Workplace First Aid Kit Requirements: What the Law Says, and What BS 8599 Adds

Search for first aid kit requirements and you will find contents lists presented as law, a British Standard presented as compulsory, and kits advertised as “HSE approved” by suppliers who know perfectly well that HSE has approved nothing since 2013. Here is what is actually required, what the standard adds, how many kits you need and where to put them.

Last reviewed: 20 September 2026 against HSE guidance L74 (2024 amendments), HSE’s first aid kit guidance (updated March 2025) and the current BSI record for BS 8599-1.

Is a first aid kit a legal requirement?

Yes. Regulation 3 of the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 requires employers to provide equipment and facilities that are “adequate and appropriate in the circumstances”. HSE’s guidance turns that into a floor that applies to every workplace: a suitably stocked first aid kit, an appointed person to take charge of arrangements, and information for employees.

L74 paragraph 36 puts the minimum plainly: “The minimum level of first-aid equipment is a suitably stocked and properly identified first-aid container. Every employer should provide for each work site at least one first-aid container supplied with a sufficient quantity of first-aid materials suitable for the particular circumstances.”

Containers should be easily accessible, preferably near hand-washing facilities, protected from dust and damp, stocked only with items useful for giving first aid, and identified by a white cross on a green background. What is in the box is where the law stops giving instructions and your assessment starts.

There is no such thing as an “HSE approved” first aid kit

HSE does not approve, certify, endorse or recommend first aid products. It stopped approving first aid training providers on 1 October 2013 and it has never operated a product approval scheme. A kit described as “HSE approved” is marketing, and one page currently ranking for that phrase says in its own body text that HSE “does not prescribe an exact list of items for every workplace” — which is the opposite of what its title implies.

What you may legitimately see is “HSE compliant” used loosely to mean “matches the suggested contents in HSE’s guidance”, or a kit built to BS 8599-1. Neither is an approval. If a supplier tells you a purchase is required for compliance, that is a sales claim, not a legal one.

What HSE suggests for a low-hazard workplace

L74 Appendix 2 gives a suggested minimum “where work activities involve low hazards”. It is a guide, not a specification — HSE’s wording is “might be”:

If mains tap water is not readily available for washing wounds and eyes, HSE says to provide at least one litre of sterile water or sterile normal saline in sealed disposable containers. Once a seal is broken the container should not be kept for reuse, and nothing should be used beyond its expiry date.

What BS 8599 is, and whether you need it

BS 8599 is a British Standard published by BSI that specifies contents for workplace and vehicle first aid kits. It exists to save employers from designing a kit from scratch. It is a specification, not legislation, and HSE’s position is unambiguous on both counts: “If you are buying a kit look for British Standard (BS) 8599”, and “By law, your kit doesn’t have to meet this standard.”

That first row matters, because every page we checked while researching this still cites “BS 8599-1:2019” as the current standard. It was amended in April 2026, and the title of the amended standard now covers AEDs as well as kit contents — a notable widening of scope for a document most people think of as a list of plasters.

We have deliberately not reproduced the BS 8599-1 contents schedules, which many supplier pages do. They are the normative content of a paid BSI standard. If you want to buy to the standard, buy a kit that states the current designation on the box, or read the standard itself through BSI. If you want to know what should be in your kit, the assessment answers that better than the standard does.

A reasonable approach for most employers: buy a BS 8599-1 kit of a sensible size as the baseline, then add what your hazards demand and remove nothing.

How many kits, and where do they go?

There is no legal ratio of kits to employees, and the headcount tables you will see on supplier sites (“under 25 staff: one small kit”) are their interpretation, not a rule. L74 says more than one container may be needed on large sites, and that the decision follows the assessment.

HSE’s own worked case studies are more useful than a ratio, because they show siting as well as numbers:

The pattern is consistent: kits follow people and hazards through space, not headcount. A kit two floors away from the guillotine is not provision. The full method is in our guide to the first aid needs assessment.

