In the UK, the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) is a government agency that oversees the regulation and enforcement of health, safety, and welfare in the workplace. One of those regulations is The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.
The regulations are better known as the ‘First Aid at Work Legislation’. In a nutshell, the legislation details how employers have a legal obligation to ensure the immediate care of employees that get injured or become ill while they’re at work.
HSE places the onus for duty of care on the employer and requires workplaces to provide first aid care to sick and injured personnel. However, what confuses many employers is the regulations don’t stipulate what the requirements for each unique working environment are.
To that end, the employer must work out for themselves which first aid provisions they must put in place for the safety and welfare of staff. This page describes more about the First Aid at Work Legislation and what you as an employer must do.
Last reviewed: September 2026 — checked against Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025.
Why is the legislation so important?
The legislation is part of a series of measures put in place from the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It describes the essential aspects of first aid that all employers need to adhere to, irrespective of how small or large the business, organisation, or premises is.
The 1981 Regulations brought workplace first aid together under a single general duty that applies to every employer, in every sector, however small. Workplace injury and ill health are still common. According to HSE’s key annual statistics for Great Britain, 2024/25:
- 680,000 working people sustained an injury at work, and 59,219 employee injuries were reported to HSE under RIDDOR;
- 1.9 million working people were suffering from a work-related illness;
- 964,000 of them were suffering work-related stress, depression or anxiety;
- 2,146 people died of mesothelioma in 2024 because of asbestos exposure in the past.
You may assume that the legislation only deals with the types of first aid equipment needed in the workplace. But, the aim of The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 is also to manage the provision of requirements and training for first-aiders.
Definition of ‘adequate and appropriate’ in the legislation
When you read through the legislation, you’ll come across regulation 3 which states that employers must provide ‘adequate and appropriate’ first aid equipment and facilities. You’ll come across those two words frequently in the legislation. But what exactly do they mean?
As you can appreciate, each employer’s working environment is different and comes with different sets of risks. For example, office staff will have different risks in their workplace compared to builders working on construction sites.
The legislation uses the words ‘adequate and appropriate’ because it’s up to employers to carry out risk assessments of their workplaces. And once they’ve done that, they must put in place first aid measures that match those risks.
What the 2024 revision of HSE guidance L74 means for employers
The Regulations themselves have not changed. The guidance you are measured against has. HSE’s First aid at work: Guidance on regulations (L74) is in its third edition — published in 2013, amended in 2018 and amended again in 2024. If your first aid arrangements were written before 2024, three things are probably missing from them.
Mental health belongs in the assessment. The 2024 amendments emphasise that employers must take account of employees’ mental health when deciding what first aid to provide. HSE does not order you to appoint mental health first aiders; it expects you to have considered the question and decided what is appropriate for your business — training for managers, occupational health support, an employee assistance programme, first aiders with additional mental health training, or a combination. With 964,000 workers reporting work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, this is not a box-ticking exercise.
The term is now “life-threatening bleeding”. HSE replaced “catastrophic bleeding” with “life-threatening bleeding” and added guidance on what an employer should do where that risk is identified. In practice it means asking whether your workplace could produce a bleed that an ordinary dressing will not control — blades, cutting and grinding equipment, glass, heavy machinery, vehicle movements — and, if it could, deciding whether to provide tourniquets and haemostatic dressings and train people to use them properly.
Deciding what to provide is meant to be simpler. The 2024 revision streamlined the guidance on how employers reach that decision. It did not add paperwork: HSE still does not require you to record the findings of your needs assessment, although writing them down remains the easiest way to show how you arrived at your arrangements if anyone asks.
What is the legal requirement for first aid at work
As an employer, you want to ensure your staff is safe while providing services for you. To that end, you’ll no doubt be wondering how to comply with the legislation?
First of all, you need to carry out a first aid needs assessment for each of your sites. This is not the same thing as your general risk assessment. It takes the hazards you have already identified and works out what first aid equipment, facilities and people you need in order to deal with them, and whether that cover holds up across shifts, holidays and absence.
Next, you’ll need to provide at least one first aid kit to treat sick or injured staff. The legislation doesn’t specify what you should have in the kit. But, it does state the contents should treat likely injuries or illnesses sustained from the causes in your risk assessments.
Finally, you’ll need an ‘appointed person’ to take charge of the first aid arrangements — looking after the kit and facilities and calling the emergency services when they are needed — even if your business or organisation doesn’t need a specific first-aider. An appointed person is not required to have any formal first aid training and is not there to give treatment. Someone must be available to do this at all times when people are at work, and you must tell your employees what the arrangements are and who to go to.
When it comes to determining your first aid kit and appointed person needs, you must take the following into account:
- How many employees work at each of your sites;
- Pre-existing conditions and illnesses that your employees have;
- Number of visitors to each of your premises;
- Typical hazards found in any workplace, not just the ones specific to yours;
- HSE’s specific guidance for your business or organisation’s industry;
- Your employees’ mental health, which HSE guidance has required employers to take into account since 2024;
- Work patterns – shift and night working, lone and travelling workers, and cover during holidays and sickness;
- How far each site is from an ambulance response.
HSE has published a document online that you can review to learn more about the common questions surrounding first aid at work legislation.
How to give first aid training to employees
It’s one thing to have the right contents in your first aid kits at each of your work sites. But, it’s crucial that your first aiders have the relevant training and qualifications to ensure they can deliver the right first aid to sick or injured employees.
Two things are worth knowing before you book. HSE has not approved first aid training providers since 2013, so checking that yours is competent is your responsibility as the employer; HSE publishes guidance on selecting a first aid training provider setting out what a good one should be able to demonstrate. L74 also accepts blended learning, where the theory is delivered online and the practical skills are still taught and assessed face to face, which makes cover far easier to arrange around shift patterns.
Course content matters as well. First aid training materials have had to comply with Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025 since January 2026. The change employers hear about most is that 999 is now called for any unresponsive person before the rescuer assesses breathing, on speakerphone, so the ambulance call handler can talk the first aider through what to do. FAW and EFAW certificates last three years, so anyone certificated before 2026 will pick the new guidelines up at their next requalification.
Skills Training Group can provide a variety of first aid at work courses to your employees and designated first-aiders.
Contact us today to find out how we can help your business comply with The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.
Become a qualified gas engineer
Our New Entrant Gas Engineer courses take you from beginner to Gas Safe registered, with hands-on training and the ACS qualifications employers look for.
Blog categories
Keep up to date with the latest news from
Skills training group.