How to Carry Out a First Aid Needs Assessment
Every employer in the UK has a duty under the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 to assess what first aid provision their workplace needs — but there's no single template that fits every business. A first aid needs assessment is simply a structured way of working out what's genuinely needed for your specific workplace, and it doesn't need to be complicated. Our First Aid Needs Assessment Tool walks you through the steps below and produces a printable record you can keep on file.
Step 1: Look at the Nature of the Work
Start by considering the hazards present in your workplace. An office environment carries different risks to a warehouse, a kitchen, or a construction site — and higher-risk activities generally call for more first aid provision, including a higher ratio of trained first-aiders to staff.
Step 2: Consider Your Workforce
Think about:
- How many employees you have, and across how many locations
- Shift patterns — do you need cover outside normal office hours?
- Lone or remote workers who may not have immediate access to a first-aider
- Any employees with known medical conditions that might need specific consideration
Step 3: Think About Access to Emergency Services
If your workplace is remote, or emergency services would take longer than usual to arrive, this increases the importance of having trained first-aiders on site who can provide effective care in the interim.
Step 4: Decide on Appointed Persons vs First-Aiders
Based on the above, decide whether your workplace needs:
- An Appointed Person — takes charge of first aid arrangements without needing a qualification, suitable for lower-risk workplaces
- A qualified first-aider — has completed Emergency First Aid at Work or First Aid at Work, and can provide hands-on treatment
Many workplaces need more than one trained person to ensure cover during absences, holidays and shift changes.
Step 5: Check Your First Aid Kit
A basic first aid kit should include items such as sterile plasters of assorted sizes, sterile eye pads, safety pins, large and medium sterile wound dressings, disposable gloves, and a first aid guidance leaflet. The exact contents should reflect what your assessment identifies as likely to be needed — a workshop environment may need additional burn dressings, for example, where an office might not.
Step 6: Record and Review
Write down what your assessment found and what provision you've put in place. Review it whenever something changes — new premises, more staff, different shift patterns, or new higher-risk activities — and periodically even if nothing obvious has changed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a first aid needs assessment have to be written down?
It's not always a strict legal requirement to document it, but doing so makes it much easier to review, update, and demonstrate that you've thought through your provision properly.
How many first-aiders do I need?
There's no fixed ratio set in law — it depends on your assessment. As a guide, lower-risk workplaces with smaller teams may need just one Appointed Person, while larger or higher-risk workplaces typically need multiple trained first-aiders to ensure cover.
What should I do once I've identified gaps in provision?
Book the appropriate first aid course for the people identified — Emergency First Aid at Work is a practical, one-day starting point for most lower-risk roles.