First aid and CPR requirements for care workers (and how often to renew)
First aid certificates last three years, but the CPR component must be renewed every year. Here is what care workers and providers need to track.
First aid and CPR are among the most common credentials in care, and also among the most commonly let lapse. The reason is a quirk most workers do not realise until it catches them out: a first aid certificate and its CPR component expire on different schedules. This guide explains the rules and how to stay on top of them.
Two clocks, not one
A standard Provide First Aid certificate (HLTAID011) is generally valid for three years. But the CPR component (HLTAID009) must be renewed every 12 months.
That means a worker can hold a first aid certificate that is technically still within its three-year window while the CPR component inside it has already lapsed. To an employer checking compliance, that worker is no longer current.
Why CPR renews every year
CPR technique and confidence decay quickly without practice. Annual refreshers are the sector standard because, in an emergency, out-of-date CPR is a real safety risk. The Australian Resuscitation Council sets the guidelines that underpin this annual currency expectation. Treat the 12-month CPR clock as the one that matters most.
What each sector expects
The base certificates are the same, but the context differs:
- Aged Care and disability: Provide First Aid (HLTAID011) plus current CPR (HLTAID009) is the common expectation for direct-care roles. Clinical roles may have additional requirements.
- Childcare: education and care settings generally require HLTAID012, Provide First Aid in an education and care setting, which covers child-specific scenarios such as anaphylaxis and asthma emergencies. The annual CPR renewal still applies.
Always check the specific requirement for your role and setting, as employers and regulators can require more.
Reviewed, not verified
A first aid or CPR certificate is a training record. Koora reviews it, confirming the certificate is genuine, current and matches the worker, rather than verifying it against an authoritative register (which is the term we reserve for checks like AHPRA, state Working With Children Check portals, or government ban registers). For the difference, see the worker screening and compliance pillar.
The expiry trap, and how to avoid it
The annual CPR clock is where compliance most often slips. A certificate that looked fine at hire can have an expired CPR component a year later, and nobody notices until an audit or an incident.
For workers, the fix is to track the CPR date separately and book a refresher before it lapses. For providers, tracking two dates per worker across a whole team by hand is exactly where spreadsheets fail. Koora tracks both the first aid and CPR expiry dates on each worker's Career Passport and flags them before they lapse, so a current-looking certificate with stale CPR does not slip through. The provider still holds the responsibility to sight and act on the credential; Koora makes the expiry impossible to miss. See worker compliance tracking for providers for the wider picture.
This is general information, not compliance advice. Always confirm requirements with the relevant regulator, and remember that providers keep the legal responsibility to sight credentials and decide who can work.
We work hard to keep it accurate, but the rules change and we will not always get every detail right. If you think something here needs updating, email us at resources@koora.care. We would genuinely rather know, because we all do better when we help each other get it right.
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