First aid kits?

[Cat]

Moved posts to this thread.

[Tarn1]

I'm with 'Salty Sam' on this one.

Where  Osi states that,

"In England, all companies have a first aid kit and a first aider... I imagine this is also necessary...  and therefore, does it also mean that one person needs to have been on a first aid course."

No. Under EU law, only companies with five (plus) employees are required to  have a first-aid kit (and to pay heed to the rest of the 'six-pack' of EU H&S (at work) regs) including the requirement to have adequate numbers of first-aiders available for the number of employees (and not necesarily in the same building...).

Gite guests/customers/clients/etc are not employees, therefore are not covered by EU regs. relating to employment. End of story.

You do have a duty of care towards your guests though, so you must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure their safety. If any injuries they sustain are as a result of your negligence then they do have the right to sue you for damages. In which case the provision of a first-aid box isn't going to be of much benefit to you...

Having spent 15 years in H&S (manager, first-aider, policy maker) my advice would be that if you want to put a first-aid kit into your gite then fine, go ahead and do it. However, don't put any drugs into it of any description. You are not going to 'have your collar felt' for leaving a few plasters and bandages available in a box but leaving drugs, even aspirin, 'laying around' could be asking for trouble if little Johnny scoffs 'em..

If anyone asks you for a paracetamol because they have a headache, give them one (or two if they ask for two). You are not 'prescribing' anything, you are merely acting reasonably to a reasonable request. No judge in their right mind is going to lock you up for that...(yes, I do realise what I just said :-)

If, on the other hand, some one asks you to 'shoot them up' whilst they hold a tea-spoon out in front of them in one hand with liquid bubbling away in it, waving a lighter underneath it with the other... Whilst you are not 'prescribing' anything, in this scenario I would strongly advise you not to help out, no matter how much they beg.

Common-sense is what I'm prescribing (which sadly, as we have all found out, is all too often not common).

If you tell people to bring such medical supplies as they might reasonably foresee requiring, as has already been suggested, then the onus is on people to pack little Johnny's inhaler and not expect you to magic one up for him.

I personally wouldn't advertise 'first-aid box in gite' even if you do supply one. It implies a fully stocked (at all times with up-to-date contents, instructions etc.etc.) Probably the less said the better.

Yes I do have a huge first-aid box, which luckily has stayed closed, but I don't have them in the gites.

Ho Hum...

Tom