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2. Assess your first aid needs

What 'adequate and appropriate' first aid arrangements are depends on the work you do and where you do it. You're best placed to understand the nature of your work, so you should assess what your first aid needs are.

You must consider:

  • the type of the work you do
  • hazards and the likely risk of them causing harm
  • the size of your workforce
  • work patterns of your staff
  • holiday and other absences of those who will be first aiders and appointed persons
  • the history of accidents in your business

You might also consider:

  • the needs of travelling, remote and lone workers
  • how close your sites are to emergency medical services
  • whether your employees work on shared or multi-occupancy sites
  • first aid for non-employees including members of the public
  • support for someone who might be experiencing a mental health issue[6]

You don't have to write down your findings, but if you do, it will allow you to record how you've decided on your first aid arrangements.

Link URLs in this page

  1. Overviewhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/firstaid/index.htm
  2. Appoint someone to take charge of first aidhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/firstaid/first-aid-appoint-someone.htm
  3. What to put in a first aid kithttps://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/firstaid/what-to-put-in-your-first-aid-kit.htm
  4. First aiders and traininghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/firstaid/first-aid-training.htm
  5. First aid for homeworkers and co-working spaceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/firstaid/first-aid-home-workers.htm
  6. experiencing a mental health issuehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/needs-assessment.htm#mental-ill-health
  7. Previous page Overview https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/firstaid/index.htm
  8. Next page Appoint someone to take charge of first aid https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/firstaid/first-aid-appoint-someone.htm
  9. View a printable version of the whole guidehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/firstaid/print.htm
  10. The basics for your business: Health and safety basics for your business https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-Health-Safety/index.htm
  11. RIDDORhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/index.htm
  12. First aid offshorehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/offshore.htm
  13. First aid for divershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/diving/aid.htm
  14. First aid in detailhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/index.htm

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