First Aid for Workplaces - A good Practice Guide

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What First Aid is needed in Workplaces?

First aid is the immediate and basic care given to an injured or sick person before a doctor, other health professional or emergency services take over their treatment.

It focuses on preserving life and minimising serious injury by maintaining breathing and circulation, stemming blood, immobilising broken bones etc.

First aid requirements at work fall into three categories:

suitably stocked first aid kits and facilities
where needed, an appropriate number of suitably trained first aiders
information for employees about first aid arrangements.

This guide includes some suggestions to help you organise your first aid kits, facilities, first aiders and information to employees.

Some workplaces have greater risks of injury and illness because of the sort of work they do. These risks are an important factor in deciding first aid requirements, because different first aid facilities may be needed for different activities.

Employers are required to provide first aid that takes into account the individual circumstances of their workplace. Circumstances that can affect your first aid needs include things like hazards common in your industry or workplace, the number of employees you have, and how far away you are from medical help.

One way to identify the first aid needs of your business is to complete a Workplace First Aid Needs Assessment. The section below can help you do that.

How do I do a Workplace First Aid Needs Assessment?

The questions and information below will help you identify what first aid is required in your workplace. Once you've read through them, you can fill in the Workplace First Aid Needs Assessment Checklist provided.

What hazards are there in my workplace and what sort of harm can occur?

Hazards can be physical (e.g. working at heights etc), chemical, environmental (e.g. sun burn) and biological. Work processes (like cleaning machinery) and changes in work processes can also create hazards.

For more information on identifying and managing hazards see How can first aid fit together with hazard management in my workplace?

Think about: specific hazards such as potentially hazardous substances, tools, machinery or activities

How many employees and other people are in the workplace and where are they located?

The number of people you employ will affect the facilities you need, whether you need trained first aiders, and if so, how many first aiders you need.

When thinking about how many trained first aiders you need, take into account things like:

the number of employees at work at any given time
the sort of work they do, and the sorts of hazards they face
the likelihood of people being hurt, and how serious the injuries might be
the size of your workplace and whether people are working in scattered locations within the site
the location of your workplace, and the distance from medical services
whether people other than employees are present

Allow for some of your first aiders to be absent on planned or unplanned leave, such as sick leave.

Your first aid provisions must cover all hours when employees are working, including shifts and overtime. Employees working outside normal working hours need access to first aid.

If you employ people with disabilities or special needs, think about their medical and first aid needs. This is best done in consultation with the employees concerned, and with the consent of the workers, upon medical advice.

Think about: Seasonal workers, temporary workers, part time workers, shift workers

If employees of more than one employer are working together can they share first aid resources?

If people employed by different employers are working together and want to avoid duplication, they can arrange to share first aid provisions. For example, the employers might agree that first aid provisions will be made by the employer with the largest number of employees on site.

The agreement should be in writing and a copy kept by each employer involved. Each employer must make sure their employees understand the first aid arrangements.

Think about: construction sites, shopping malls, farming co-operatives, working in multi-storey buildings occupied by a number of employers

How does size and layout of my workplace affect first aid needs?

First aid should be easy for all employees to access, preferably within minutes if there is an emergency. To ensure first aid is easy to access you need to consider:

the size of your workplace
how long it will take for a first aider to reach the injured or ill person
whether employees work on several buildings across a worksite
whether they work in several floors of one building
site security and after-hours requirements
how people can communicate in large worksites, and what communications systems are needed, such as radios, telephones, pagers, or public address systems.

Think about: large factories, large processing facilities, office blocks

What about employees who work away from the workplace?

Where employees work away from the main workplace you should ensure they have adequate and portable first aid provisions with them. What they need will vary according to the nature of the work they're doing, the hazards involved, and whether they're working alone or in groups. As noted above, you can arrange for people employed by different employers to share first aid while they are working at the same site. Appendix 1 has a suggested list of content for work vehicle first aid kits.

Think about: sales representatives, people travelling to other locations, service personnel

How does the location of my workplace affect first aid needs?

When assessing your first aid needs you can take into account how close you are to medical centres, hospitals or an ambulance service. But remember that these services may not always be open, and you may need to take this into consideration.

Even if you work close to medical services, you are required to take all practicable steps to put in place procedures for dealing with emergencies at work.

Workplaces in remote areas need to make special arrangements. It is recommended that employers find out what medical services are available in the area, how to communicate with them, and how long it is likely to take emergency services to reach the workplace. All these factors need to be taken into account when assessing first aid needs.

Think about: high-country stations, country road construction, forestry sites, planes, ships

Do I need to provide first aid for people who aren't employees?

Your first aid provisions should take into account other people in the workplace who could be harmed. Also think about contractors, any volunteers doing regular work, people receiving on the job training or work experience, and loaned employees.

Think about: shopping malls and other public places (e.g. airports, train stations), schools, visitors, patients, hotel guests, contractors

What if my workplace provides in-house occupational health services?

If your workplace has its own occupational health service, first aid arrangements should be made in consultation with the doctor or nurse in charge of the service.

The occupational health service doesn't need to be staffed continuously, provided there is suitable coverage for employees when the service isn't operating. This coverage should be provided by qualified first aiders.

It's recommended that in-house occupational health service providers have and maintain first aid qualifications.