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Health and Safety (First Aid Regulations) 1981

All facilities must have at least one first aid box. The box should be suitable to be able to protect the contents from any damp and dust. The first aid box ideally should be mounted on a wall near a basin for hand washing. The Safety Signs Regulations (1980) state that it should be labelled with a white cross on a green background.

First Aid Symbol[D]Materials in a first aid kit include:

  • 20 individually wrapped sterile dressings
  • 2 sterile eye dressings
  • 4 triangular bandages
  • 6 safety pins
  • 6 medium sized un-medicated wound dressings
  • 2 large sterile un-medicated wound dressings
  • 1 pair of disposable gloves.

Materials must be replaced as soon as possible after use and boxes must be checked regularly by the person in charge of the box to ensure that all items are not out of date.

All organisations must appoint qualified first aiders to take charge of any emergency situations, they must:

  • Call for the appropriate assistance/emergency services
  • Responsible for the maintenance of the first aid box and its contents.

Depending on the size of the organisation, determines how many trained staff are required:

Number of people in the organisation Number of appointed first aiders
Less than 20 At least 1
20 - 50 At least 1
50 - 100 At least 2
More than 100 1 additional first aider for very additional 100 people


All treatment must be recorded in the local first aid book. Details include:

- Date, time and place of incident

- Name and status of the injured or ill person

- Details of the injury or illness and what first aid was given

- What happened to the person immediately afterwards

- Name and signature of the first aider who dealt with the incident.

Within the sporting industry having the correct number of qualified first aiders and first aid kit is vital as accidents are more likely to happen when participating in sport and leisure activities.