Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations and the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations, employers are required to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and personnel to enable first aid to be given to employees if they are injured or become ill at work.

First Aid; means treating minor injuries and giving immediate attention to more serious casualties until medical help is available.  Through this initial management of injury or illness, lives can be saved and minor injuries prevented from becoming major ones.

You have no legal responsibility for non-employees, but HSE strongly recommends you include them in your first-aid provision.

If someone falls ill or has an accident at work, or whilst in your workplace, it's important to take care of them straight away and make any dangerous conditions safe.

You are required by law to make an assessment of significant risks in your workplace and to look at what the risks of injury and ill health identified in this risk assessment are. If the risks are significant you may need to employ first aiders.

Further guidance and associated documents follow ...