Workplace first aid: what must employers provide?

If you cut your hand in a kitchen or collapse on a warehouse night shift, you need help then. Not when the manager arrives. Your employer must arrange first aid that fits the job’s risks and is available whenever people are working. An empty box and the name of someone who went home hours ago will not do.

What your employer owes you

In England, Wales and Scotland, the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require employers to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and people for employees injured or taken ill at work. The duty has applied since 1 July 1982. The illness need not have been caused by the job. Northern Ireland has separate rules, explained below.

HSE guidance describes the minimum provision on each work site:

1. A stocked first-aid kit. Accessible, checked, and suited to the risks of that workplace.
2. Someone in charge. Either trained first-aiders or, where that is enough, an appointed person to look after the kit and call the emergency services.
3. Information. You must be told what the arrangements are, where the kit lives and who to find.

The minimum is enough only where it meets the workplace’s needs. A corner shop and a food factory will usually need different arrangements. Cover must be available whenever people are working, including cleaners arriving before opening and staff staying after closing.

If you are injured and need time off, read how to report an injury at work and check your Statutory Sick Pay entitlement. Since 6 April 2026, eligible employees no longer have three unpaid SSP waiting days. First-aid duties and sick-pay eligibility are different questions.

What the needs assessment should cover

The employer needs to assess the workplace before deciding what cover to provide. There is no prescribed form. HSE guidance asks employers to consider:

• The hazards, including knives, heat, chemicals, vehicles, machinery and sharp instruments.
• The workforce’s size and needs, including inexperienced staff and people with disabilities or particular health conditions.
• Shifts, overtime and cover for holidays and sickness.
• Lone workers, drivers and staff visiting remote sites.
• Multiple floors, shared premises and distance from emergency medical services.
• Past accidents and illness, and people such as customers who visit the site.

HSE also advises considering mental ill health and whether trained staff could give initial support. The employer should review provision when the work, workforce or risks change.

A written assessment makes decisions easier to check. Ask to see it, or ask the manager to explain the assessment if it is not written down. HSE explicitly says the findings need not be recorded. Missing paperwork alone does not prove a breach; inadequate cover can.

How many first-aiders should be available?

There is no statutory ratio. The figures below are HSE’s suggested starting points, not automatic legal requirements. The table uses employees employed at the site. The suggested personnel must be available whenever people are at work, so the employer also needs to plan for shifts and absences.

Do not classify a workplace by its sign above the door. A shop with machinery or a busy kitchen using knives and hot oil needs an assessment of those hazards. A small headcount does not make the work safe.

An appointed person is not a trained first-aider

Check the role as well as the name on the notice.

Other training may be appropriate for particular hazards. Since 1 October 2013, HSE has not approved first-aid courses, qualifications or providers. Your employer must select a competent provider using HSE’s training-provider criteria, rather than relying on an advert claiming “HSE approval”.

A home-care worker visiting clients alone needs arrangements that work away from the office. A certificate held by someone at head office does not answer how that worker gets help. Ask how the assessment covers your actual job. See what safety training employers must provide.

Kits and first-aid rooms

The law sets no compulsory contents list. For low-hazard work, HSE suggests a guidance leaflet, 20 individually wrapped sterile plasters, two sterile eye pads, four individually wrapped triangular bandages, six safety pins, two large and six medium sterile wound dressings, and at least three pairs of disposable gloves. These are suggested quantities, not a shopping list that guarantees compliance. HSE recommends keeping tablets and medicines out of the first-aid box.

Equipment must match the risks. Additional items might include eye-washing equipment, extra gloves or foil blankets. Kits need to be accessible, checked frequently and restocked after use. Consider provision in separate buildings, on different floors and for travelling staff. If you work alone or remotely, ask about a personal kit and a reliable way to summon help.

A first-aid room is needed where the assessment identifies it as necessary, usually in larger premises or where higher hazards are present. Any room provided must be accessible to stretchers and properly signposted. HSE recommends keeping it clean, heated, lit and available whenever employees are working. A room used as a store cupboard may be no use in an emergency.

Must employers provide mental health first aid?