What must not go in the kit

This is the rule most often broken, usually with good intentions. L74 paragraph 42: “First aid at work does not include giving tablets or medicines to treat illness. The only exception to this is where aspirin is used as first aid to a casualty with a suspected heart attack in accordance with currently accepted first-aid practice. It is recommended that tablets and medicines should not be kept in the first-aid container.”

So no paracetamol, no ibuprofen, no antihistamines, no antiseptic creams as a matter of routine, and no leftover prescription items. Where an employee carries their own prescribed medication — an asthma inhaler, for instance — the first aider’s role is generally limited to helping them take it and calling the emergency services if needed.

Also keep out anything that is not useful for giving first aid. A container that has become the office stationery drawer is not “suitably stocked”.

What to add for your hazards

L74 Table 2 pairs common workplace hazards with the injuries that might arise. Reading it the other way round tells you what to add to the baseline kit:

L74 lists foil blankets, haemostatic dressings, tourniquets, wound packing materials, disposable aprons, individually wrapped moist wipes, hypoallergenic microporous tape, shears able to cut through clothing and sterile disposable tweezers as examples of additional equipment an assessment might call for.

Two cautions. Equipment for life-threatening bleeding is only useful with the training to match — HSE treats it as additional training, not a purchase. And specialist items such as calcium gluconate for hydrofluoric acid burns should be stored securely with access restricted to people trained to use them.

Travelling and vehicle kits

If staff drive or work away from the main site, HSE says to consider issuing travelling kits, or placing them in vehicles used for business. L74’s suggested travelling kit is deliberately smaller: a first aid guidance leaflet, six individually wrapped sterile plasters, two triangular bandages, two safety pins, one large sterile unmedicated dressing, individually wrapped moist cleansing wipes and two pairs of disposable gloves. Like the workplace list, there is no mandatory version of it.

Where mobile work is higher hazard, consider EFAW training for those staff as well as a kit — a kit in a van with nobody trained to open it is a box of plasters.

Defibrillators

An AED is not a legal requirement. Where your assessment leads you to provide one, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 apply: you must provide information and written instructions, for example from the manufacturer, and HSE notes that fuller training “is likely to make the user more confident”. AED use is already part of the FAW and EFAW syllabus, so trained first aiders will have covered it — and HSE’s case studies were revised specifically because all workplace first aiders are now trained in using one.

HSE’s own examples put AEDs in the supermarket, the nursing home, the secondary school, the chemical plant and the wind farms — places with either public exposure, an older or higher-risk population, or long ambulance times. We supply defibrillators and cabinets and cover AED use on every first aid course; what is current in CPR and defibrillation is summarised in CPR and resuscitation guidelines.

First aid rooms

Required only where the assessment identifies the need. HSE says a first aid room “will usually be necessary where there are higher hazards such as in chemical industries or on large construction sites, and in larger premises at a distance from medical services”. Where you provide one it should hold an examination couch with working space around it, have washable surfaces, heating, ventilation and lighting, be accessible to stretchers, be near a point of access for transport to hospital, and display a notice naming the first aiders and how to contact them.

Checks, restocking and expiry

• Check contents frequently and restock soon after use — HSE’s words, not ours. Hold spare stock on site.
• Many sterile items carry expiry dates. Replace them, and dispose of expired items safely.
• Items without a date still need to be fit for purpose — perished gloves and yellowed dressings are not.
• Give someone the job by name. The appointed person’s role explicitly includes looking after the equipment.
• Record the check. A dated sheet inside the lid takes seconds and answers the question an inspector will ask.

Buying checklist

1. Do the needs assessment first; it tells you how many kits, what size and where.
2. Buy to BS 8599-1 if you want a shortcut — check the box states the current designation.
3. Add what your hazards require on top of the baseline.
4. Check nothing in the kit is a tablet or medicine.
5. Site kits where the hazards and the people are, not where there is shelf space.
6. Mark them clearly — white cross on green — and tell everyone where they are.
7. Issue travelling kits to mobile staff and one per vehicle where the assessment supports it.
8. Name the person responsible for checking and restocking, and diary the check.
9. Ignore any claim that a kit is “HSE approved”.

