First Aid in the Workplace

First aid at work in Great Britain is governed by the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981. Under these Regulations, every employer must provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities, and personnel so that employees can be given immediate help if they are injured or taken ill at work. The HSE’s Approved Code of Practice and guidance (L74) explain how to meet the duty in practice.

This page is not legal advice. For specific compliance questions, consult a qualified health and safety advisor or lawyer.

A needs-assessment approach — no fixed ratios

The First-Aid Regulations deliberately do not set rigid statutory ratios of first-aiders to employees. Instead, the duty is to make a first-aid needs assessment and provide what is adequate and appropriate to the circumstances. What is adequate for a small low-risk office is very different from what is needed on a construction site or in a chemical plant.

The HSE’s guidance gives indicative numbers to help, but the legal requirement is that your own assessment drives the provision — not a fixed formula.

The first-aid needs assessment

To decide what is adequate, you should assess factors including:

The nature of the work and the workplace hazards and risks
The size of the organisation and the number of employees
The work patterns — shifts, out-of-hours working, lone working
The distribution of the workforce across sites and the distance from emergency medical services
The needs of travelling, remote, or lone workers
Employees with disabilities or particular health conditions
Cover for annual leave and absence of first-aiders
Whether members of the public are present (not legally covered, but good practice to consider)

You should record the assessment and review it whenever circumstances change.

SteadyOn support: Store your first-aid needs assessment in the Documents module and review it on a schedule. Record any first-aid-related hazards (for example, remote working) in the Hazard Register so the controls — including first-aid provision — are visible.

Equipment and facilities

You must provide adequate and appropriate first-aid equipment — at minimum, a suitably stocked first-aid kit (the contents of a BS 8599 kit are a useful benchmark, but the kit should be appropriate to your assessed needs). Larger or higher-risk workplaces may need additional equipment and, where appropriate, a dedicated first-aid room.

Kits should be checked regularly to ensure contents are in date and replenished after use.

SteadyOn support: Use the Inspections module (First Aid Readiness template) to schedule and record first-aid kit checks. The BRAG status will flag when a scheduled check is overdue.

Appointed persons and first-aiders

The Regulations distinguish two roles:

Appointed person — someone who takes charge when there is an injury or illness (for example calls the emergency services and looks after the first-aid equipment). An appointed person is the minimum for a low-risk workplace where the assessment shows a trained first-aider is not necessary. An appointed person does not need first-aid training.
First-aider — someone who has completed a recognised first-aid training course and holds a current certificate, and so can give first aid.

Where your needs assessment shows it, you must provide one or more trained first-aiders.

First-aid qualifications

Qualification	Suitable for
Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) — 1 day	Lower-risk workplaces; basic emergency cover
First Aid at Work (FAW) — 3 days	Higher-risk workplaces; broader range of injuries and illnesses
Annual refresher (CPR/AED)	Recommended for all first-aiders between certificates

First-aid certificates (both EFAW and FAW) are valid for three years, after which the first-aider must requalify. The HSE strongly recommends an annual refresher in between to keep skills current.

SteadyOn support: Add a Training Course called “First Aid at Work” (set the validity to 36 months to match the certificate) and enrol your trained first-aiders. Define a Role called “First Aider” with the course as a Requirement. Each enrollment’s BRAG status is calculated automatically:

Green — current and within the comfort window.
Amber — expiring soon (default 30 days).
Red — expired.
Blue — no expiry date or non-Passed status.

Open the First Aider role’s detail page to see who fills it and which assigned people have a gap (i.e. no current certificate).

Inspections and record-keeping

While the Regulations do not prescribe specific records, being able to demonstrate that:

First-aid kits were checked and adequately stocked
First-aiders’ certificates were current
First-aid provision was reviewed as the workforce or workplace changed

…is essential if an incident occurs and you need to show your first-aid arrangements were adequate.

SteadyOn support:

Requirement	SteadyOn record
First-aid kit checks	Inspections — First Aid Readiness template
First-aider certificate	Training Courses + Enrollments
Expiry monitoring	Enrollment BRAG (auto-calculated from expiry)
Gaps identification	First Aider role detail page — Assignments tab
The needs assessment itself	Documents

When first-aid requirements change

First-aid provision is not static. You must review your needs assessment when:

The number of employees increases or decreases significantly
New hazards are introduced to the workplace
Work locations change (for example, new remote sites)
A first-aider leaves the organisation
A first-aider’s certificate lapses

SteadyOn support: The enrollment’s BRAG status will automatically flag lapsing certificates. Raise a corrective action to track the response (booking a refresher course, organising replacement training).