PDSP card: two steps, and a 60-day limit

If you are still searching for “PDSB”, that is expected: ASSTSAS replaced Principes de déplacement sécuritaire des bénéficiaires with Principes pour le déplacement sécuritaire de personnes — PDSP. The PDSB accreditations (SFR1, SFR2) are no longer offered.

The change is more than an acronym. The card now comes in two stages, and a short deadline sits between them.

Two steps, not one

ASSTSAS puts it plainly: anyone who wants a PDSP card must complete two steps.

The part many people miss: the preliminary attestation is not the card. ASSTSAS states this explicitly on its course page. It only proves the online portion was completed and the test passed.

The 60-day limit

This is the rule that costs the most to overlook. Between passing the online test and starting the practical, ASSTSAS asks that the gap be as short as possible and no longer than 60 days. The monitor must verify that each participant’s attestation was issued 60 days or less before the practice begins.

Past that point nothing is lost, but some work must be redone: the participant keeps access to the online course file for one year, reviews the content and retakes the test, then receives a new attestation with a current date.

In practice this means one thing: book your practical day before taking the theory, or right after.

What the practical day looks like

ASSTSAS sets standards for the monitor rather than a fixed timetable:

• Eight participants maximum per monitor — the association favours one-on-one or small-group teaching;
• Seven hours to cover the mandatory content with a group of eight, in a training room. Actual length varies with group size, setting and skill level;
• the practice may run in a single day or be split across several days, over a maximum of four weeks.

Who may take the theory — and how

This is where many people hit a wall. The ASSTSAS theory course is free, but access has changed: it is no longer offered directly to workers. It is offered to social-affairs-sector organisations that contribute to ASSTSAS or hold an agreement with it, and the employer must request enrolment by writing to [email protected].

So if you work for an establishment in that sector, go through your employer. If you are a family caregiver, a health student, an attendant in a private residence or in home care, that route is closed to you — which is why providers offer the full path, theory and practice together.

Who the training is for

ASSTSAS addresses workers who provide direct care or services to people, their managers, those who prescribe care, and those responsible for prevention in the establishment. The stated goal is to protect yourself against musculoskeletal-disorder risks during care and person handling — the leading source of injury in the sector.

How long is the card valid?

ASSTSAS does not publish a validity period for the worker’s card. We looked: neither the course page, nor the monitor’s guide, nor the competency-card section sets one. The three years sometimes quoted apply to the monitor’s accreditation, not the participant’s card.

So do not rely on a number read in passing. Two reliable answers: your employer, who often sets a refresh interval in its own prevention programme, and ASSTSAS itself. An accredited monitor can also tell you what applies in your setting.

PDSP does not replace first aid

A common confusion. PDSP addresses one specific risk — injuring yourself while moving a person — and concerns the caregiver as much as the person being cared for. It does not stand in for first aid training, nor for a workplace first aider card. The two meet different needs and add to each other.

See PDSP course dates, or training for care staff.

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Facts verified on 21 September 2026 with ASSTSAS: the “PDSP – Volet théorique” course page, the training FAQ, and the 2024 monitor’s guide on standards for practising safe handling methods and issuing a PDSP card. We report only what ASSTSAS publishes itself.