21 Sep What are the legal requirements for first aid kits in New Zealand workplaces?
Most employers assume there’s a checklist somewhere: buy this kit, tick this box, done.
There isn’t.
The law takes a different approach, and it catches a lot of businesses out.
This article provides general guidance and shouldn’t be treated as legal advice.
Is a first aid kit legally required in New Zealand?
Yes, but not in the way most people expect. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) doesn’t list a specific kit or a minimum set of contents. Instead, every person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must ensure workers are provided with the first aid facilities, equipment, and access to trained first aiders that suit their particular workplace.
In other words, the law asks “is this adequate for your risks?” rather than “did you buy the right box?” That’s a deliberate design in the Act. A retail shop and a construction site face very different injury risks, so a single fixed standard wouldn’t fit either one properly.
What you actually need to assess
WorkSafe’s guidance sets out the factors you need to work through when deciding what first aid provision is adequate:
Size and location of the workplace – how big it is, whether workers are spread across multiple sites or concentrated in one place, and how far you are from medical treatment.
Number and makeup of your workers – headcount, average age, and whether you run multiple shifts, overtime, or after-hours work.
Type of work and hazards – the injuries or illnesses that have happened before, or could reasonably happen, given what your business does. A business handling machinery or hazardous substances may need extra equipment, such as an AED where there’s electrocution risk.
The same three factors apply when working out how many trained first aiders you need, plus one more: how quickly emergency services could reach you if something went wrong.
There’s no shortcut around this. If WorkSafe ever asked how you decided what to provide, “we bought a kit from the pharmacy” isn’t really an answer – you need to show you thought about your specific risks.
First aiders and training
You need workers trained in first aid, either from your own team or arranged through another business if you share a site. There’s no fixed number in the Act, but your assessment should cover:
- What level of training is needed (basic first aid versus more advanced training for higher-risk work);
- How you’ll cover shifts, breaks, or absences so a trained first aider is genuinely available when needed – not just rostered on paper; and
- When refresher training is due, so certificates don’t quietly lapse.
New Zealand first aid training generally follows NZQA unit standards, with courses run by providers like St John and the Red Cross.
Certificates typically need renewing every couple of years, so it’s worth tracking expiry dates rather than assuming everyone’s still current.
What should actually be in the kit
Since there’s no legally mandated contents list for most workplaces, the practical approach is to use a recognised first aid kit standard as your baseline, then add to it based on your risk assessment. A general office kit and a kit for a workshop running power tools shouldn’t look the same.
At minimum, your kit should be:
- Clearly labelled and easy to find – use signage so nobody’s hunting for it in an emergency;
- Positioned where the work actually happens, not tucked away in an admin area;
- Checked regularly, with used or expired items replaced straight away; and
- Scaled up if you’re a large, multi-level, or higher-risk site – one kit often isn’t enough.
Special situations
Mobile and remote workers (couriers, tradespeople, field staff) don’t work near a fixed kit, so the requirement shifts. You need to make sure they can contact a first aider or emergency services and know how to respond – for example, requiring them to carry the nearest medical centre’s contact details.
Shared workplaces with multiple PCBUs can coordinate and share first aid resources rather than each business duplicating provision from scratch.
Worker engagement isn’t optional
The Health and Safety at Work Act also requires you to engage with your workers when deciding on first aid facilities and first aiders, and when you’re proposing changes that affect their health or safety.
This isn’t a box-ticking consultation – it’s meant to surface things you might miss, like a night-shift crew who’ve never actually been asked whether their current provision works for them.
Getting it right without overthinking it
For most small businesses, this comes down to a few practical steps:
- Walk through your workplace and note the realistic injury risks;
- Match your kit and first aider numbers to those risks, not to a generic template;
- Keep training certificates and kit contents on a review schedule so nothing lapses quietly; and
- Document how you made these decisions, in case it’s ever questioned.
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s easy to set up once and then forget about – until an inspection or an incident brings it back into focus.
If you’re already tracking hazards and incidents in Hasmate, first aid equipment schedules and first aider records slot into the same system, so reviews and renewal dates don’t fall through the cracks.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss.