It is frustrating to dispose of items which we know are still good but the manufacturer has put a date on it and you can't argue with that !

Use them for training purposes by all means.

The reason for the expiry date is that they cannot be guaranteed to be sterile after this date, even if the packaging still appears sound.  (No packaging is a 100% barrier to everything indefinitely, because on the microscopic level things can penetrate).

I also use them for training, and one time I provided them for a charity activity involving bandaging a teddy bear.

Originally Posted by: Jam87ie

I beleive that the date is on them for a reason and should not be used after this date. My collegue says its fine as long as the contents are sealed correctly.

If all that matters is whether the packaging is sealed, why would the manufacturer put a date on at all?

Interestingly on this subject we normally purchase plasters from a well-known first aid organisation which come with an expiry date on them, however it was noted we had nearly run stocks down at one point as we hadn’t had a complete order through and someone nipped out to local large supermarket and purchased some own brand ones to be on safe side. The own brand supermarket ones have no date on box or individual wrapper! (supermarket ones are significantly cheaper, but seem just as good, though less range)

If you are finding diffuculty giving them away, try your local PDSA or animal shelter.

So you put on a sticking plaster with the aim of preventing infection by pathogens such as bacteria. But the dressing is old and the plaster does not stick. Thus it fails to do what it is supposed to do, which is why you should always read the instructions and do what the manufacturer suggests.

This of course applies to anything from a plaster, to a drill, to a particle accelerator.

Hi

WE donated all our out of date stuff to our local ST johns for training

I agree with everyone else - the date is there for a reason.  Packaging degrades and the manufacturer will have worked out how long it takes for the packaging to be breached and the contents not to be guaranteed as sterile any longer.  It's painful to have to get rid of stuff but a lot less so than having an employee with a minor injury develop sepsis because you used a dressing that wasn't guaranteed to be sterile!

This thread pops up every couple of years.

I assume you have brought a nice plastic 25 person first aid kit and there is an expiry date on the box, my advice take it off.

Then assess the risks and what treatment you are actually going to do.

How you are going to use it and who is going to use it: are you going to put a tamper proof seal on it?

Look at the contents, anything that is placed on a large open wound should be sterile and replaced.

Plasters don’t have to be sterile in fact most aren’t, they just need to be clean.

Bandages don’t have to be sterile, but Bandages that have a dressing attached must be sterile.

As workers scratch themselves outside of work but will need to cover them during work I provide a box of plasters in the workplace so that the First Aid box isn’t raided every five minutes just because someone wants to cover a piercing or a scratch from pruning their roses at the weekend.

Read http://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/indg214.pdf

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l74.pdf

Edited by user 24 August 2018 06:58:48(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified