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AMedP-7.2

AMedP-7.2 CBRN first aid handbook

The national authority or contractor organising CBRN first aid training, and the personnel who deliver that first aid under a NATO nation's programme

AMedP-7.2 is the NATO handbook that sets a common approach to first aid in a CBRN environment, agreed by nations through STANAG 2358, for personnel providing care from the point of exposure until handover to medical treatment.

Edition
A
Published
2026-07

What it is

AMedP-7.2 is the NATO Allied Medical Publication that sets a common approach to first aid for a casualty in a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) environment. It is written for the people who actually provide that care: non-medical personnel on operations, and medical personnel working in a non-permissive environment (a "hot zone") before it is safe to bring forward fuller medical treatment. The handbook covers that care from the point of exposure until the casualty is handed over to medical personnel at a casualty collection or exchange point; what happens after handover, and the detailed medical management of a CBRN incident, sit in a companion publication, AMedP-7.1.

Nations record their agreement to use AMedP-7.2 in STANAG 2358. The edition in front of us is Edition A, Version 2, promulgated in July 2026, effective on receipt, and it replaces Edition A, Version 1. It sits alongside a wider family of CBRN medical publications, including the overarching medical support doctrine, AJMedP-7, and the standards for training medical personnel in CBRN defence (AMedP-7.3), mental healthcare during deployment (AMedP-8.6), first aid dressings and kits (AMedP-8.7), and training in casualty care for all military personnel (AMedP-8.15).

Who is responsible for what

The handbook is explicit about where responsibility sits, and the lines matter because they are not all held by the same people. First aid, and getting a casualty out of a hazardous area, is a unit-level responsibility until the casualty is handed over to medical personnel; after that, responsibility passes to the medical support organisation. Casualty decontamination varies between nations and depends on agreement and rehearsal built into operational and mission planning. Fatality management is described as an executive and logistic function rather than a medical one. How CBRN first aid training is organised, and who delivers it, is left to national policy: medical services may run it, depending on the nation, either as special-to-role training or as part of pre-deployment preparation.

Two levels of training

The handbook distinguishes a basic (generalist) level of CBRN first aid, expected of all personnel deploying on CBRN defensive operations, from an Enhanced First Aid (EFA) level for personnel in specialist or higher-risk roles, or where operational constraints call for it. Annex A sets out a competency framework for both levels and the conditions training should be delivered under, covering the pre-hospital environment, a casualty decontamination area, and a Role 1 medical facility, across land, maritime and air operations. What that framework does not do is prescribe how a nation runs the training itself: individual scopes of practice remain a national responsibility.

The structure of the document

Three chapters carry the substance. Chapter 1 sets the aim, context and scope, lists the related documents, and states the responsibilities and training levels described above. Chapter 2 sets out the principles a nation's training has to reflect: the functional zones casualty care moves through as a hazard is present or absent, the priorities for first aid, the fact that every casualty in a CBRN environment is assessed individually rather than only when there are multiple casualties, how the hazards a casualty carries are managed, and how a casualty is evacuated and handed over. Chapter 3 works through recognising that an incident has happened, the initial reporting a unit makes, and assessment and first aid organised by domain, chemical, biological, radiological, trauma, heat-related and psychological casualties, each with its own handover requirement. The clinical detail behind each of those domains is the publication's own content, written for the trained provider it addresses.

Seven annexes turn the principles into things a nation has to plan for and hold: training requirements and the competency framework (Annex A), first aid materiel requirements (Annex B), casualty protective equipment (Annex C), training materiel (Annex D), initial casualty management guidance (Annex E), a standard casualty handover and report form (Annex F), and a lexicon of the abbreviations the handbook uses (Annex G).

What an auditor actually asks for

AMedP-7.2 names no certification scheme, and nothing in the document describes a third party auditing an organisation against it. What it does create is a training record: who has completed basic CBRN first aid, who holds the enhanced level, when, and against which edition of the handbook. That record, and the internal procedure that says how a unit or contractor organises CBRN first aid training, is the evidence there is to show, because the handbook itself sets no assessment mechanism of its own beyond national training and readiness programmes.

What it does not cover

AMedP-7.2 is explicit about its own limits. Specific CBRN incident management, as opposed to first aid, sits in AMedP-7.1. First aid for military working dogs sits in AMedP-8.4, under STANAG 2538. And the handbook's clinical content, what a trained first aid provider recognises and does for a casualty, is written for that provider, not for a compliance audience, and belongs in the handbook itself rather than in a summary of it.

How we help

AMedP-7.2 is a NATO first aid handbook. The training and the care it describes are delivered by trained personnel in the field, and ComplyTrain does not provide CBRN or medical training content, and is not a substitute for it.

Where the handbook does create something an organisation can evidence is the training record it implies: who has completed basic CBRN first aid, who holds the Enhanced First Aid level, when each was last current, and against which edition of the handbook the training was set. ComplyTrain can hold that record, alongside the internal procedure a unit or contractor writes to say how it organises CBRN first aid training and who is responsible for it, so a customer or a national authority can see who is trained rather than take it on trust.

It does not deliver, design or assess CBRN first aid training, and it does not touch the handbook's clinical content, materiel or protective equipment. What applies, and which related publications come with it, is set by the contract or the national training requirement in front of you. See the standards explorer for what sits alongside AMedP-7.2, or talk to us about the training record itself.

Standards it references

Questions

Is AMedP-7.2 mandatory?

Not on its own. Nations record their agreement to apply it through STANAG 2358, and a nation can ratify a STANAG with reservations, so whether it binds a specific unit or contractor depends on that nation's own implementation and on what a contract or training requirement actually asks for.

What is the difference between AMedP-7.2 and AMedP-7.1?

AMedP-7.2 is the first aid handbook: what non-medical personnel, or medical personnel in a non-permissive environment, do from the point of exposure until a casualty is handed over. AMedP-7.1 covers the fuller medical management of CBRN casualties and incidents that follows, and AMedP-7.2 says its own principles are underpinned by AMedP-7.1.

Is there a certification for AMedP-7.2?

No. The handbook names no certification scheme, third-party or otherwise. Compliance is a matter of national training and readiness programmes, evidenced through training records rather than an external audit.

What is CBRN Enhanced First Aid (EFA)?

It is the higher of the two training levels the handbook describes, for personnel in specialist or higher-risk CBRN roles, or where operational constraints call for it, on top of the basic level expected of everyone deploying on CBRN defensive operations. AMedP-7.2's own Annex A sets out the competency framework for both levels.

What edition of AMedP-7.2 is current?

Edition A, Version 2, promulgated in July 2026, effective on receipt. It replaces Edition A, Version 1, which nations are to destroy under their own document-destruction procedures.