First-aid training not only makes good safety sense, but various compliance requirements call for rapid first-aid response. Compliance requirements come through the U.S. Department of Labor for both OSHA and its sister agency, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). For those working in maritime occupations, there is the U.S. Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), issued by the National Maritime Center of the U.S. Coast Guard. Additionally, British Columbia, Canada, has a Health Emergency Act, Emergency Medical Assistants regulation, that outlines the requirements for first responder and industrial first-aid training with various levels of competency.

Each agency has its own standards and its own time-oriented limits (rather than performance-oriented) for certification or completion. The standards are national in scope for the specific industry. There is no one national "standard" for all industries.