May 1 2021
Wellbeing

First Aid (Mental Health) Bill

Dean Russell MP (Conservative member for Watford and Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Mental Health) tabled a Ten-Minute Rule Bill on 23 March entitled ‘First Aid (Mental Health) Bill’. The Bill aims to make mental health first-aid part of regular physical first-aid training requirements. The training would provide the skills for the first aider to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue.

The context for this bill is:

  1. Mental health issues are on the rise, exacerbated by the COVID pandemic
  2. As workers gradually return to their normal workplace, there is a need to ensure employers can adequately provide a form of mental first aid to identify any potential difficulties
  3. The responsibility for first aid requirements falls on the employer under the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981
  4. Encouraging employers to include mental-health first aid as part of first-aid training requirements is an option, but this would likely not be taken up by most employers, as there continues to be a stigma around mental health in the workplace. Legislative changes are therefore required to ensure that people get the help they need.

While the First Aid (Mental Health) Bill has passed its first reading in the House of Commons, it should be noted that Ten-Minute Rule Bills rarely end up becoming law.  A second reading of the Bill has not yet taken place.

Wellbeing roundtable

To formally launch the next stage of our wellbeing campaign, the British Safety Council is organising a virtual Wellbeing Roundtable on 11 May. The aim of the roundtable is to discuss our campaign (based on theory of change) with a wider group of stakeholders, including political, industry, the regulator, unions, and business representatives. Our Chairman, Lawrence Waterman OBE, will chair the event. Confirmed attendees include the Shadow Health Minister, a former Health Minister, the Health and Safety Executive, several business representative bodies and the trade unions as well as businesses themselves. A report of the roundtable will be available in due course.