Posted By Peter F The removal of pain killers from the first aid box, was this a legal requirement or best practice? Is it the same for people giving colleagues pain killers from their own personal use supply?

Posted By David J Jones Not 100% sure it's a legal requirement BUT - I have removed this type of medication from all our first aid boxes and have full agreement of all of our first aiders. Reasoning? First aiders are there to provide first aid for work related injuries, primary duty of a first aider is to prevent further harm and preserve life until professional assistance may be given. Pain killers/paracetamol/asprins and so forth are medication and should only be given by suitably qualified persons. If workers/staff wish to have their own supply of such items then fine, that is their choice. I also discourage anybody giving this type of medication to their colleagues. O.k, sounds a bit Draconian when they can be readilly purchased from numerous outlets but the onus should be on the individual who has a headache (or whatever symptom) to make their own provisions. David

Posted By Graham Watson Hi The way out of the 'giving a colleague a tablet' problem I've heard about is to leave the tablet on your desk and they pick it up and use it. You've not given it to them! Sounds odd to me but then I don't get most of the legal stuff I'm struggling with for my diploma exam that is, OMG, next Tuesday. Regards Graham

Posted By peter gotch One of our staff once gave a badly injured worker a painkiller before he was taken to hospital, where they were not amused as could not give stronger painkiller for 4 hours. Regards, Peter

Posted By Mike Charleston Doesn't it strike anyone as strange that despite the question relating to legal requirement or best practice, and despite the postings so far sounding very knowledgeable and competent, a substantive response has yet to surface? Mike

Posted By Dave Merchant The HSE's answers are always a bit vague as medication is not their responsibility. The 1981 regs don't even use the word, and the collected Medicines Acts are not the domain of HSE. Infoline was wrong to say that medication should not be in a first aid box "because of the 1981 regs" - they have nothing to do with the question. L74 para 30 (guidance, not ACOP) suggests they not be part of the "first aid kit", but that's all - and for medication intended for emergency rather than casual use, the first aid box is the logical place to put it. Nothing in the ACOP text mentions prohibition of medication because it can't (given there are specific legal duties to provide them in some workplaces). As to "substantive answers" - what do you want exactly? We've answered the OP; it's not a legal ban, merely a suggestion.

Posted By Dave Merchant No offense taken :-) It says in the 'guidance' section of the ACOP that medication isn't the domain of "first aid" in normal situations, and the HSE take that to imply it shouldn't be associated with "first aid type stuff" like boxes and cabinets. As the ACOP text makes no mention of it, and neither does the law, it's up to you to decide. You *can* stock OTC medication for your staff if you follow the sealed-packet rule I explained above, or install dispensing machines, if you want to. Nobody has ever been prosecuted for keeping a box of aspirin in a first aid kit, but of course you can't supply prescription or pharmacy-only medications without licenses. It's generally quoted that "medicines are not first aid", but that's frankly a load of spheres. Oxygen, epinephrine, antivenin, etc. are all life-saving emergency interventions, which is the first legal definition for "first aid" in the 1981 Act (SI1981.917 2.1.A). *Selling* someone with a headache an OTC painkiller is simply a retail transaction (selling does not need money to change hands) - not "treatment", as they are self-administering the medication and it's not in connection with "an injury", so it's not covered by the 1981 Act's definitions.

Posted By Dave Merchant *thinks how to answer that without breaching AUG3* I teach/write, mostly for the emergency services and I've been mopping up squished people for years. The medicines-in-kits question is a very common one with rescue terms (we have lots of things normal people would dearly want a quick sniff of) and for first aiders in remote locations, offshore etc.