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Is Your First-Aid Kit Legal? What the Regulations Actually Require
⚡ Quick answer A legal workplace first-aid kit is a stocked box matched to your workplace’s hazards — dressings, bandages, plasters, antiseptic, gloves, scissors, a CPR mouthpiece and more, with hazard-specific additions like eye-wash where chemicals are used. Boxes must be accessible, marked, and under a named person’s control, with monthly checks against a contents list. Once more than 10 employees are at work, you also need a certified first aider — one per 50 employees in shops and offices, one per 100 elsewhere. No medicines in the box, ever. The first-aid kit is the cheapest compliance item in the OHS Act — and one of the most common inspection…
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Crossed 20 Employees? You Now Need a Health and Safety Representative
⚡ Quick answer Once you employ more than 20 people, the OHS Act requires a designated health and safety representative: at least one per 100 employees in shops and offices, one per 50 in all other workplaces. The appointment must be in writing, for a defined area and period, made in consultation with employees — and the rep is entitled to training and reasonable paid time off to perform the role. Designate two or more reps and a health and safety committee becomes mandatory, meeting at least every three months with minutes kept. Growth changes your legal duties quietly — and one of the quietest thresholds is twenty-one. The day…