There is no separate legal duty to appoint a mental health first-aider as at 1 October 2026. The First-Aid (Mental Health) Bill from the 2022-23 parliamentary session did not become law. A proposal is not a right you can enforce.

HSE’s mental-health guidance, updated in March 2025 following changes to its L74 guidance in 2024, says employers should consider appropriate support. That can include information, manager training, occupational health services, employee support programmes or mental-health-trained first-aiders. It is guidance on deciding provision, not a statutory requirement to buy a particular course.

Physical first-aiders may already be able to give initial support and reassurance during an acute mental health episode. HSE says employers should be satisfied they know how to access professional help and act safely until it arrives, and should consider whether further training is needed.

If your workplace appoints mental health first-aiders, ask what they are trained to do, how you contact them and how they refer someone for professional help. Their role is initial support, not diagnosis or treatment. The role should be clear to workers and managers.

Speak to your union or safety rep about workload, traumatic incidents or stress-related absence. You can also raise a grievance. Read our guides to mental health and safety duties and claims for work-related stress for the wider legal position.

Agency staff, self-employed workers and customers

The employer duties in these Regulations are owed to employees. If you work through an agency or on another firm’s premises, ask both firms who provides first aid. HSE advises employers on shared sites to cooperate and strongly recommends a written agreement allocating provision. Do not accept “the agency handles it” without being told where to get help.

A contract describing you as self-employed does not settle your legal status. If you are a rider, courier or contractor, check whether you are an employee, worker or self-employed. The precise employer duty may depend on that status and the working arrangement. Agency staff can also read our agency worker rights guide.

There is a separate duty for a “relevant self-employed person” under regulation 5 to provide, or ensure provision of, adequate and appropriate equipment for their own first aid. It applies to undertakings covered by the prescribed health and safety rules, not automatically to every freelancer. If you do hazardous self-employed work, do not assume you are outside first-aid duties.

These Regulations impose no duty to provide first aid for customers, visitors or the public. HSE strongly recommends including them in provision. Shops, restaurants and hotels should assess who is likely to be present. This limitation in the first-aid Regulations does not remove duties arising under other health and safety law.

Can first-aid training be unpaid?

If your employer requires you to attend training, that time counts when calculating the minimum wage. Calling it a day off does not remove the hours from the calculation.

Acas explains that payment for mandatory training depends on your contract, but workers on or close to minimum wage should be paid for the time. Training-cost deductions must not take pay below minimum wage. If you earn more, check the contract and get advice rather than assuming every extra training hour must attract your normal hourly rate.

Keep the rota, the message requiring attendance and your payslip. Ask payroll to include the training hours and correct any shortfall. Get advice from Acas, Citizens Advice or your union, and use our minimum wage guide for the complaint route. The calculation uses the relevant pay reference period, not whichever week makes the figures look worst.

Your union branch can help you raise the issue collectively. Depending on the workplace, that might be UNISON in care or the NHS, Unite in hospitality or logistics, GMB in warehousing, or Usdaw in retail. If you are not a member, find out about joining a union before a problem becomes a dispute.

What to do if first-aid cover is missing

You do not have to wait for an injury to raise a missing kit or uncovered shift. If someone is seriously hurt or ill, call 999, alert the manager and follow the call handler’s instructions. Do not put yourself in danger.

1. Write down the gap. Record the shift, location and what was unavailable. Note who was supposed to provide cover and whether they were present. Take photographs where safe, without exposing someone else’s medical information.
2. Send a specific request. Message the manager and copy your safety rep or agency contact where relevant. Ask what immediate cover will be provided and how the arrangements will be corrected. Keep a copy outside a work account you might lose access to.
3. Record any injury. Ask for it to be entered in the accident record and for management to check whether RIDDOR reporting is required. HSE says employers with more than ten employees, or those owning or occupying a mine, quarry or factory, must keep an accident book or equivalent record under social security law. Not every injury is reportable under RIDDOR.
4. Raise it with your union or safety rep. A rep can challenge an uncovered rota and bring together reports from different shifts. You can also use the formal grievance process.
5. Contact the enforcing authority. Use HSE’s health and safety reporting service in Great Britain, checking whether your concern belongs with HSE, the local authority or another regulator. In Northern Ireland, contact HSENI or the relevant council. Read how health and safety enforcement works.

