Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963

24 First aid: general provisions

(1) In the case of all premises to which this Act applies there shall be provided so as to be readily accessible a first-aid box complying with the requirements of the next following subsection or a first-aid cupboard so complying, and, where the number of persons employed to work in the premises exceeds one hundred and fifty at any one time, an additional such box or cupboard for each unit of one hundred and fifty persons comprised in the excess (any fraction of a unit being treated as one).

(2) The said requirements are that the box or cupboard—

(a) contains first-aid requisites and appliances of such descriptions and in such quantities as may be prescribed by order made by the Minister; and

(b) contains no articles other than first-aid requisites or appliances.

(3) A first-aid box or cupboard provided in the case of any premises in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this section must be in the charge of a responsible person, and no box or cupboard so provided must be in the charge of a person who has charge of another box or cupboard provided in those premises in pursuance of the said provisions.

(4) Where persons to a number exceeding the relevant number are employed to work at any one time in premises to which this Act applies, then—

(a) if no more than one first-aid box or cupboard is required by this section to be provided in the case of the premises, the person in charge of it must be trained in first-aid treatment and always available during working hours;

(b) if two or more boxes or cupboards are so required to be so provided, one of the persons in charge of the respective boxes or cupboards must be so trained and available.

In this subsection " relevant number ", in relation to any premises, means one hundred and fifty or such less number as may by regulations be prescribed by the Minister in relation either to premises generally or to premises of a class within which the first-mentioned premises fall.

(5) Where paragraph (a) of the last foregoing subsection applies to any premises, there must be displayed therein, at such place, in such a position, and in such characters, as to be easily seen and read by the persons employed to work in the premises, a notice stating the name of the person in charge of the box or cupboard and the fact of his being in charge of it; and where paragraph (b) of that subsection applies to any premises, there must be displayed therein, at such place, in such a position, and in such characters, as aforesaid, a notice stating—

(a) in a case where the availability of a single person is relied on to secure compliance with that paragraph, his name, the fact of his being in charge of a first-aid box or cupboard and that he is always available during working hours;

(b) in a case where the availability of one or other of two or more persons is so relied on, the names of each of them, the fact of their each being in charge of a first-aid box or cupboard, and that one or other of them is always so available.

(6) For the purposes of this section a person shall be deemed not to be trained in first-aid treatment unless he satisfies such conditions as may be prescribed by order made by the Minister.

(7) Where a first-aid room is maintained at, or in conjunction with, premises to which this Act applies, and arrangements exist for securing the immediate treatment in that room of persons who, while in the premises, suffer bodily injury or become ill, the authority having power to enforce compliance, in the case of those premises, with the foregoing provisions of this section, may by instrument in writing served on the occupier of the premises, exempt the premises, so long as the arrangements continue in force, from the requirements of the said provisions to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the instrument.

(8) Subsection (5) of this section shall not apply to fuel storage premises which are wholly in the open, but in the case of such premises which are wholly in the open there must be given to each person employed to work there a notice stating the like particulars as would be stated in such a notice as for the time being would, by virtue of that subsection, be required to be displayed in the premises if that subsection applied to them.

(9) This section shall not apply to premises which, for the purposes of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954, form part of a mine or quarry or which are comprised in an institution which provides medical or surgical treatment for in-patients or an institution which, not being such an one as aforesaid, is carried on by a person registered under Part VI of the Public Health Act 1936, the Nursing Homes Registration (Scotland) Act 1938 or Part XI of the Public Health (London) Act 1936.