How to Obtain the SST Authorisation for Your Training Organisation in 2026

Workplace first aid — SST, for sauveteur secouriste du travail — is a market many French training organisations eye with envy: demand driven by regulation, corporate clients, renewal every two years. It is also one of the few training fields you cannot simply enter: you must be authorised by the health-insurance occupational-risks network (Assurance Maladie – Risques professionnels) and the INRS, France’s national occupational-safety research institute. Here is how to obtain that authorisation in 2026.

What the authorisation allows — and what it demands

The SST authorisation is a national permission: it lets you deliver SST courses (the initial course and the refresher known as MAC, for maintien-actualisation des compétences) and issue SST certificates, which are registered in the Répertoire spécifique (France’s register of complementary-skill certifications) and valid for 24 months.

In return, the authorised organisation commits to the scheme’s reference document, published by the INRS: minimum durations (14 hours for the initial course, 7 hours for the MAC), competency and certification frameworks, session organisation rules, and full administration of the activity in the national FORPREV tool.

The key point: without authorisation, any “SST course” you sell leads to no valid certificate. To understand why this kind of framework stacks with Qualiopi rather than replacing it, see our article on regulated safety courses (SST, CACES®, electrical work).

Condition 1: a certified, up-to-date SST trainer

This is the heart of the file. Your organisation must have at least one SST trainer holding the trainer certificate, obtained after a 56-hour course delivered by the INRS or an entity authorised for trainer training. That certificate is valid for 36 months and is maintained through a 21-hour trainer refresher.

Two routes are open to you:

• Train a member of your team. Prerequisites: holding a valid SST certificate and having completed the INRS online self-training module « Bases en prévention des risques professionnels » (basics of occupational-risk prevention). Then count the 8 days of trainer training.
• Hire or contract a trainer who is already certified. Faster, provided you verify the certificate’s validity and secure the contractual relationship — our article on the SST trainer pathway weighs both options.

Condition 2: the means to run compliant sessions

SST training is above all practical: case scenarios, simulations, hands-on rescue techniques. Your file must show you have suitable teaching equipment (manikins, a training defibrillator, simulation material) and premises that allow practice, in line with the reference document.

This is not mere red tape. Research shows that first-aid training owes its effectiveness to its active dimension: a study by Helen Lingard published in 2002 in the Journal of Safety Research observed, among construction workers given first-aid training, a measurable improvement in prevention behaviours — wearing protective equipment, securing work at height. A well-equipped SST course produces effects beyond emergency response, and that is exactly what the scheme is designed to guarantee.

The FORPREV application, step by step

The scheme’s entire administrative life runs through FORPREV, the prevention network’s national platform:

1. Create your entity’s account (legal identity, contact details, file manager).
2. Assemble the file: presentation of your organisation, identification of your certified SST trainer(s), evidence of your capacity to run courses according to the reference document.
3. Submit the authorisation request for the “SST training” domain. It is examined by the prevention network.
4. Once approved, your authorisation is recorded: you can declare sessions, close them and issue certificates in the tool.

The authorisation is granted for a limited period and renewed upon request: note the expiry date the day you obtain it. Day-to-day use of the platform — declaring sessions, closing them, issuing certificates — is covered in our FORPREV walkthrough.

Where does Qualiopi fit in?

The SST authorisation and Qualiopi answer two different questions. The authorisation: “am I allowed to train in SST and issue the certificate?”. Qualiopi: “can my courses be paid for with public or pooled funds?”. If your clients have their SST courses funded by their OPCO (sector skills body) — a very common case — you need both.

The good news: the rigour the SST scheme demands (session traceability, trainer qualification, frameworks) feeds your quality evidence directly. Use our guide to the 32 indicators to capitalise on what the SST scheme already requires of you.

The real cost items (and the ones people forget)

There is no single “SST authorisation price” to quote: the budget depends on your starting point. The items to provision are:

• Certifying the trainer, if you have none: the price of the 56-hour trainer course varies between the entities that deliver it — get several quotes rather than trusting a figure read online. Add the payroll cost of 8 days away and, upstream, the initial SST course and the « Bases en prévention » module if your candidate starts from zero.
• Teaching equipment: manikins (adult, child, infant depending on your scenarios), a training defibrillator, simulation material and consumables to replace.
• Time to build the file: reading the reference document, assembling the FORPREV application, bringing your materials into compliance.
• Recurring costs, often left out of profitability maths: the 21-hour trainer refresher every 36 months, equipment upkeep and the administrative time of session management.

Set these costs against the potential: an activity that is recurring by design, where every certified trainee comes back every 24 months for their refresher.

Classic pitfalls in the application

• Applying without a valid certified trainer: the file will not pass; fix this first.
• Underestimating the reference document: it is the authority on durations, frameworks and session organisation; read the current version before building your offer.
• Communicating too early: listing an “SST course” in your catalogue before authorisation exposes you legally and commercially.
• Forgetting the funding side: without Qualiopi, no OPCO coverage, even when authorised.

Take action

The SST authorisation is built in order: the trainer, the equipment, the FORPREV file, then launch. Our SST authorisation page condenses the scheme onto one page and gives you access to our complete guide for working through each step without missteps.