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 15 Jul 2026 ▮ 1 min read

A workplace first aid kit — first aid needs assessment records

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