Health and Safety - First Aid

The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require employers to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and personnel to enable first aid to be given to employees if they are injured or become ill at work. What is adequate and appropriate will depend on the circumstances in your workplace and you should assess what your first aid needs are. The minimum first-aid provision on any work site is:

• A suitably stocked first-aid box

• An appointed person to take charge of first-aid arrangements

It is also important to remember that accidents can happen at any time. First-aid provision needs to be available to staff at all times.

First aid box

There is no standard list of items to put in a first aid box. However, as a guide, and where there is no special risk in the workplace, a minimum stock of first aid items would be:

• 20 individually wrapped sterile adhesive dressings (assorted sizes)

• Two sterile eye pads

• Four individually wrapped triangular bandages (preferably sterile)

• Six safety pins

• Six medium sized (approximately 12cm x 12cm) individually wrapped sterile unmedicated wound dressings

• Two large (approximately 18cm x 18cm) sterile individually wrapped unmedicated wound dressings

• One pair of disposable gloves

Tablets or medicines should not be kept in the first aid box.

For further information please contact the Environmental Health office using the details below.