Section 201. Members of police and fire departments, members of the state police participating in highway patrol, persons appointed permanent or temporary lifeguards by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions, and members of emergency reserve units of a volunteer fire department or fire protection district shall be trained to administer first aid, including, but not limited to, cardiopulmonary resuscitation by July first, nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, including those appointed on or after January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six and may be trained in automatic or semi-automatic cardiac defibrillation. The training shall meet the standards for first aid training prescribed by the department and shall not be less than the standards established by the Committee on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiac Care of the American Heart Association, and shall be satisfactorily completed by them as soon as practical, but in no event more than one year after the date of their employment. Satisfactory completion of a refresher course approved by the department in cardiopulmonary resuscitation each year and in other first aid every three years shall also be required. The training and equipment for automatic or semi-automatic cardiac defibrillation shall meet standards prescribed by the department.

The department shall coordinate the provision, by county, of training required by this section. Such training shall be provided at no cost to the trainee.

This section shall not apply to police officers, fire fighters and persons engaged in police and fire work whose duties are primarily clerical or administrative.