What this guide does not cover

It does not cover the detailed contents schedules of BS 8599-1, which are in the paid standard. It does not cover clinical use of any of this equipment — that is what training is for. Early years and school settings, offshore work, diving and vessels have additional or separate requirements.

Kits, defibrillators and the training to use them

We supply first aid supplies and equipment alongside the training, and we would rather sell you the right kit than the biggest one. If you are not sure what your workplace needs, we will work through the assessment with you at no charge. First aid training runs as open course places or as group courses at your premises for up to 12 people.

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First Aid at Work Courses

Frequently asked questions

Is there a legal list of what must be in a workplace first aid kit?

No. HSE states there is no mandatory list of items for a first aid container. The legal duty is for equipment that is adequate and appropriate in the circumstances, decided by your first aid needs assessment. HSE publishes a suggested minimum for low-hazard workplaces as a guide only.

Does a workplace first aid kit have to be BS 8599 compliant?

No. BS 8599-1 is a voluntary British Standard. HSE suggests looking for it when buying a kit and says in the same guidance that by law your kit does not have to meet it. Whether you buy to the standard or not, the contents should reflect your needs assessment.

What is the current version of BS 8599-1?

BS 8599-1:2019+A1:2026, published on 30 April 2026. It carries the A1 amendment to the 2019 edition, and its title now covers the provision and placement of automated external defibrillators in the workplace as well as first aid kit contents. Pages citing BS 8599-1:2019 as current are out of date.

Are first aid kits ever 'HSE approved'?

No. HSE does not approve first aid products, and it has not approved first aid training providers since October 2013. “HSE approved” on a kit is marketing language with nothing behind it.

Can we keep paracetamol or other tablets in the first aid box?

No. HSE’s guidance is that first aid at work does not include giving tablets or medicines, and that tablets and medicines should not be kept in the first aid container. The single exception is aspirin used for a casualty with a suspected heart attack in line with currently accepted practice.

How many first aid kits does a workplace need?

There is no ratio in law. One suitably stocked container per site is the minimum; large or spread-out sites need more. HSE’s own case studies put two in an 80-person office on two floors, four in a supermarket, and at least six in a dispersed chemical plant. Site them where the people and hazards are.

Do we need a defibrillator at work?

Not as a legal requirement. If your needs assessment supports one, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 apply, so you must provide information and written instructions on its use. AED use is part of the FAW and EFAW syllabus, so trained first aiders will already have covered it.

What should be in a first aid kit for a company vehicle?

HSE suggests a smaller travelling kit: a guidance leaflet, six sterile plasters, two triangular bandages, two safety pins, one large sterile unmedicated dressing, moist cleansing wipes and two pairs of disposable gloves. There is no mandatory list for these either. BS 8599-2 covers motor vehicle kits if you prefer to buy to a standard.

How often should first aid kits be checked?

HSE says contents should be examined frequently and restocked soon after use, with sufficient supplies held on site and expired items disposed of safely. Monthly is a common and defensible interval; whatever you choose, give the job to a named person and record the checks.

Should we add a tourniquet and haemostatic dressings?

Only where your needs assessment identifies a risk of life-threatening bleeding — HSE names sectors such as agriculture, forestry and construction, and remote working locations — and only alongside the training to use them. HSE treats this as additional training, not simply additional equipment.

Sources

• HSE, First aid at work: Guidance on Regulations, L74, third edition 2013, reissued with amendments 2015, 2018 and 2024 — paragraphs 35–51, Table 2 and Appendix 2
• HSE, What to put in your first aid kit
• HSE, First-aid needs assessment case studies, casestudy9(rev1)
• BSI, product records for BS 8599-1:2019+A1:2026 and BS 8599-2:2014

For what the law requires overall, see our guide to workplace first aid requirements; to work out what your own workplace needs, start with the first aid needs assessment. Questions about kits or defibrillators? Call 0845 838 4643 or use the enquiry form on this page.