the entries of their colleagues, violates the General Data Protection Regulation (Art. 9 GDPR). A locked cabinet or an access-restricted file is mandatory.

The path after the accident

For an occupational accident that goes beyond a mere trifle, the path usually leads to the Durchgangsarzt (D-Arzt, accident insurance consultant) — a doctor specially approved for the statutory accident insurance. He decides on further treatment and reports to the accident insurance institution. If an employee is unfit for work for more than three days because of an occupational accident, the employer must additionally file an accident report under Section 193 SGB VII. Your part in this is small and still decisive: report the accident so that it is recorded at all.

Why this matters for you

If a small injury causes problems weeks later, the record is the proof that it happened at work. Without it, an occupational accident quickly becomes a private matter.

Remember

Record every first-aid measure, even the plaster. Keep for at least five years, locked away.

Module 11 of 18

How fires start — fire classes and extinguishing agents

Anyone who knows what is burning also knows what to extinguish it with — and what never to use.

The fire triangle

Fire needs three things at the same time: combustible material, oxygen and ignition energy, plus a suitable ratio. Every extinguishing method removes one of them — water cools below the ignition temperature, foam and fire blankets smother, powder interrupts the combustion reaction.

The fire classes

A fire extinguisher carries the classes it is approved for as symbols on its label.

The fat fire

The most important special case in everyday office life is fire class F. Water in burning fat evaporates explosively and carries the burning fat with it — a fat explosion with a flame several metres high. Correct is a fire extinguisher of class F or, if nothing else is available, a tightly fitting lid and switching off the heat source. A class A water extinguisher is also wrong here.

What each extinguisher can do

Water extinguisher: A only. Foam extinguisher: A and B, leaves less damage than powder. Powder extinguisher: A, B and C, very effective, but the fine powder spreads through the whole room and damages electronics. Carbon dioxide extinguisher: B, residue-free and therefore the right one in server rooms — but with caution in small rooms, because the gas displaces oxygen.

Remember

Fire classes A solid, B liquid, C gaseous, D metal, F cooking fat. Never water on a fat fire — fire extinguisher of class F.

Typical mistake: The most common expensive mistake is the powder extinguisher in the office: it extinguishes reliably and ruins every piece of electronics in the room in the process.

Module 12 of 18

Preventive fire protection in everyday work

Most fires in the office start at a socket or at an appliance someone forgot.

Electrical appliances

Coffee machines, kettles, fan heaters and chargers give off heat. They belong on a non-combustible surface and are supervised while in use. At the end of the day they are switched off, not just put into standby. Prefer appliances with automatic shut-off and with strain relief on the cable. Defective appliances and damaged cables are checked and repaired exclusively by a qualified electrician (Elektrofachkraft) — not by the handy colleague.

Power strips

Plugging several power strips in series is not permitted, even if there would still be reserve on paper: the contact resistances at the couplings heat up, and the fuse protects the cable, not the plug connection. Nor do adapter plugs belong in a wall socket. Damaged strips are replaced or checked by the qualified electrician.

Lithium-ion batteries

Batteries of notebooks, tools, e-bikes and power banks are a comparatively new cause of fire. Charge only with the matching charger, not on a combustible surface and not unsupervised overnight. A battery that deforms, smells or becomes unusually hot goes outdoors immediately. Burning lithium batteries can hardly be extinguished with ordinary extinguishers — here distance and the fire brigade count.

Tidiness as fire protection

Paper and cardboard stores next to heat sources, obstructed corridors, wedged fire doors: these are not trivialities but the reasons why an incipient fire becomes a building fire. Escape routes are always kept clear — more on this in module 15.

Remember

Do not plug power strips in series. Supervise and switch off appliances that give off heat. Defects are checked by the qualified electrician.

Typical mistake: A wedged fire door is not a convenience but cancels the fire compartment the building was built for.

Module 13 of 18

Using fire extinguishers correctly

A fire extinguisher is empty in twenty seconds. How you use those twenty seconds decides everything.

Operating

Pull the safety pin, point the hose or nozzle at the seat of the fire, press the knob or lever — and extinguish in bursts rather than in one go. Approach with the wind behind you and always so that you keep your way back behind you.

