The Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) is asking the industry to research into the necessity of all level 2 and 3 instructors having to hold a current CPR certificate as a condition of registration.

Unofficial feedback has shown that some members and operators feel their time and energies would be better spent on more general first aid training.

The Health and Safety Executive do not have separate recognition of CPR, and in many countries only medical practitioners can use CPR.

Registrar Cliff Collins said: “Most people can understand the need for lifeguards to have CPR and resuscitation skills to deal with drowning accidents but feedback from our members would suggest that the need for those same skills on the gym floor is, at best, limited.

“From this feedback we decided it would be interesting to conduct a more structured survey into what first aid skills, if any, both employers and employees feel would be best suited to different levels of membership.

It would also be helpful for us to have any statistics of accidents or injuries that have happened during training sessions or in gyms and health clubs to analyse in tandem with any feedback we may get.”

Photograph: Sharon Dominick, www.istock.com