How Many First Aiders Does My Workplace Need?

Search for a ratio — “one first aider per 50 employees” — and you will find plenty of them. None of them is law. This page explains what the law actually asks, how to work out a defensible number for your own workplace, how to write it down, and how to keep the cover real rather than theoretical.

What the law actually says

The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require employers to provide equipment, facilities and personnel that are adequate and appropriate in the circumstances so that employees can be given immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill at work.

That is the whole test. No number, no ratio, no named course. The word doing the work is “appropriate” — appropriate to your circumstances, which is why HSE sends you to a needs assessment rather than to a table.

It is worth understanding why the law is written this way rather than treating it as an evasion. A ratio that made sense for a call centre would be dangerously inadequate for a foundry, and absurd for a two-person office above a shop. A single national number would be wrong almost everywhere.

The minimum every employer must provide

Whatever your assessment concludes, three things are not optional:

1. A suitably stocked first aid kit.
2. An appointed person to take charge of first aid arrangements — looking after the equipment and calling the emergency services. This person requires no formal training.
3. Information for all employees about the first aid arrangements: who the first aiders or appointed persons are, and where the equipment is.

Point 3 is the one most often missed. A first aider nobody can name is not provision. If you asked five people on your site right now who the first aider is, and got five different answers, that is the gap to close first — and it is free.

First aider or appointed person?

Even where an appointed person is technically sufficient, we would usually suggest putting them through a one-day EFAW course anyway. It is a modest cost, and the difference between someone who can only dial 999 and someone who can keep an airway open in the meantime is substantial.

How to work out your own number

A needs assessment that stands up to scrutiny works through these factors. Take them one at a time and write down what each means for you:

The cover test: the question most assessments skip

Deciding you need two first aiders is not the same as having two first aiders available. Work through the actual calendar:

• Is somebody qualified on site during every shift you run, including nights and weekends?
• What happens during the August holidays, or between Christmas and New Year?
• If your most experienced first aider resigned tomorrow, would you still be compliant?
• Are your first aiders distributed across the site, or all in one office at one end of it?
• Do your first aiders know they are first aiders, and does everyone else?

This is where “we have two first aiders” quietly becomes “we have none this week”. Most employers who train a third person do it after discovering this, not before.

So what do most workplaces end up with?

We will not invent a ratio, but we can describe the pattern we see. Lower-hazard workplaces — offices, shops, small professional firms — typically conclude that two or three people trained to EFAW level gives them workable cover, with the number driven more by shift patterns and holidays than by headcount. Higher-hazard workplaces — manufacturing, warehousing, construction, engineering — typically conclude they need FAW-trained first aiders, and enough of them that at least one is present whenever work is going on, distributed across the site rather than in one place.

Your own assessment might reach a different answer, and that is the point. What matters is that you can show how you reached it.

Do we have to write the assessment down?

HSE does not require you to record the findings of your first aid needs assessment. It does say you may find it useful, because it demonstrates how you decided on the provision you make.

Write it down. A single page listing the factors above and the conclusion you drew from each takes twenty minutes, and it is the difference between a decision and a guess. A workable format is simply the table above with a third column filled in for your site, a conclusion, a date and a name.

When to review it

• A new site, a new layout, or a significant change of premises
• New equipment, processes or substances
• A significant change in headcount or shift patterns
• A first aider leaving, or a certificate expiring
• After any incident, near miss or first aid call-out
• Otherwise, annually as a matter of policy

Beyond people: kit and equipment

The same “adequate and appropriate” test applies to equipment. There is no legally prescribed list of first aid box contents — it follows from your assessment.

• How many kits, and where. One kit at reception is not adequate provision for a site where the far warehouse is three minutes away.
• Check them. Items get used and not replaced, and dressings have expiry dates. Put it on a schedule with a name against it.
• Specific risks may need specific items — eyewash where there is a chemical or dust risk, for example. Your assessment should say so.
• A defibrillator is not required by the Regulations, but survival from cardiac arrest depends on rapid defibrillation. Many employers conclude it is proportionate, and everyone should know where it is.
• Recording. Keep a record of first aid incidents. It feeds the next review, and some incidents are separately reportable under RIDDOR.

Training your first aiders

Once you know the number and the level, the choice is how to deliver it. Group courses are delivered at your premises for up to 12 people at a price per course; open courses let you book individual places. For a handful of people, open places are cheaper; for a team, group training usually wins.

Deals

First Aid at Work Courses

See also EFAW or FAW?, group and on-site courses and open course dates.

Frequently asked questions

How many first aiders do I need for 50 employees?

There is no legal ratio, so there is no number that answers this for every workplace. HSE states there are no hard and fast rules on exact numbers. Fifty people in a low-hazard office and fifty people in a machine shop will reach very different conclusions from the same needs assessment. What decides it is the hazards, the site layout, the shift pattern and the need to keep cover during absence.

Is one first aider enough?

Rarely, in practice. One qualified first aider provides no cover during annual leave, sickness or a shift they are not working. Even where the assessment concludes a single first aider would be adequate on paper, most employers train a second person so the provision actually exists every day.

What is an appointed person?

Someone who takes charge of first aid arrangements — looking after the first aid equipment and calling the emergency services. No formal training is required. Every employer needs at least an appointed person, even where the needs assessment concludes that a trained first aider is not necessary.

Do we need first aiders for visitors and members of the public?

The Regulations require provision for your employees. HSE strongly recommends that employers also consider non-employees such as visitors, contractors and the public when assessing their needs. For anywhere with public footfall, including them is the sensible reading.

Do we need a mental health first aider?

It is not a legal requirement. HSE’s employer guidance says that following your first aid needs assessment you might decide it would be beneficial to have people trained to identify and understand symptoms of mental ill health and support someone experiencing it. It is an option the assessment can point to, not a duty.

Should first aiders be FAW or EFAW trained?

EFAW is a one-day course aimed at lower-hazard workplaces; FAW is three days and covers a broader range of injuries and illnesses for higher-hazard ones. The hazards identified in your needs assessment decide which is appropriate — not the size of your business.

Do we have to record our first aid needs assessment?

No. HSE says you do not need to record the findings, but that you may find it useful to do so because it demonstrates how you decided on the provision you make. We would always write it down.

How many first aid kits do we need and what goes in them?

There is no legally prescribed list of contents or number of kits. Both follow from your needs assessment — the size and layout of the site, the hazards present, and how far anyone would have to go to reach one. Specific risks may call for specific items, such as eyewash where there is a chemical or dust hazard.

What if our only first aider is on annual leave?

Then for that period your provision is not what your assessment said it should be. Holiday and sickness cover is one of the factors the assessment is supposed to account for, which is why one first aider is rarely enough in practice.

Do first aiders need to be volunteers?

In practice, yes — the role works far better with willing people. Someone pressed into it reluctantly is less likely to act decisively under pressure, which defeats the purpose of having them.

Want a second opinion on your assessment?

Tell us what your workplace does, how many people are on site and how they work, and we will tell you what provision looks proportionate — including when the answer is “less than you think”. Call 0845 838 4643 or use the enquiry form on this page.