What first aid kit does my workplace need?
First aid kit requirements in Canada depend on your province, how many workers are on shift, how hazardous the work is, and how far you are from medical help. Here is how those pieces fit together, and where to confirm the exact requirement for you.
Your largest shift, not total headcount.
Starting point: a medium (intermediate) kit.
Those four factors are what every province weighs, but the exact thresholds and kit classes differ province to province. Use this to know what to look for, then confirm the exact class.
Confirm with Ontario Ministry of Labour / WSIB — they set the requirement for your province.
Track my kit contents freeWhat actually decides it
Every province writes its own first aid regulation, but they all weigh roughly the same four things. Once you know your numbers on these, finding the exact requirement in your province's regulation takes about five minutes instead of an afternoon.
- How many workers are on your largest shift — not your total headcount
- How hazardous the work is, which the regulation usually defines by industry
- How far you are from medical help, measured in travel time
- Whether the site operates on more than one shift or has multiple buildings
The kit is only half of it
Most first aid regulations pair the kit with two other duties people forget: a required number of trained first aiders on shift, and a record that the kit is checked and restocked. A fully-stocked kit with nobody certified to use it, or with no inspection record, still fails.
That is usually where an inspection actually goes wrong — not a missing bandage, but no evidence that anyone has looked in the box in the last year.
What expires inside a kit
Sterile dressings, antiseptic wipes, eye wash and any medication carry expiry dates, and they do not all expire together. The practical approach is to record the earliest expiry in the kit and treat that as the kit's date — when it comes up, you open the box once and replace everything that is close.
Have this tracked for you
Kits, eyewash stations and naloxone — monthly contents checks, expiry tracking, and a restock reminder before anything inside runs out.