The legal minimum: you must have one
Under the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, every UK workplace must keep at least one adequately stocked first aid kit. This applies regardless of size, including sole traders and businesses with fewer than five employees. What "adequately stocked" means, though, isn't fixed by law.
What a first aid needs assessment actually looks at
Rather than working from a generic list, HSE expects you to assess your own workplace against a few practical questions:
- What hazards are actually present, a quiet office looks nothing like a kitchen, a warehouse or a construction site
- How many employees and visitors pass through, and how spread out they are across the site
- Whether there's a history of specific injury types worth planning for
- How quickly emergency services can reach you, remote or shift-based sites often need more self-sufficient provision
That assessment is what should drive the size and contents of your kit, not just a generic "one kit per office" assumption.
What St John Ambulance recommends including
St John Ambulance's guidance covers the practical building blocks of a well-stocked kit:
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Wound dressings | Sterile wound dressings, sterile eye pads, sterile pads, fabric and waterproof plasters |
| Adhesive plasters | Standard fabric or waterproof plasters, plus blue catering plasters for food-handling environments and gel blister plasters |
| Bandages | Roller bandages (conforming, open-weave, support, self-adhesive), triangular bandages for slings, and tubular bandages for fingers, toes and joints |
| Protective items | Disposable gloves (latex-free where possible) and a face shield or pocket mask for rescue breaths |
| Additional items | Cleansing wipes, gauze pads, adhesive tape, scissors, pins and clips, and a foil blanket to retain body heat |
Sizing your kit
St John Ambulance offers workplace kits in three standard sizes for low-risk environments: small (up to 25 people), medium (up to 50 people), and large (up to 100 people). Higher-risk environments, or sites with hazards like commercial kitchens or machinery, typically need more than headcount alone would suggest, which is exactly why the needs assessment matters more than picking a kit off a shelf by employee count.
Practical checklist for keeping your kit compliant
- Carry out (or update) a first aid needs assessment rather than guessing at contents
- Store the kit in a clearly marked, easily accessible container, typically a green box with a white cross
- Check and restock regularly, plasters and dressings get used up faster than people expect
- Check expiry dates on anything with one, some items do expire and get missed
- Make sure staff actually know where it's kept, not just that one exists somewhere in the building
- Review contents whenever your workplace changes, new equipment, new premises, or a change in headcount
A well-stocked kit is only half the picture. Having someone on site who's confident using it under pressure is the other half, which is what our Emergency First Aid at Work and First Aid at Work courses actually train for.
Related courses
Frequently asked questions
Does UK law require a specific list of items in a workplace first aid kit?
No. HSE states there is no mandatory list of items for a first aid container. Instead, HSE publishes advisory guidance on typical contents, and the actual contents should be based on a first aid needs assessment specific to your workplace.
Does every business need a first aid kit, even a small one?
Yes. Under the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, every UK workplace must have at least one adequately stocked first aid kit, regardless of size, including sole traders and businesses with fewer than five employees.
What size first aid kit does my business need?
St John Ambulance offers kits sized for up to 25, up to 50, and up to 100 people in low-risk environments. Higher-risk workplaces need a needs assessment to determine appropriate contents and quantities, not just headcount.