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What Should a First Aid Kit Include for an Office Environment in Australia?
Office workplaces in Australia run on paper cuts, hot coffee burns, hard knocks on a corner of a desk and the occasional rolled ankle. Nothing dramatic, but enough that a properly stocked first aid kit gets opened most weeks. Meeting Safe Work Australia's minimum for a low-risk workplace is straightforward once you know what goes in the kit, where to put it, and how often to check it.
This article walks through the contents of an office first aid kit, the Safe Work Australia baseline, the few extras that genuinely earn their place in an office, and how to keep the kit in shape over time. For the broader picture on workplace obligations, our workplace first aid compliance guide for Australian businesses covers risk assessment, kit numbers, first aider training and the full Code of Practice framing.
Why an office still needs a proper first aid kit
Safe Work Australia treats offices as low risk, not no risk
Safe Work Australia's Model Code of Practice: First Aid in the Workplace sets out what every Australian workplace needs to provide. Offices and similar administrative environments fall in the low-risk category, alongside libraries and call centres. Low-risk does not mean zero injuries. It means the predictable injuries are minor and the contents list is shorter than what a construction site or commercial kitchen needs.
The Code's basic kit contents list covers cuts, scrapes, minor burns, eye irritation, and the equipment a first aider needs to manage shock or call for help. It does not include medication, which is covered separately below. For workplaces with more than 25 staff, multiple sites or a multi-floor building, you may need more than one kit. We cover that in how many first aid kits are required in the workplace in Australia.
The point isn't the audit, it's the three-minute response
Compliance is the floor. The real test is whether the kit gets opened in an actual incident and the right item is in it, in date, and easy to find. A kit with expired antiseptic wipes or a missing combine dressing still passes the audit if you only count items. It fails the test the day someone needs it.
That is why the kit contents list, the location, and the inspection routine all matter together. None of them work on their own.
What goes in an office first aid kit
The list below tracks the Safe Work Australia basic kit contents, with notes on what each item is for in an office setting. The exact pack sizes and brands matter less than having each category covered and in date.
Core contents for a low-risk office
- Adhesive plastic dressings (plasters) in a range of sizes, for paper cuts, scrapes and minor lacerations.
- Sterile gauze swabs and pads for cleaning around a wound and covering larger cuts before applying pressure.
- Non-stick wound dressings for grazes and burns.
- Combine dressings for absorbing larger amounts of blood and for use on bigger wounds.
- Conforming and crepe bandages for securing dressings or supporting a sprain.
- Triangular bandage for slings or as a pressure bandage.
- Adhesive tape to fix dressings in place.
- Saline solution (single-use ampoules) for irrigating wounds and flushing eyes.
- Disposable nitrile examination gloves, several pairs, for the first aider's protection and basic hygiene.
- Resuscitation face shield or pocket mask for CPR with a barrier between rescuer and patient.
- Antiseptic skin swabs for cleaning intact skin around a wound.
- Eye pad with bandage for covering an injured eye.
- Scissors for cutting tape, dressings or clothing.
- Splinter forceps or tweezers for removing foreign bodies.
- Safety pins for securing bandages.
- Disposable plastic bags for clinical waste.
- Notebook and pen for recording what happened and what was done.
- A current first aid booklet or quick-reference guide.
That is the SWA baseline. Anything beyond it should be chosen for the actual risks of your office, not added because the list looks thorough on paper.
A note on medications
The Code of Practice does not recommend including paracetamol, ibuprofen or any over-the-counter medication in a standard workplace first aid kit. The reasons are practical. Medications can interact with conditions the first aider does not know about. Allergic reactions can be serious. Expiry dates and storage conditions add another maintenance burden. The first aider's scope of practice does not extend to dispensing medication.
If your workplace wants to make pain relief available, the cleaner approach is a separate medication policy with a small supply held by the office manager or first aider, signed for by individual staff, and never mixed into the first aid kit itself. Speak with your first aid trainer or a Safe Work Australia adviser before setting this up.
Optional extras worth considering for an office
- Burn gel sachets and a sterile burn dressing. Office kitchens cause more of the burn calls we hear about from workplace customers than any other source. A small burn provision is sensible.
- Instant cold pack. Useful for bumps, twists and the rolled ankle from the office stairs.
- Emergency blanket. Cheap, takes no space, occasionally important.
- Eye wash bottles in addition to saline ampoules, particularly if your office has a lot of contact-lens wearers or sits near dust or printing equipment.
If you stock these extras, they should sit alongside the standard kit and be inspected on the same schedule.
