• Make a Safe Workplace Overview
• Manage health and Safety
  • Safety of Contractors and Visitors
  • Visitors to Farms
  • Children in the Workplace
  • First Aid Kits
• Make a H&S plan
  • Implementing Your Plan
  • Employee Participation
• Manage Hazards
  • Monitor Employee Health
  • More on health monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Getting staff to wear safety gear
  • Fatigue, Drugs and Alcohol
  • Sample Drug and Alcohol Policy
  • Workplace Fatigue
• Manage Staff Safely
  • Employee Responsibilities
  • Employee Capability Levels
  • Seven Steps for Training
  • Sample Health and Safety Policy
• Investigate Incidents

First aid kits

Locating the kits

First aid kits need to be easily seen, readily accessible to all employees and be unlocked wherever possible. They should be clearly identified as first aid containers. The approved marking for the kits is a white cross on a green background.

Locate the first aid kits:

• Close to wash basins with hot and cold running water, soap, and clean towels. If running water is not available, provide bottled saline solution instead.
• Where there is immediate access in areas of particular or special hazard.
• In each work vehicle used by employees to travel to other work sites.

Number of kits

You need at least one kit in each place where people are working, including work vehicles. Provide an additional kit for every 50 employees and make sure there’s at least one kit on each floor of your workplace. 

Kit contents

There is no "one size fits all" first aid kit that will meet the needs of every type and size of workplace. Try to ensure that your kits have sufficient first aid materials for your workplace. There are many businesses that sell first aid kits or individual items as they require replacement.

Suggested minimum contents:

• A manual giving general guidance on first aid
• 20 individually-wrapped sterile adhesive dressings of assorted sizes, appropriate to the type of work. Dressings should be a detectable type, brightly coloured for example, for food handlers.
• 2 sterile eye pads
• 2 individually-wrapped triangular bandages, preferably sterile
• 6 safety pins
• 6 medium-sized, individually-wrapped sterile unmedicated wound dressings - approximately 12 cm x 12 cm
• 2 large sterile individually-wrapped unmedicated wound dressings - approximately 18 cm x 18 cm
• several pairs of disposable gloves
• 1 pair of scissors
• 1 pair of tweezers
• 1 resuscitation mask (protects a person who is giving CPR)
• several bottles of saline solution

You may also need some other first aid items. For example, adhesive tape, disposable aprons, and individually-wrapped moist wipes. These may be stored in the first aid kit if there is room, but they may be stored separately as long as they are readily available.

Keep the kits fresh

Appoint someone to replace any used materials as soon as possible. The health and safety representative or first aiders are good choices to delegate this task to. This person should review the contents of each kit once a year and replace items past their use-by date.

Suppliers

Refer to a list of providers at New Zealand Institute of Safety Management