Workplace Safety Logbooks · Filed 15 Jul 2026

First Aid Needs Assessment: What UK Employers Must Record (2026)

There's no prescribed form, but you must do it, and you'd struggle to prove it without writing it down. What a first-aid needs assessment covers and the records worth keeping.

By Jamie Dawson · Editor ▮ Updated 17 Aug 2026 ▮ 1 min read

An open green first aid kit on an office table with a person writing an assessment beside it

Quick answer: The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require every employer (even with one employee) to make adequate first-aid provision, based on an assessment of needs. No form is prescribed and the assessment doesn’t legally have to be written, but HSE guidance expects you to be able to show your reasoning, so in practice: write it down. Record the assessment, your first aiders and their certificate dates, kit checks, and treatments given.

What the needs assessment covers

Hazards: what could realistically injure people here? (An office and a joinery answer differently.)
Workforce: how many people, what shifts, lone workers, young workers, known medical conditions.
Layout & location: multiple floors or buildings, distance from emergency care, travelling and remote workers.
Provision decided: how many first aiders (FAW or EFAW trained), appointed persons for smaller/low-risk sites, kit contents and locations, eye-wash, defibrillator.

The records worth keeping

Record	Why
The needs assessment itself, dated & signed	Your evidence of compliance; review after any significant change
First aiders + certificate expiry dates	FAW/EFAW certificates last 3 years, missed renewals are the classic failure
Monthly kit checks	Restocking proof; items expire
Treatments given	Feeds the accident book and flags recurring hazards

How this connects to RIDDOR

First-aid treatment records are often the first evidence that an injury exists, and the trail that tells you when an over-3-day record or an over-7-day report is due. Keep the two systems pointing at each other.

FAQs

Is a first aider legally required?
Not always, low-risk small workplaces may need only an “appointed person” to take charge and call 999. Your assessment decides; that’s why it exists.

Do the 1981 Regulations cover the public/customers?
Strictly they cover employees, but HSE recommends including non-employees in your provision, and sectors like schools and leisure effectively must.

Sources

HSEFirst aid at work, official guidance legislation.gov.ukHealth and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981