A warehouse worker in Brisbane slices his hand open on a steel strap. The injury isn't life-threatening, but it's bleeding fast, and the nearest first aid kit is locked in a cupboard nobody can find the key to. Ten minutes pass before anyone applies a proper dressing. That's not a hypothetical horror story — it's the kind of scenario Work Health and Safety (WHS) regulators see far too often, and it's exactly why first aid obligations exist in the first place.
If you run a business in Australia, first aid isn't an optional extra you bolt on when you remember. It's a legal duty under WHS law, and getting it wrong can mean real harm to your people and real liability for you. This guide walks through what's actually required, how to work out what your workplace needs, and how to build a first aid system that holds up when something goes wrong.
Why First Aid Is a Legal Duty, Not a Nice-to-Have
Under the Work Health and Safety Act and Regulations adopted across most Australian states and territories, a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) has a primary duty of care to workers and others at the workplace. Part of that duty includes ensuring access to first aid.
Safe Work Australia makes this fairly plain: every workplace must provide access to first aid equipment, and where appropriate, trained first aiders. This isn't a vague suggestion buried in fine print — it's a baseline standard that applies whether you're running a five-person design studio or a 500-person manufacturing plant.
The practical guidance employers lean on most is the Model Code of Practice: First Aid in the Workplace, developed by Safe Work Australia and adopted (sometimes with local variations) by state and territory regulators such as SafeWork NSW, WorkSafe Victoria, WorkSafe Queensland, WorkSafe WA, and SafeWork SA. It's worth noting the Code uses "should" for recommended practice and "must" for compulsory action — so it's worth checking with your local regulator on what carries legal weight in your jurisdiction.
Who Is Responsible for First Aid at Work?
The PCBU carries the primary obligation, but that doesn't mean the duty sits with one person in isolation.
In most organisations, responsibility is shared:
-
The employer or PCBU ensures first aid kits, facilities, and trained personnel are in place and properly maintained.
-
Workers have a duty to take reasonable care of their own health and safety, which includes knowing where first aid resources are and how to access them.
A common mistake smaller businesses make is assuming first aid is "someone else's job" because they share a building with other tenants. SafeWork SA points out that in shared premises — like a tenancy inside a shopping centre — businesses can actually consult with building management or neighbouring operators to arrange shared first aid coverage, rather than each tenant needing to train its own first aiders from scratch. It's a sensible, cost-effective approach many small retailers overlook.
Step One: Conduct a First Aid Risk Assessment
Before you buy a single bandage, the starting point is a risk assessment. There's no one-size-fits-all first aid kit or staffing ratio that applies to every business, because risk varies enormously between, say, an office and a construction site.
Your risk assessment should consider:
-
The nature of the work and associated hazards — a commercial kitchen has burn and cut risks; a logistics warehouse has manual handling and forklift risks; an office mostly deals with minor slips, trips, and the occasional medical episode.
-
Workplace size and layout — a sprawling site may need multiple kits and first aiders so help is never more than a few minutes away.
-
Workforce size and composition — more workers generally means more first aiders required, and you should factor in shift patterns, remote workers, and rostered absences.
-
Location and emergency response time — a regional or remote workplace with a slow ambulance response time needs a more robust first aid setup than a CBD office a five-minute walk from a hospital.
It's also worth consulting your workers during this process. They're often the first to know about near-misses or hazards that don't show up on paper, and consultation is itself a requirement under WHS law, not just good practice.
First Aid Kits: What Belongs Inside
Every workplace must have at least one first aid kit, and larger or spread-out sites should have more than one so people aren't running across a building during an emergency. Kits need to be checked and restocked regularly — an empty kit is functionally useless, and it's astonishing how often this gets missed until the moment it matters.
A general-purpose kit typically includes wound dressings of various sizes, adhesive bandages, antiseptic wipes, scissors, disposable gloves, a resuscitation face shield, and basic burns treatment. But your risk assessment should drive the specifics. A workplace dealing with chemicals might need eyewash stations; an outdoor or remote crew might need a snake bite kit or extra burns modules; mobile workers such as couriers, sales reps, or bus drivers should have a portable kit secured safely in their vehicle so it doesn't become a hazard itself during a crash.
A practical tip many safety officers swear by: assign one person per kit as the "kit custodian" responsible for monthly checks. It sounds bureaucratic, but it's the difference between a kit that's actually stocked and one that's been quietly empty since the last incident.
