First Aid Room Equipment
Written by searchnewsmedia
Posted on October 11, 2012 |
Education regulations require every school or college to have a room for medical or dental examinations and to provide basic care to sick or injured pupils. Employers should also give serious consideration to having a first aid room if their workplace has significant hazards or the business is located somewhere where access to medical facilities is difficult.
Sports facilities and large businesses (100+ employees) may also be expected to have a some form of ‘Medical room.’
If you are asked to set-up a Medical Room there is a minimum and obvious requirements for privacy plus the doorway needs to be wide enough to accommodate a stretcher or wheelchair. The room should ideally have a wash basin, have adequate ventilation/heating and be large enough for a couch with space for people to walk around it.
Here are some of the other things that should be on your check-list to comply with The Health & Safety Approved Code of Practice L74 March 1997. Remember, this is not a Emergency room or an operating theatre, but a place to offer basic first aid treatment or care:
First Aid Kit and Cabinet
 Although your workplace will probably have a number of first aid kits containing items like plasters,bandages, wipes and gloves, the cabinet will need to include a wider range of items. It may need to contain eye washing solutions, sterile eye pads, wound dressings, scissors, forceps or tweezers (for removing foreign bodies), hand sanitisers and burns treatment items. Given the nature of the contents, the wall cabinet also needs to be lockable.
Medical Couch
The treatment couch should ideally have a tilting head section and be accompanied with pillows, blankets and possibly perforated paper couch roll.
Medical waste disposal
At the very least you will need a pedal bin although you may want to invest in a clinical waste bin and a needle disposal box
Signage
The entrance needs to have a first aid room sign and it is good practice to have some form of first aid guidance poster.
Additional First Aid items
Other items that might be found in a First Aid rooms include emergency stretchers, lightweight transit or carry chairs, eyewash stations, evacuation chairs, CPR devices, Blood Pressure Monitoring, Scales and Fridges. How many of these items you actually need depends on the requirements of the workplace so a large industrial site employing hundreds of people operating machinery and working with hazardous materials will need to make a bigger investment in their First Aid Room than a medium-sized office-based business.
One final thing to consider is that someone needs to take responsibility for the room and its contents, including making sure that it is cleaned regularly and that medical stocks do not run out or go passed their ‘use by’ dates. For more advice, guidance and information on inspections and regulations on First Aid Rooms please visit the Health and Safety Executive website.
Tim Hill is a freelance writer for The Workplace Depot website.