First Aid for Office and Home Office Setups in Australia

By Kim Hando, Owner & Founder│ 01 April 2024

Last reviewed: 18 May 2026

Offices look low risk because most of them are. Most days a paper cut is the worst of it. The problem with that line of thinking is the day it isn't.

A staffer scalds their hand on the kettle, someone trips on a power cord and lands hard, a delivery driver cuts themselves on a strapped pallet at reception. None of those are unusual. All of them want a real first aid kit on the wall, not a tin of plasters in a drawer.

This is a practical guide to office first aid, plus how to build a home office first aid kit for remote staff. Different rules apply to each setup, but the same basic thinking works: have the right kit, know where it lives, keep it stocked, and have someone who knows how to use it.

What the Australian rules actually say about offices

Office first aid in Australia sits inside the WHS framework: kit contents guided by the Safe Work Australia Code of Practice, kit placement and signage based on a workplace risk assessment, and trained first aiders where the assessment supports it. Most offices fall into the low-risk worker category.

Work health and safety is governed by the WHS Act and regulations in each state and territory, supported by the Safe Work Australia First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice. The Code distinguishes low-risk and high-risk workplaces, with a remote-or-isolated overlay where workers can't reach prompt medical help. Most offices sit firmly in low-risk: injuries are usually minor, medical help is close by, and the kit needs to cover the everyday stuff like cuts, abrasions, minor burns, sprains, headaches, and eye irritation.

The Code's Appendix E sets out a recommended low-risk workplace kit and is a sensible starting point for any office.

What "compliant" looks like in practice:

• A first aid kit suited to a low-risk workplace, accessible to all workers
• A trained first aider where the risk assessment supports it
• A clearly marked first aid sign and a kit that lives in the same place every day
• A nominated person responsible for restocking and checking the kit
• Records of who's trained and when their certification expires

If you want a closer look at the contents side, see what to include in an office first aid kit. For the workplace assessment that sits behind it, how to run a first aid risk assessment for your workplace walks through what to look at.

What belongs in the office kit

Stock for the injuries that actually happen in offices. The list isn't long.

• Plasters and assorted adhesive dressings for cuts and abrasions
• Sterile non-adherent dressings for larger wounds
• Crepe bandages and conforming bandages for sprains and to hold dressings in place
• Triangular bandages for slings
• Wound cleansing wipes (saline or alcohol-free)
• Antiseptic solution and gauze swabs
• Eye pads and saline eyewash (single-use vials work best)
• Burn gel sachets or a hydrogel burn dressing for kettle and toaster burns
• Disposable gloves (nitrile, two pairs minimum, more for shared kits)
• Tweezers, scissors, safety pins
• Resuscitation face shield or CPR mask
• An emergency thermal blanket
• A first aid log to record what's been used

A few things people often add that probably shouldn't be in there: pain relief medication, antihistamines, and any other oral medicines. The Code of Practice doesn't recommend medications in workplace kits because of the supply, storage, and individual-medical-history issues that come with them. If your workplace policy allows them, document it and store them separately from the first aid kit itself.

A note on signage and access: the kit should be easy to find, easy to grab, and easy to open. A locked kit in a manager's office isn't useful when someone's bleeding at the front desk.

If you're not sure who's looking after the kit at your office, this is a problem worth fixing. We've written about who's responsible for restocking your first aid kit. The short version is that it needs a named person, not a roster of people who all assume someone else has done it.

Building a home office first aid kit

The home office sits outside the standard workplace inspection but inside the WHS duty of care. Under the WHS Act, an employer's duty extends to workers wherever they're carrying out work. That doesn't mean an inspector will turn up at someone's spare room, but it does mean that if a remote worker is injured while working, the employer can still be on the hook.

In practical terms, the steps that earn their place:

• A written policy that covers what's expected of a home work setup, including first aid
• A small first aid kit at the home workstation, supplied or reimbursed by the employer
• Clear instructions to the worker on what to do if they're injured, including calling 000, reporting the incident, and contacting their manager
• A periodic check-in (a yearly photo of the kit and workstation works for most setups)

A home office first aid kit doesn't need to mirror the office kit. A compact kit with adhesive dressings, a couple of non-adherent dressings, a crepe bandage, antiseptic wipes, gloves, a burn sachet, and an eyewash will cover most of the situations a single worker is likely to face on their own.

The home worker won't be applying first aid to anyone else most days. The kit is there for them, and they need to be able to use it one-handed in some cases. Compact is better than complete here.

Practical setup tips for both

Some habits that hold up in any office:

• Pick a kit that matches your worker numbers and risk category. A two-person consulting room doesn't need the same kit as a 30-seat call centre. Sizing it down is fine. Pretending you don't need one isn't.
• Date the kit when you stock it. Most dressings have a sterility window of typically up to five years. Adhesives go off sooner. Saline vials have shorter dates and tend to be the first thing out of date in any kit we restock.
• Run a quick monthly look. Not a full audit. Just open the lid and see what's missing. It takes a minute and prevents the kit being half-empty when you need it.
• Replace what you use that week, not next month. The gap between "we used the last burn sachet" and "we restocked" is the only gap that actually matters.
• Keep a small refill stock somewhere accessible if the kit is in heavy use. Our first aid refills and supplies range covers consumables for restocking without buying a whole new kit each time.

Training, not just stocking

A well-stocked kit in a room of people who can't use it is decoration. For an office, even one trained first aider on each floor or shift makes a real difference. Provide First Aid (HLTAID011) and Provide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (HLTAID009) are the nationally accredited units; most offices opt for HLTAID011 because it covers CPR plus the broader first aid skills.

The Code of Practice doesn't set a fixed minimum number of first aiders for low-risk workplaces. Its guidance is a ratio of one trained first aider per 50 workers as a reasonable starting point, more if the workplace is spread across floors or shifts. The risk assessment is what tells you exactly how many you need.

For home-based staff, the bar is lower in practice. Most home workers won't be trained, and most won't need to be. What matters more is that they know how to call for help, where their kit lives, and what to do if they're hurt while alone.

Beyond the kit: AED, incident register, mental-health first aid

Three pieces sit alongside the kit and earn a brief mention.

Defibrillators. The Code of Practice doesn't require an AED in low-risk workplaces, but offices with more than around 50 staff, a public-facing reception, or a workforce skewed older have a reasonable case to put one in. Place it near the kit, not as a replacement for it, and make sure at least a couple of staff know it's there and how it works.

Incident register. Australian workplaces must keep an incident register. When the kit is used, match the entry in the first aid log to an entry in the register. Most workplaces underuse this and it costs them at audit time.

Mental-health first aid. Physical first aid is one part of the picture. The standard Mental Health First Aid course (run by MHFA Australia) is a separate qualification and not part of HLTAID011. Workplaces with the resources to train one or two MHFA-qualified staff often find it pays off, particularly in offices where the visible injuries are rare and the invisible ones aren't.

Related articles

• What to include in an office first aid kit in Australia
• How to run a first aid risk assessment for your workplace
• Who's responsible for restocking your first aid kit
• Workplace First Aid Compliance in Australia: The Complete Guide for Businesses

Browse our office first aid kits and first aid refills and supplies range, packed and dispatched from our East Bendigo warehouse. For multi-site workplace programmes, call 03 5443 2239 or email info@firstaiddistributions.com.au and we'll sort out a restock cadence that suits your operation.