First Aiders: How Many Do You Need?
This is where a lot of employers get tripped up, because there's no single national ratio mandated for every industry. Instead, the number of trained first aiders you need depends on the risk profile established in your assessment — higher-risk environments like construction, manufacturing, or agriculture generally warrant a higher ratio of first aiders to workers than a low-risk office environment.
To be recognised as a workplace first aider, a person needs to complete a nationally accredited course (or an equivalent that builds the same competencies), typically covering CPR, basic life support, and management of common workplace injuries. These qualifications aren't a "set and forget" certificate — most accredited first aid and CPR courses require periodic renewal to keep skills current, since techniques and guidelines do get updated over time.
A useful real-world example: a regional transport company with drivers spread across multiple depots found that relying on one first aider per site wasn't enough once they accounted for annual leave, sick days, and shift work. They moved to training at least two first aiders per shift at each location, which meant cover never dropped to zero. It's a small operational tweak, but it closes a gap that catches a lot of businesses out.
First Aid Facilities and Signage
For workplaces with higher risk profiles or larger workforces, a dedicated first aid room may be appropriate — a clean, private space where an injured or unwell person can be assessed and treated away from the general work area. The size and location should allow for a stretcher or wheelchair if needed, and it should be reasonably close to where the higher-risk work happens.
Clear signage matters more than people give it credit for. In the panic of an emergency, visible and well-placed signs directing people to first aid kits, the first aid room, or the location of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) can shave precious minutes off a response.
Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs): A Growing Expectation
AEDs are increasingly common in Australian workplaces, and for good reason — they're designed for use by trained and untrained people alike, talking the user through CPR and shock delivery step by step. Several state regulators, including SafeWork SA, recommend considering an AED where there's a risk of electrocution, where ambulance response times might be delayed, or where the workplace sees high foot traffic from the public.
Some jurisdictions have gone further with specific legislation mandating AEDs in certain building types — South Australia's Automated External Defibrillators (Public Access) Act 2022 is one example. If you operate across multiple states, it's worth checking local rules rather than assuming national consistency.
Whatever you decide, an AED should be clearly signed, visible, accessible, and stored away from extreme temperatures, with maintenance carried out according to the manufacturer's specifications.
How First Aid Requirements Compare Globally
While this guide focuses on Australia, it's worth knowing the underlying logic isn't unique to us. In the United Kingdom, the Health and Safety Executive requires employers to carry out a needs assessment and provide adequate first aid equipment, facilities, and trained personnel — a model strikingly similar to Australia's risk-based approach. In the United States, OSHA requires employers to ensure ready access to medical and first aid personnel and supplies, with specifics often left to industry-based standards. The common thread across these systems is the same: first aid provision should be proportionate to actual workplace risk, not a generic checkbox exercise. Australian employers operating internationally should always check the specific first aid laws of the country they're working in, since requirements and enforcement vary.
Common Mistakes Employers Make
A few patterns show up again and again in workplace safety audits:
-
Treating the first aid kit as a "set and forget" item, only to discover during an actual emergency that key supplies expired or were never replaced.
-
Assuming a small headcount means no formal first aid plan is needed — even a five-person office has a legal duty to provide access to first aid.
Beyond those two, the broader issue is often a lack of awareness among general staff. Even if you have qualified first aiders on site, every worker benefits from understanding basic emergency response — recognising when to call an ambulance, how to assist a first aider, and how to keep calm and clear a path during an incident. This is where general workplace first aid awareness training, distinct from formal first aider certification, adds real value across an entire team.
Building a First Aid Culture, Not Just a Compliance File
The businesses that handle workplace incidents well aren't necessarily the ones with the thickest policy binder — they're the ones where everyday staff know what to do in the first sixty seconds of an emergency. That comes down to training, regular drills, and making sure first aid isn't something only "the trained person" thinks about.
If you're looking to build that awareness across your whole team — not just your designated first aiders — the Workplace First Aid Awareness for Employees course from Australian Compliance Training is a practical place to start. It's designed to give every staff member, regardless of role, the confidence to recognise an emergency, respond appropriately, and support trained first aiders when it counts. Getting your whole team first-aid aware is one of the simplest, most cost-effective steps you can take toward a genuinely safer workplace — it's worth checking out if you haven't already built this into your induction or annual training calendar.