RIDDOR covers specified serious work-related injuries, injuries causing more than seven days’ incapacity, certain occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences. First-aid treatment alone does not decide whether an incident is reportable. Ask management to check the criteria, and use our injury reporting guide for the reporting rules.

If you face immediate danger, get to safety and seek urgent help. Legal protection for leaving or refusing dangerous work depends on the circumstances. Get advice about health and safety protections and whistleblowing; neither guarantees that an employer will not retaliate. Do not resign without advice.

Where the assessment requires trained cover, an appointed person is not a substitute for a first-aider’s planned holiday. Emergency cover during unforeseen absence is limited to the appointed person’s role and competence. Ask who covers the rota before the holiday starts.

Offshore, diving and security work

Offshore installations and pipeline work have specialist first-aid rules under the 1989 Regulations. Commercial diving is governed by the Diving at Work Regulations 1997. The general workplace table does not settle the arrangements for these jobs. Door supervisors and security guards should also check the SIA’s first-aid training requirements for their licence-linked training.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

The 1981 Regulations apply in Scotland as well as England and Wales. The first-aid provision duty is the same; there is no separate Scottish headcount ratio.

Northern Ireland has the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982. Use HSENI’s first-aid guidance for local requirements and enforcement. Our guide to employment law differences in Northern Ireland explains the wider position.

Questions people ask

Must every workplace have a trained first-aider?

No. A small low-hazard workplace may need only an appointed person, suitable equipment and information for employees. Trained first-aiders are needed where adequate and appropriate provision requires them. The employer cannot avoid that duty by choosing an assessment that ignores the risks.

Is there a legal list of first-aid kit contents?

No. The kit must suit the workplace. HSE’s suggested low-hazard list is guidance, and higher hazards may need additional equipment. Buying it once is not enough; it needs checking and restocking.

Is mental health first-aid training compulsory?

No separate duty requires a mental health first-aider. HSE guidance advises considering support and whether additional training would help. A course does not replace the employer’s wider duties to manage risks to health.

Does first aid cover customers and visitors?

These Regulations do not require provision for non-employees, but HSE strongly recommends including them. That is especially relevant where the public routinely visits, such as shops, cafes and hotels. Other legal duties may also apply.

Who provides first aid for agency staff?

Ask the agency and host employer to explain the arrangements before you start. Employers on shared sites should cooperate, and HSE recommends a written agreement. You need to know where the kit is and who provides cover on your shift. If both firms pass responsibility back and forth, write to both and involve your rep.

Can the only first-aider go on holiday without replacement cover?

Not where that leaves the workplace without the trained cover it needs. The employer must plan for annual leave. An appointed person can give limited emergency cover during unforeseen absence, but planned holidays do not count.

Sources

1. Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, including regulations 3, 4 and 5, legislation.gov.uk
2. First aid at work: what employers need to do, HSE, updated 21 March 2025
3. First aid at work: your questions answered, INDG214, including Tables 1 and 2, HSE
4. First aid at work: Guidance on Regulations, L74, HSE
5. Selecting a first-aid training provider, GEIS3, HSE
6. Non-fatal injuries at work in Great Britain, 2024/25 and reporting-level estimates, HSE, updated 7 January 2026
7. Key figures for Great Britain, 2024/25, HSE
8. Tell us about a health and safety issue, including confidentiality limits, HSE
9. Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982, legislation.gov.uk
10. First aid at work, HSENI
11. Calculating the minimum wage: working hours, including training, GOV.UK
12. National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, GOV.UK
13. Getting paid for mandatory training, Acas, updated 7 May 2026
14. Statutory Sick Pay changes from 6 April 2026, GOV.UK
15. First-Aid (Mental Health) Bill, 2022-23, UK Parliament
16. Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (First-Aid) Regulations 1989, legislation.gov.uk
17. Diving at Work Regulations 1997, legislation.gov.uk
18. First-aid training requirements for door supervisors and security guards, Security Industry Authority