Legal and Ethical Considerations

Duty of Care

As a workplace first aider:

• Duty of care to assist someone at risk
• If in doubt call for help
• Remember – priority is safety.

As a member of the public/non-workplace situation:

• You do not have a duty of care to assist someone at risk
• Your duty of care starts when you decide to intervene, similar to providing first aid to a casualty.

Source: Safe Work Australia, 2019.

Do we have a moral obligation?

• You know the identity of someone who has committed a serious crime resulting in a person being badly injured
• Are you morally obliged to reveal their identity to an appropriate authority so that they are dealt with justly?
• You pass someone in the street who is in severe need and you are able to help them at little cost.

Implementing Self-Care Practices

Below are some tips on self-care:

• Do a self-check
• Reevaluate how you coped with a situation
• Do you feel comfortable with how you helped someone today?
• Do you need to reach out to someone?
• Look for signs or acute stress.