How to Audit your First Aid Kit

Being ready for an emergency starts by having the right tools to assist someone at a critical time. A well-equipped and fully functional First Aid Kit is of paramount importance for the safety of your workplace or home.

The Safe Work Australia – First Aid In The Workplace Code of Practice requires businesses to do an audit at least once every 12 months to ensure the kit contains a complete set of the required items that are within their expiry period.

But the frequency of First Aid Kits audits is better to be based on the usage level as well as the workplace risk level. Therefore, we recommend the following:

• For a low-risk workplace (such as an office, shop or warehouse without a forklift) with low usage of first aid supplies, a first aid kit audit should be programmed every six-to-twelve months.
• A medium-risk workplace (such as a warehouse with a forklift) with medium usage of first aid supplies, should schedule an audit its workplace first aid kit every three-to-six months.
• A high-risk workplace (such as transport businesses, construction, farming, industrial business with machines etc) with high usage of first aid supplies should schedule an audit of its workplace first aid kit monthly or even weekly.

To audit your first aid kit you can contract a first aid servicing company or you could do it yourself.

Here we will teach you how to do it yourself. In general, First Aid Kits should contain an inventory list. This document will help you to evaluate the items against it and determine what is needed. So, use this inventory list or manifest as a checklist. If you can’t find the inventory, check our First Aid Checklist Page which contains all you need to have on your First Aid Kit.

Now follow these steps to self-audit your kit:

1. Empty the contents of your first aid kit and check the quality & expiry dates for each product. Remove any products that are expired/damaged.
2. Check the medical instruments (scissors, tweezers, etc) and ensure they are clean and sanitised.
3. Check the status of the outer container for your First Aid Kits. It is clean? (Containers for First Aid Kits should be dust-proof and water-resistant to maintain their contents in good condition.
4. Using your first aid kit inventory list (manifest) record which items are present and which items are missing or expired.
5. Repack the contents into your kit, and leave a record of the audit in the kit.
6. Order the items that need to be replaced – Visit us https://firstaidkitsaustralia.com.au and we can help you to get your kit completed.
7. Mark the date of this audit and who conducted the audit on a sticker affixed to the first aid kit.
8. Check the next audit is scheduled.
9. Ensure your first aid kit has a clear sign and is easy to locate/access in the event of an emergency.

As you probably saw, some items in a First Aid Kit have an expiry date, but others don’t. For the latter ones, while there isn’t an expiry date, there will be a Manufacturing Date instead which shows when the product was made.

For items without an expiry date, it is at your discretion when you replace them. We recommend generally after 6 years or earlier if they are unable to be cleaned and sanitised satisfactorily.

Here are the two symbols that represent Expiry and Manufacturing Date

For all your First Aid needs or more information on conducting a first aid kit audit visit https://firstaidkitsaustralia.com.au