What First Aid Facilities Do Employers & The Self-employed Need To Provide?
Q: What first aid facilities do employers and self-employed (freelance) persons need to provide?
A: The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 state that there should be adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and personnel to enable first aid to be given to an employee if they are injured or become ill at work. The regulations outline the minimum provisions. If the business deals with chemicals, work at height or machinery that present any specific danger, suitable precautions for these must be available.
An employer must provide a suitably stocked first aid box and appoint a person to take charge of first-aid arrangements.
The minimum requirements for small First Aid Box for up to 10 persons is as follows:
- Twenty individually wrapped adhesive sterile dressings (Assorted sizes): for protecting small cuts or other breaks in the skin. Waterproof dressings must be used if the casualty works as a food/drink handler. Blue waterproof dressings should be used in a food preparation area.
- Two sterile eye patches: sterile pad with a bandage attached to it to use over the eye following eye injuries.
- Four individually wrapped triangular badges (preferably sterile): can be used as a pad to stop bleeding, as a sterile covering for large injuries such as burns, as a bandage, or to make a sling.
- Six safety pins: may be necessary to secure bandages.
- Six medium-sized (about 12cm x 12cm, Number 8) and two large-sized (about 18cm x 18cm, Number 9): individually wrapped with a bandage attached to it., sterile, un-medicated wound dressings
- Two pairs of disposable gloves: to be worn at all times when dealing with blood or body fluids.
- A First Aid guidance leaflet: (available free from the Health & Safety Executive [HSE])
The first aid box should not contain medicine, tablets, crèmes, ointments, pain killers, antiseptics, sprays or any other form of medication: remember, we are dealing with First Aid and not secondary aid!
It is advisable to have small boxes at various sites instead of one large one and don't forget to equip vehicles with First Aid kits. Self-employed persons will need to supply their own First-Aid kit suitable to treat themselves while at work.
Items on this list can be replaced by different, but equivalent, contents.
An appointed person or First Aider should be responsible for taking charge when an accident occurs, calling an ambulance if necessary, ensuring that the first aid box is restocked and accident reporting. This person should only administer first aid if they are a qualified first-aider.
There should be at least one qualified first-aider within an organisation, and (as a rough guide) one for every 100 employees however, the exact number of first-aiders, appointed persons and first-aid facilities should be determined by a written risk assessment.
Details of approved first aid and appointed persons courses are available from the HSE. First aid needs to be available throughout the working day both at base and with staff or crew on site so employers may need to have more than the minimum number of first-aiders to fulfill this requirement in case of absence or holiday breaks etc. Employees must be kept aware of the first aid arrangements and should be able to contact a first-aider easily, adequate signage through out the work place is required to reinforce this information.
A First Aider is someone who has undergone a training course in administering first aid at work and holds a current First Aid at Work certificate. The training has to have been approved by H.S.E.
A First Aider can undertake the duties of an appointed person.
An Appointed Person is someone you choose to:
- Take charge, when someone is injured or falls ill, including calling an ambulance if required.
- Look after the first-aid equipment, e.g. restocking the first-aid box.
As a minimum you must provide a fully stocked First Aid box and an Appointed Person at each site. First-aid provision needs to be available at all times people are at work, cover for absence through holidays, sickness, shift work etc. This may mean appointing more than one Appointed Person.
You have NO legal responsibilities for non-employees (such as visitors to your workplace or contractors), but the H.S.E. strongly recommend you include them in your first aid provision. On a site or on tours where several groups of contractors are working together it is acceptable that one group (usually the host or lead contractor) can take responsibility for the First-Aid provision for all contractors on site. If this is the case then it should be agreed in writing between all contractors and the provider. It is not legal to request or to try and make a Client, Promoter, the Production or host premises responsible for your First Aid provision, even if you make it a term of your contract you must provide facilities for your employees.
The same applies to freelancers ("self-employed" persons) who are required to make there own First-Aid provision unless working on a site or tour where there is a written and signed agreement that one group will take responsibility for the First-Aid provision for all contractors including freelancers ("self-employed" persons). As a normal minimum, self-employed (freelancers) are advised to have their own simple first aid kit and to gain the required training as an Appointed Person.
