First aid and emergency plans

As an employer, you must have first aid arrangements and plans in place to deal with emergencies in your place of work.

First aid

You must make sure that:

• first aid equipment and facilities are provided and accessible
• an adequate number of workers, or other persons, have been trained to administer first aid.

First aid requirements may vary between places of work depending on:

• the nature of the work
• the types of hazards present
• the size, location, number and composition of people at the place of work.

When deciding what first aid arrangements need to be provided at your place of work, you should consider all of these factors. You should also consider the number of trained first aiders who should be available to administer first aid.

Keep emergency phone numbers handy for the following services:

• fire service
• doctor and ambulance
• Poisons Information Centre (13 11 26).

You can find further advice in the First aid in the workplace code of practice 2021 (PDF, 0.48 MB).

Emergency plans

You must also have plans in place to deal with emergencies in your place of work.

Your emergency plan must provide:

• emergency procedures, including:
  • an effective response to an emergency
  • evacuation procedures
  • notifying emergency service organisations at the earliest opportunity
  • medical treatment and assistance
  • effective communication between the authorised person coordinating the emergency response and all persons at your place of work
• testing of the emergency procedures, including the frequency of testing
• information, training and instruction to relevant workers in relation to implementing the emergency procedures.

All of your workers should be familiar with the emergency procedures for your place of work, such as:

• who to report to in an emergency
• emergency telephone numbers
• evacuation procedures and the designated meeting place
• the type of fire extinguisher to use for different fires.

It's important to note that your emergency plan is in addition to the requirement for a fire and evacuation plan under the Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008. Both of these plans can be combined into one plan for your place of work.

Read Safe Work Australia's Emergency plans fact sheet for further information about emergency plans.