FREE FREIGHT AUSTRALIA WIDE FOR ORDERS OVER $139
First Aid Compliance Documentation: What Records Your Workplace Should Keep
When a regulator turns up after an incident, the kit on the wall is not the first thing they ask about. They ask to see the paperwork. A compliant first aid kit with no record of how you decided on it, when it was last checked, or who is trained to use it is a much weaker position than most businesses realise.
First aid compliance documentation is the evidence that your first aid arrangements were thought through, kept current, and acted on. Safe Work Australia's First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice and the model WHS Regulations frame first aid as an ongoing duty, not a one-off purchase. The records below are how you show that duty was met. Most states and territories apply the model WHS laws (Victoria runs its own OHS Act), so confirm the detail with your regulator. The practical documentation set is broadly similar across the country.
What first aid records does a workplace need to keep?
Good first aid record-keeping typically covers five areas: a first aid risk assessment, a kit contents and maintenance log, first aider qualification and currency records, an AED service log where one is provided, and an incident or injury register. The Code of Practice does not prescribe a fixed set of records, but together these show a regulator that first aid provision was assessed, maintained, staffed, and used as the situation required.
The point of each one is the same. It lets you prove, on the day someone asks, that the arrangement was deliberate and that you kept it working.
The first aid risk assessment record
This is the foundation document, and it is the one most often missing. The Code of Practice expects you to assess the nature of the work, the hazards present, the size and layout of the workplace, and the number and location of workers before deciding what first aid you need. The risk assessment record captures that reasoning.
Write down what you considered and what you concluded: the hazards you identified, the kit types and quantities chosen, where they sit, and how many first aiders the workplace needs. Date it, and review it when the work changes. If you move premises, add a high-risk process, or grow your headcount, the old assessment no longer describes your workplace. Our guide on how to conduct a first aid risk assessment walks through the method.
The kit contents and maintenance log
A first aid kit is only compliant while its contents are complete, in date, and intact. The maintenance log is the record that someone checked. It should list each scheduled inspection, the date, who did it, what was found, and what was restocked or replaced.
Two things tend to surface in these checks. The everyday items go first: adhesive plasters, antiseptic wipes, and saline get raided between incidents and quietly disappear, so the log is what flags them before the kit is short on the day it matters. The second is packaging. A sterile dressing with torn or crushed packaging is no longer sterile, even if the printed expiry is years away, so a damaged-packaging note belongs in the log alongside expiry dates. Keeping the log against the kit, and recording who owns the checks, is covered in who is responsible for checking and restocking your kit.
First aider certification and currency records
Having trained first aiders is only half of it. You also have to show their training is current. Keep a record of each first aider, the qualification held, the training provider, and the renewal date that matters most. Most first aid certificates issued under the nationally recognised units run on a three-year currency, with the CPR component (HLTAID009 Provide CPR) commonly refreshed every twelve months. These renewal periods are the standard training-provider and workplace currency convention for keeping a first aider current, not a figure set inside the unit (HLTAID011 Provide First Aid, HLTAID009 Provide CPR) itself, so confirm the currency your training provider and your WHS obligations require.
A simple register with a renewal column does the job. It tells you at a glance who is due, and it tells a regulator that coverage did not lapse while you weren't looking. If a first aider leaves, the register shows whether your remaining coverage still matches what the risk assessment called for.
The AED service and maintenance log
If you provide an automated external defibrillator (AED), it needs its own maintenance record. Pads and batteries have expiry dates, the unit runs self-tests, and both need to be checked and logged. An AED that fails when it is needed is worse than no record at all, because the assumption was that it would work.
Log the device location, the pad and battery expiry dates, the self-test status, and the date of each check. AEDs sold in Australia are listed on the ARTG, and the manufacturer's instructions set the service interval, so record against that schedule. You can see the range of defibrillators we supply, all with replaceable pads and batteries that the log keeps track of.
The incident and injury register
A workplace should keep a register of injuries and first aid treatment given. It records what happened, when, to whom, and what was done. Beyond compliance, it is a feedback loop: a cluster of the same injury tells you a hazard control or a kit item needs attention, which feeds straight back into the risk assessment.
Some incidents go further. Under the model WHS laws, a notifiable incident, meaning a death, serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident, must be reported to your WHS regulator immediately, and the site must be preserved. You also have to keep a record of that notification. Confirm the notifiable-incident definitions and timeframes with your state or territory regulator, because that is where the duty is enforced.
Keeping the records in one place
Five separate records, maintained by hand across a multi-site business, is where compliance quietly slips. The risk assessment is filed and forgotten, the kit log lives on a clipboard that walks off, and nobody can say from the office whether every site is current.
A single record-keeping layer fixes that. Our KitCheck platform comes as an annual subscription to our proprietary kit management software. You log in and manage your own kits: inspections, contents, and check history sit in one place you can pull up when a regulator asks, across every site, without chasing a folder. It is customer-operated, so your team runs the checks and the documentation builds itself as you go.
Getting the kit right is the start, and the record-keeping is what keeps it compliant. To talk through compliant kits, AEDs, and how KitCheck holds your documentation, call our team on 03 5443 2239, email info@firstaiddistributions.com.au, or contact our team. You can also browse workplace first aid kits and first aid supplies for restocking.
For the full picture of your obligations, start with our workplace first aid compliance guide.