The Importance of First Aid in the Workplace

For July’s Health and Wellbeing section, Sussex Business Times takes a look at the importance surrounding first aid training in the workplace and the practicalities employers should consider surround this 

As an employer, you are responsible for making sure that all of your employees (and any visitors whom might visit or pass through your workplace) receive immediate attention if they are injured or are taken unwell within their place of work. Accidents and illnesses can occur at any time, and take place all too often in the UK on a daily basis.

According to YouGov, in 2015/2016, more than 40 workers were killed as a result of a workplace accident, a fall from a height being responsible for 26% of these, being struck by a moving vehicle responsible for 19% and 10% of these were due to workers being struck by a moving object – the most common form of fatal accidents, accounting for just over half of all workplace fatalities. In addition to this, an estimated 621,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury at work during the years of 2015 and 2016. 200,000 of these led to over 3 days absence from work, of which 152,000 led to over 7 days absence. Being injured handling, lifting or carrying (20%), slipping or tripping (19%), and being hit by a moving object (10%) were the most common kind of non-fatal accidents in the workplace, accounting for around half of all non-fatal injuries. There were 72,702 non-fatal injuries to employees reported by employers – a shocking statistic when considering the amount of workplace accidents to occur within these years. Of course, it’s not just accidents of this kind that employers need to be weary of – illnesses can occur at any given time.

For employers, one of the first and most important responsibilities to be seen to before any other factor of owning or running a business is to make appropriate first-aid arrangements for the workplace. While the Health and Safety Regulations Act 1981 requires all employers to provide “adequate” and appropriate” equipment, facilities and personnel to ensure their employees receive immediate attention when in an emergency situation, the extent of this is determined by nature of the workforce and workplace. In doing this, you should consider the circumstances of your workplace, workforce and the health and safety risks that may be present to help you decide what arrangements you need to put in place. Of course, all workplaces are different, sometimes even opposite, and so first aid practicalities will be very different. For example, those employing people in an office environment will have priorities in different areas than those employing staff on a building site.

Some small, low-risk workplaces need to have only a first-aid box and a person appointed to take charge of first-aid arrangements such as calling the emergency services and stocking the first-aid box. The appointed person does not need specific first-aid training, however if your workplace has more substantial health and safety risks then you are more likely to need someone specifically trained in first aid.
So what determines a suitable appointed person?

Any employer should appoint someone to take charge of first-aid arrangements as the the minimum requirement. Even in a small, low-hazard business wher first-aiders are not considered necessary, there is always the possibility that an accident or sudden illness may occur. It is therefore important that there is always someone available to take charge of these arrangements. The role of this appointed person includes looking after first-aid equipment and facilities and calling the emergency services when required. They can also provide emergency cover where a first-aider is absent due to unforeseen circumstances. An appointed person does not need first-aid training, although of course having someone professionally trained in first aid is a bonus for any business.

Equally, there is no mandatory list of items to put in a first-aid box – it all depends on what you assess your needs to be. As a guide, where work activities involve low-level hazards, a minimum stock of first-aid items would include the following:

• A leaflet giving general guidance on first aid
• Individually wrapped sterile plasters (of different sizes), appropriate to the type of work
• Sterile eye pads
• Individually wrapped triangular bandages
• Safety pins
• Large, individually wrapped, sterile, unmedicated wound dressings
• Medium-sized, individually wrapped, sterile, unmedicated wound dressings
• Disposable gloves

Health and safety at work doesn’t necessarily stop once your employees have left the workplace environment – as long as they are overseeing tasks you as an employer have set for them, you still have a duty of care and not seeing this through could be viewed as negligence as your part in legal terms. In assessing your first aid needs as an employer, you should consider a number of other things, including the nature and size of your workforce, the work patterns of your staff, holidays or absences and who will play the appointed first aider in this instance, as well as your company or organisation’s history of accidents in the workplace. You as the employer may also need to consider the needs of employee travelling and the risks that could possibly arise, the distribution of your workforce, the remoteness of work environments or sites from medical services and whether or not your employees work on or in shared sites or environments.

So Sussex Business Times is calling all employers and businesses in Sussex to ensure that the importance of first aid is among one of the first elements of owning a business to be considered. Keeping your workforce safe whilst avoiding a damaged reputation couldn’t come easier!