Extinguishing tactics

Extinguish from below and from the front into the embers, not from above into the flames. Surface fires from front to back, dripping and flowing fires from top to bottom. If several extinguishers are available, use them at the same time, not one after the other — this is the most effective difference from what most people do instinctively. And after extinguishing, watch the fire site: pockets of embers reignite.

Provision and inspection

How many extinguishers an area needs follows from the floor area and the fire hazard; ASR A2.2 converts this into extinguishing agent units — for 500 square metres, for example, 21 extinguishing agent units. As a rule only fire extinguishers with at least 6 extinguishing agent units count. From every point, the nearest fire extinguisher may be at most 20 metres of actual walking distance away, with increased fire hazard as a rule not more than 5 and at most 10 metres. The handle height is appropriately between 0.80 and 1.20 metres, marked with the fire safety sign F001 under ASR A1.3 (white extinguisher on a red background). Fire extinguishers are maintained every two years by a competent person (ASR A2.2 point 7.4.2) — in particular qualified persons under DIN 14406-4; the inspection date is on the tag. After every use — even after a short test burst — the extinguisher must be serviced again.

When not to

An extinguishing attempt is only worthwhile with an incipient fire and only if you feel safe and the escape route is clear. Everything else is the job of the fire brigade. Human lives always come first.

Remember

From below into the embers, in bursts, several extinguishers at the same time. Inspection every two years by a competent person.

Typical mistake: After every use the extinguisher goes for maintenance — even if it still looks full. An extinguisher that has been started loses pressure.

Module 14 of 18

Fire safety organisation in the company

In an emergency, what counts is not what the regulation says but whom you call and where you go.

Fire safety assistants

Under Section 10 of the Arbeitsschutzgesetz, the employer must appoint employees who take on fire-fighting tasks. For normal fire hazard, ASR A2.2 states in point 7.3: a share of five per cent of employees is usually sufficient. More are needed with increased fire hazard, with shift work, with large or confusing areas, and where many people unfamiliar with the premises are present. Absences due to holiday, illness and training must be taken into account.

Their training

DGUV Information 205-023 describes it: at least two teaching units of theory and a practical extinguishing exercise with a real or simulated extinguisher, in which every participant extinguishes a fire themselves. Since the 2025 amendment of ASR A2.2, the instruction of fire safety assistants expressly covers all available extinguishing equipment — including fat fire extinguishers and wall hydrants. For repetition there are two figures: DGUV Information 205-023 recommends three to five years, ASR A2.2 names two to five years as proven practice in the note to point 7.3 for normal fire hazard. Both are recommendations — the interval is set by the employer on the basis of the risk assessment.

Further roles

Larger companies or companies with increased fire hazard additionally have a fire safety officer (Brandschutzbeauftragter); since 2025, ASR A2.2 only contains the note that appointing one may be appropriate with increased fire hazard and that an obligation may arise from state law (such as building regulations or the building permit). Added to this are evacuation assistants and evacuation officers. Who these are in your company is stated in the fire safety regulations part B and on the notice board — and in the module “Procedure in our company” of this instruction.

Remember

Five per cent of employees as fire safety assistants with normal fire hazard. Training under DGUV Information 205-023 with a practical extinguishing exercise, repetition according to the risk assessment (recommendation: two to five years).

Module 15 of 18

Fire safety regulations and the escape and rescue plan

Two documents hang in almost every company, and almost nobody knows what they are for.

The fire safety regulations under DIN 14096

They have three parts.

The escape and rescue plan

It is a simplified, always coloured floor plan under DIN ISO 23601 and shows: the building layout, the course of the escape and rescue routes, the location of emergency exits, the location of emergency and rescue equipment such as fire alarms and first-aid facilities, the fire-fighting equipment such as fire extinguishers, the assembly points, the “you are here” position, rules of conduct and a legend of the symbols used. From your own position you can see which route is the right one for you.

Escape routes and emergency exits

Escape and rescue routes are the routes by which people can get themselves to safety in case of danger — without the help of the fire brigade. They must always be kept clear and must be neither obstructed nor locked; the requirements are in ASR A2.3. The roll container parked in the corridor is not a tidiness problem but a safety defect.

