Sport First Aid or EFAW: which suits coaches and volunteers?

Once a club decides to train people, it usually faces a choice between a sport-focused course and the Emergency First Aid at Work qualification. This article compares what each covers, who each one is for, and where your governing body’s own course fits.

5 minutes

A trainer points to an AED training unit on a clubhouse table while four club volunteers watch, with two open first aid kits in front of them.

THE SHORT ANSWER

Choose by role: pitchside responder, staff first-aider, or both

Both courses take a day. Sport First Aid is built for the people who respond when someone is hurt at training or on match day. It covers concussion, sprains, fractures, spinal injuries, heat exhaustion and hypothermia, alongside CPR for adults and children and using a defibrillator.

Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) is a regulated workplace qualification. Choose it for anyone your club relies on as a first-aider for its employees, such as bar or ground staff. Some people need both.

If your governing body runs its own first aid course for coaches, look at that first. It may be the best fit for your volunteers.

What each course is for

If you’re still deciding whether your club needs a first-aider at all, start with does my sports club need a first-aider?

Sport First Aid is our one-day course for coaches, team managers, PE staff and volunteers. It’s built around sporting situations: assessing a player on the pitch, deciding what to do first, and looking after them until help arrives. Learners practise CPR for adults and children. It leads to the Northlight Sport First Aid Certificate, which isn’t a regulated qualification. We recommend refreshing it every three years, in line with workplace first aid. We run it at your club or venue for up to 12 people.

Emergency First Aid at Work is the STA Level 3 Award in Emergency First Aid at Work. It’s a regulated qualification designed for the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982, and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) describes EFAW and First Aid at Work as the building blocks of workplace first aid training. It’s assessed by practical observation and a short theory paper, and the certificate lasts three years. You can book it as a public course or at your workplace.

What they share and where they differ

Both courses cover the emergencies that matter most in the first few minutes: assessing a casualty, the recovery position, CPR, using a defibrillator, shock and severe bleeding. The differences are in what surrounds that core.

Topic	Sport First Aid	Emergency First Aid at Work
Qualification	Northlight certificate, not regulated	STA Level 3 Award, regulated
CPR	Adults and children	Adults
Head injuries and concussion	Covered, including checking a player’s awareness pitchside	Not covered
Sprains, strains, fractures and dislocations	Covered, including slings	Not covered
Spinal injuries	Covered	Not covered
Heat exhaustion and hypothermia	Covered	Not covered
Chest pain, including heart attack	Covered	Not covered
Choking	Not covered	Covered
Seizures	Not covered	Covered
Minor burns and scalds	Not covered	Covered
Minor injuries	Minor bleeding and splinters	Cuts, grazes, bruises, splinters and nosebleeds
Recording incidents and preventing infection	Not covered in depth	Covered

Topic: Qualification
Sport First Aid: Northlight certificate, not regulated
Emergency First Aid at Work: STA Level 3 Award, regulated

Topic: CPR
Sport First Aid: Adults and children
Emergency First Aid at Work: Adults

Topic: Head injuries and concussion
Sport First Aid: Covered, including checking a player’s awareness pitchside
Emergency First Aid at Work: Not covered

Topic: Sprains, strains, fractures and dislocations
Sport First Aid: Covered, including slings
Emergency First Aid at Work: Not covered

Topic: Spinal injuries
Sport First Aid: Covered
Emergency First Aid at Work: Not covered

Topic: Heat exhaustion and hypothermia
Sport First Aid: Covered
Emergency First Aid at Work: Not covered

Topic: Chest pain, including heart attack
Sport First Aid: Covered
Emergency First Aid at Work: Not covered

Topic: Choking
Sport First Aid: Not covered
Emergency First Aid at Work: Covered

Topic: Seizures
Sport First Aid: Not covered
Emergency First Aid at Work: Covered

Topic: Minor burns and scalds
Sport First Aid: Not covered
Emergency First Aid at Work: Covered

Topic: Minor injuries
Sport First Aid: Minor bleeding and splinters
Emergency First Aid at Work: Cuts, grazes, bruises, splinters and nosebleeds

Topic: Recording incidents and preventing infection
Sport First Aid: Not covered in depth
Emergency First Aid at Work: Covered

Sources: Northlight course content for both courses, checked 23 Oct 2026. EFAW content follows the STA Level 3 specification.

So neither course is simply the stronger one. Sport First Aid goes further on the injuries you see at training and matches. EFAW is narrower on sports injuries but covers the workplace basics, such as burns, choking and seizures, and it’s the qualification built for looking after employees.

Three people, three decisions

Suppose a volunteer coaches an under-14 rugby team. The club has no duty to her under the workplace Regulations, and what she needs is to deal with injuries at the side of the pitch and recognise a concussion. Sport First Aid fits. So does the IRFU’s SAFE Rugby Level 1 course, which its concussion guide tells coaches to attend, so we’d check whether her branch has one coming up first.

Now suppose the same club’s bar manager is also the person it relies on as a first-aider for its 5 employees. The role has changed, even if the building hasn’t. A first-aider for employees calls for EFAW, or First Aid at Work if the club’s needs assessment says so. Our guide to choosing EFAW or FAW explains that decision. EFAW also covers minor burns and scalds, which matter behind a bar or in a kitchen.

Finally, suppose a youth football club wants one volunteer to cover training and to look after its part-time groundskeeper. For a single part-time employee, an appointed person and a stocked kit may be enough. If the club’s needs assessment says the groundskeeper needs a trained first-aider, that volunteer needs what both courses offer: they could do both, or the club could split the roles between 2 people.

Where governing body courses fit

Some governing bodies run their own first aid courses for coaches and volunteers:

SAFE Rugby Level 1 (IRFU) is a one-day course for coaches, club officials, referees and parents. It covers basic life support and defibrillator use, the unconscious player, head and neck injuries, concussion, fractures, common medical emergencies and match-day preparation.
The Gaelic Games and RNLI Basic First Aid course (GAA) is a full day for adults without a medical background, including parents, coaches, players and match officials.

If your sport recommends its own course, it’s usually a good fit for coaches, because it’s built around that sport’s injuries and rules. Check what it leads to before you rely on it for anything else, such as first aid for club staff.

If you play in the NIFL Championship or Women’s Premiership, the Irish FA’s licensing requires a first-aider with a current certificate from “an accredited provider”. The manual doesn’t define that term, so ask the Irish FA which certificates it accepts before you book.

Can Sport First Aid count as workplace first aid?

HSENI says a workplace first-aider can hold First Aid at Work, Emergency First Aid at Work, or other first aid training appropriate to the circumstances. In principle, that leaves room for a sport-focused course. In practice, the club would have to show why it’s appropriate for its employees, and Sport First Aid doesn’t cover burns, choking or seizures. So we’d keep Sport First Aid, or your governing body’s course, for the people who look after players, and use the regulated courses for staff.