Why first aid signage is a necessity for your business

If you’re a business owner, you’ll no doubt be aware that there are plenty of regulations regarding which signs are vital on your business premises. If you’re only a small business, some of these health & safety signs may seem irrelevant – do you really need a first aid sign or a no smoking sign, for example, if there are only two of you on the premises?

The short answer is yes, you do. The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 state that a first aid sign on the premises must be a permanent sign, and that it must be white on green with the cross shape that has now become a recognised symbol of a first aid area. The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 also state that any first aid room or area must be clearly signposted, in order for both visitors and employees alike to know where they should go should they have a problem.

These first aid regulations state that employers are required to “inform their employees of the arrangements made for first aid – including the location of equipment, facilities and personnel”. Many employers choose to do so either verbally or by means of a staff handbook – but considering most people need to use first aid facilities fairly infrequently, what is the likelihood that they will actually take in and remember this information?

With a first aid sign – and with all other types of safety signs – you’ll find that the design stands out and gets noticed. These well-known green and white signs are easily recognisable all over the UK, and are placed in areas where they are easy to spot in terms of their size, their positioning and their contrast in colour to the surface on which they are placed.

When the first aid kit is needed, it is often a stressful time: injuries, no matter how serious, can cause people to struggle to think straight. At times like these, clearly signposted first aid facilities are a must; some first aid signs even provide a space in which to write the name(s) of the qualified first aider(s) on the premises, making it even easier to resolve the situation. There’s no denying that such signage is vital in any working environment.