The signs

Emergency signs are white on a green background, fire safety signs white on a red background, each under DIN EN ISO 7010 and ASR A1.3. Learn the two that count: the emergency exit with the running person (E001/E002, with direction arrow) and the assembly point with the four inward-pointing arrows (E007).

Remember

Fire safety regulations part A for everyone in the building including visitors, part B for employees, part C for persons with special tasks.

Typical mistake: Escape routes must always be kept clear — not only when there is no second way out.

Module 16 of 18

Case study: behaviour in case of fire and evacuation

A case study that shows the order of things — and here the order is everything.

The order

Stay calm. Raise the alarm — press the fire alarm or call 112, stating exactly where and how big, and wait for questions. Warn endangered persons and take them with you, close doors but do not lock them. Only then, and only with an incipient fire, an extinguishing attempt. If the attempt fails or the fire grows: leave the area. Rescuing human lives always comes before fighting the fire.

On the way out

Use the marked escape and rescue routes, never the lifts — they can stop on the fire floor or lose power. Smoke and heat rise, so move bent low; the air near the floor is noticeably better. Stop people with burning clothes from running, wrap them in blankets or jackets and roll them on the floor; a fire extinguisher also works, but not in the face.

At the assembly point

The assembly point is outside the building. There everyone reports to their supervisor so that it can be established whether everyone has left the building. Anyone who is missing someone reports it immediately and as precisely as possible: name, where the person was last seen. This information goes to the fire brigade's incident commander. And: nobody goes back into the building, not even for a coat, laptop or car keys.

The case study: fat fire in the kitchenette

The situation: fat is burning in a pan in the kitchenette; a colleague has burned her hand and is holding it under cold water.

The decision path:

Anyone who reverses the order and treats the wound first while the pan is burning has turned an incipient fire into a kitchen fire.

Remember

Alert, warn, rescue — extinguish only an incipient fire. Rescuing human lives comes before fighting the fire. Do not use lifts.

Typical mistake: The assembly point only serves its purpose if everyone reports there. Anyone who drives home unnoticed triggers a search in the burning building.

Module 17 of 18

Procedure in our company

Your company completes this module. The general part of this instruction ends here — what follows, only your company knows. No online course can tell you where your fire extinguisher hangs.

These details belong here:

For management

When completing this, check the figures from modules 3 and 14: is the number of first aiders (5 % in administration and trade, 10 % elsewhere) and of fire safety assistants (usually 5 %) sufficient even when holidays, illness and shift work coincide? If a line of this table stays empty, that is the result of this instruction you can make the most of.

Module 18 of 18

Keeping records and repetition

Finally, the question asked in the audit: how do you prove that this instruction took place?

What makes the record

An instruction must be documented. The record consists of the date, the names of the participants, the content of the instruction and proof of participation. Your certificate contains exactly that: name, course title, date, result, the training contents and a certificate number with which its authenticity can be verified. The record is kept by the employer; keep a copy for your own files as well.

How often

At least once a year, and in addition when hired, when transferred, when new work equipment or procedures are introduced, and after special incidents. For first aid and fire protection the annual rhythm is usual and sensible, because both are rarely needed and therefore quickly forgotten.

Who must take part

All employees, expressly including part-time staff, apprentices, temporary helpers and temporary agency workers. Contractors on the premises must at least be instructed on local hazards and escape routes.

If you remain unsure

This instruction conveys knowledge, not hand skills. If you notice that you do not feel confident about resuscitation, that is not a shortcoming of this course but its most important result: sign up for a first-aider course. Nine teaching units, one morning, and the costs are borne by the accident insurance institution. The same applies to fire protection: having once set off a fire extinguisher yourself changes behaviour in an emergency more than any text you have read.

What you should take with you

Three things you should know without looking them up: 112 and the five W questions, Check — Call — Compress, and the way to the assembly point. Everything else you can look up. Not these three, because when you need them you have no time to look them up.

Remember

Record of an instruction: date, participants, content, proof of participation — kept by the employer. Repetition at least once a year.

Final test

22 questions, one correct answer each. You need 16 correct answers to pass (70 %). Scoring happens on the server — there is no answer key on this page.

Your result