First Aid Arrangements

In this article, our Health and Safety expert, Adam Williams, discusses first aid arrangements within a workplace.

What employers need to do

You must make appropriate first aid arrangements for your workplace. In doing so you should consider the circumstances of your workplace, workforce, and the health and safety risks that may be present to help you decide what arrangements you need to put in place.

Some small low-risk workplaces need to have only a first aid box and a person appointed to take charge of first aid arrangements such as calling the emergency services and stocking the first aid box.

If your workplace has more significant health and safety risks, for example you use machinery or hazardous materials, then you are more likely to need a trained first-aider.

First aid needs assessment

In order to establish what provision for first aid is required you should make an assessment of the first aid needs appropriate to the circumstances of your business.

This should include consideration of:

the workplace,
the workforce, and
the hazards and risks present.

The HSE doesn’t specify what provision you should make for first aid. You, as an employer, are best placed to understand the exact nature of your workplace and decide what you need to provide.

First aid provision must be ‘adequate and appropriate in the circumstances’. This means that you must provide sufficient first aid equipment, facilities, and personnel at all times.

In order to decide what provision you need to make you should undertake a first aid needs assessment. This assessment should consider the circumstances of your workplace, workforce, and the hazards and risks that may be present. The findings will help you decide what first aid arrangements you need to put in place.

In assessing your first aid needs, you should consider:

the nature of the work you do
workplace hazards and risks (including specific hazards requiring special arrangements)
the nature and size of your workforce
the work patterns of your staff
holiday and other absences of those who will be first-aiders and appointed persons
your organisation’s history of accidents

You may also need to consider:

the needs of travelling, remote, and lone workers
the distribution of your workforce
the remoteness of any of your sites from emergency medical services
whether your employees work on shared or multi-occupancy sites
first aid provision for non-employees (e.g., members of the public).

Your arrangements will depend on the outcome of your first aid needs assessment and the particular circumstances in your workplace at any given time.

The findings of the needs assessment should indicate the level of first aid equipment, facilities, and personnel required.

As a minimum, you must have:

a suitably stocked first aid kit
an appointed person to take charge of first aid arrangements;
information for all employees giving details of first aid arrangements.

Where your needs assessment identifies workplace or workforce issues, or more significant health and safety risks, you are likely to need a sufficient number of appropriately trained first aiders and may need to arrange additional equipment and facilities.

What can HPC do to help you with your first aid arrangements?

HPC are excited to be offering in-house and open first aid courses starting in September. For further information on how we can assist you with your first aid requirements, please get in touch.

To find out more information or to discuss first aid in the workplace further, get in contact with our team of experts.

T: 0330 107 1037

E: contact@highperformanceconsultancy.com

Twitter: @HPC_HRServices

First Aid Arrangements | Health and Safety