Where the kit goes and who looks after it
Strategic placement
Place the kit somewhere that is central, signed, and accessible in under a minute from any desk. The break room, near the office kitchen, or by the photocopier are the usual spots. Wall-mounted kits in white cabinets with a clear green cross are easy to see and harder to misplace than soft cases left on a shelf.
For multi-floor offices, plan one kit per floor and one near the reception or main entrance. The total number of kits scales with both headcount and how spread out the workspace is. The how many first aid kits are required in the workplace in Australia article covers this in detail.
Who is responsible
In most offices the first aider, an HSR or the office manager owns kit checks. Whichever role takes it, the responsibility needs to be named and documented, not assumed. Our who is responsible for checking and restocking workplace first aid kits article walks through how to allocate this cleanly.
Inspection and restocking rhythm
Inspect the kit every six months at a minimum, and after any use. The check covers item count, condition of packaging, and expiry dates. Sterile items, in particular, lose their sterility once the seal degrades. Our piece on when first aid kits expire and what to look for covers the timeframes for different categories of stock.
When something is used, restock the same week. The kit is only as good as its weakest item. Refills for individual components are available across our first aid supplies for restocking range, so you don't need to buy a full new kit when a few items run out.
Should an office have a defibrillator?
A defibrillator is not mandatory for a low-risk office under the Code of Practice. It is worth thinking about anyway, particularly for larger offices, older workforces, or sites where ambulance response times are longer than ten minutes. The case for one strengthens with all three of those factors.
A modern AED is straightforward to use, with voice prompts that walk an untrained bystander through every step. If your office decides to install one, place it next to the first aid kit, run a short awareness session for staff, and add it to the same inspection schedule.
Office-specific risks worth covering
Different offices have different shapes of risk. The Safe Work Australia basic list covers the common ground. The extras are where you tune the kit to the actual workplace.
- Heavy contact lens use: Add a second saline supply and an eye wash bottle.
- Open kitchen with cooktop or microwave: Add burn gel and a sterile burn dressing.
- Active workspace with regular lifting or movement: Add a second crepe bandage and an extra ice pack.
- Office with a stairwell as the main internal route: Plan for a sprain or fall, with extra triangular bandages.
- Staff with known severe allergies: Anaphylaxis adrenaline (EpiPen) sits outside the first aid kit and outside this article. It requires its own policy, training, and signed protocol with the staff member's GP. Treat it as a separate workstream.
The Bendigo angle
We assemble and pack our office workplace first aid kits at our East Bendigo warehouse, and we deal with kit servicing customers across Victoria and beyond. The most common item we restock for office kits is plasters in the small and medium sizes, followed by antiseptic swabs and disposable gloves. Combine dressings and triangular bandages are almost never the items that run out. That tells you something about how offices actually use their kits, and where the maintenance attention should really go.
Pulling it together
An office first aid kit is a small piece of equipment that does a specific job. Stock the Safe Work Australia basics, add the extras your office actually needs, locate it well, inspect it on schedule, and restock it when items are used. That is the standard, and meeting it does not require a complicated kit or an expensive one.
If you want a kit that arrives ready to go and is sized for a low-risk office, our workplace first aid kits range covers the standard configurations. If you have an existing kit that needs topping up, the refills sit in our first aid supplies for restocking section. Either way, the kit is built in Bendigo and assembled by people who know what offices actually use.
For broader compliance reading, the workplace first aid compliance guide for Australian businesses is the place to start.
FAQ
Does a small office really need a first aid kit?
Yes. Safe Work Australia's First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice applies to all workplaces, regardless of size. A small office with two staff still needs a kit. The basic contents list is short and the cost is low.
How many first aid kits does an office of 30 people need?
Generally one main kit for an office of up to about 25 staff, with an additional kit considered above that, particularly if the office spans multiple floors or buildings. See how many first aid kits are required in the workplace in Australia for the detail.
Should I keep paracetamol in the office first aid kit?
No. Safe Work Australia's Code of Practice does not recommend including over-the-counter medications in workplace first aid kits. If your office wants to make pain relief available, set up a separate medication policy and keep that supply outside the first aid kit.
How often should the kit be checked?
Every six months as a minimum, and after any use. Sterile items, dressings and saline have expiry dates that need to be tracked.
Does my office need a defibrillator?
It is not required for a low-risk office, but worth considering for larger or older workforces and for sites with longer ambulance response times. If you install one, run staff awareness and add it to the same inspection schedule as the kit.