First Aid - How the regulations affect you!
The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, requires 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. These Regulations apply to all workplaces including those with five or fewer
employees as well as the self-employed.
What is adequate will depend on the circumstances within the workplace. This includes whether trained
First Aiders are needed, remote sites, lone workers, what should be included in a First Aid box and if a
First Aid room is required. Employers should carry out an assessment of First Aid needs to determine this.
Δ Assessment of First Aid needs
Employers are required to carry out an assessment of First Aid requirements. This involves consideration of workplace hazards and risks, the size of the organization and other relevant factors in order to determine what First Aid equipment, facilities and personnel should be provided.
Δ Application of the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 to self-employed workers
If you are self-employed, you are required to ensure that you have adequate equipment to provide First
Aid to yourself while at work.
You must make an assessment of the hazards and risks in your workplace and establish an appropriate
level of First Aid provision. What this means in practice is that if you work in a low hazard activity, e.g.
clerical work at home, a normal domestic First Aid box would be adequate. If your work involves driving
long distances or you are continuously on the road, the assessment may identify the need to keep a
personal First Aid kit in your vehicle.
If you are a self-employed person, you are legally responsible for your own First Aid training. This
issue is covered in the relevant course offered by us.
Course Locations
TEC-Spider offer on site training at clients premises thereby reducing costs and enabling courses to be as
relevant as possible to your working environment. Or if you prefer, we can offer training at our well
equipped and easily accessible training centre based in Romiley in Cheshire.
Courses details are listed further on in the site. However, if a subject you require is not listed or you
are looking for a specific type of course, then please contact us. Training can be developed in response to
your specific needs.
What’s the right course for you?
Every organisation in the UK has responsibilities. These responsibilities are detailed under the
Health & Safety at Work act 1974 and also the Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.
Depending on the nature of your business and the number of employees, the HSE (Health & Safety Executive) have different recommendations for First Aid Provision. You are advised to view HSE
recommendations and guidelines. Alternatively, view some of the Risk Categories below and based on your category of risk you can then look at the HSE website for the number of First Aid trained personnel you are required to have by law.
Level of Risk
The HSE has three bands of risk, allocated to industry sector and type of business.
For example, the perceived accident risk is low in an office environment, but very high on a construction site. In addition, the accident rate and probable severity of accidents is likely to be higher in a high risk sector than it would in a low risk environment.
We would recommend that as part of the process of deciding how many First Aiders you carry out a “risk assessment”.
To identify the level or risk within your organisation please look at risk categories as a given example
What Type of industry do you work in?
Shop, Office, Library - LOW RISK
Light Engineering, Food processing, Warehousing - MEDIUM RISK
Construction, Chemical Manufacture, Dangerous
machinery, slaughterhouses - HIGH RISK
Number of Employees
The HSE recommends differing number of First Aiders according to the amount of staff you have employed. If you have large numbers of staff, the risk is much higher.
To check the number of First Aiders required for your type of workplace please check;