Retail packs of paracetemol are limited to 16 tablets or caplets. Larger quantities are POM (prescription only medication) iirc. I know supermarkets limit you to one pack at a time (per adult at the checkout) but I'm not sure what legislation governs this. How would you stop people purchasing multiple packets? I do seem to recall seeing vending machines in Hilton Hotels that include painkillers along with toothpaste, brushes etc. Might be worth taking a look at one of those.

Refer to:- MHRA website on topic "availability, prescribing, selling and supplying of medicines" pertaining to Vending Machines:- http://www.mhra.gov.uk/H...endingmachines/index.htm The Pharmaweb article is from "Safety Management" February 2004; p52 , the Brirish Safety Council's magazine. Not much has changed since then!

You sure on that limit of one pack at a checkout? I've been buying two packs at a time whenever i'm running low of paracaetomol for as long as the limits came in. I'm sure i would have been pulled up at least once when buying in those quantities over the years (especially as one was the pharmacist in a well known pharmacy chain as i was getting a prescription...)

From a practical perspective that would mean only 6 packets in the machine at any one time (I will put my hand up, I had to use a calculator) how often are these machines replenished? How much demand is there expected to be for this product?

http://www.legislation.g...7/2045/regulation/2/made Amendment of regulation 8 of the Medicines (Sale or Supply) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1980 2 (b) (iii) for subparagraph (d) there is substituted—. “(d)in the case of capsules—. (i)where they do not contain aspirin or paracetamol, not more than 25 capsules,. (ii)where they contain aspirin, paracetamol or both of those substances, not more than 16 capsules.

I had a chat with my sister last night who is a Senior Pharmacist, & Robinson22450's response is spot on. Interestingly, she said that as a result of the changes there are now fewer "spontaneous" overdose bids involving paracetamol, but of course this sadly does nothing to prevent the "planned" ones.

A possible solution would be to only vend a maximum dose (for example two tablets) at a time, this would certainly be below any legal maximums and would mean your employees would not need to carry around the surplus of the 16 or 32 tablet packets for which they would have no use. The smaller the packet size the more packets that would able to be stored within the machine, therefore the likelihood of the machine being empty when an employee was in need would be reduced. I suspect it would be easier to allow the employee to go out an aquire the tablets from a shop, if they need them, rather than bog your company down with extra red tape headaches.

There is a Paracetamol Information Centre website which includes a page with advice about UK workplaces and vending machines at http://www.pharmweb.net/...armwebpicaworkplace.html It's worth clicking on 'home' to access and have a look at some of the other pages on the website. The "Paracetamol in overdose" page suggests that liver damage can be caused by 15 gms (30 tablets), although hospitals tend to assume liver damage can occur with a single overdose of 24 standard tablets. The website also mentions that, unlike deaths from overdoses of most medicines, a fatal overdose of paracetamol has what is known as a relatively long "time course to death". This echoes what a friend of mine experienced as a junior doctor in a hospital with a teenager who had taken an overdose. The patient felt fine for quite a while before (as the medical staff knew would happen) deteriorating and dying within several days from liver failure. All very harrowing for everybody concerned. Another aspect is that various over the counter brand name medicines contain paracetamol. However, if users do not check the packet information (which increasingly seem to include the phrase "contains paracetamol") or accompanying leaflets, they may be unaware of the paracetamol content and unwittingly overdose. Therefore, it's important for people of all ages to be encouraged to check what they're taking, not to take different medicines at the same time (unless advised by a doctor) and to heed the time intervals for repeat doses. As for children who are too young to understand such things, the usual measures should be used to prevent them having access to tablets (sweets in their perception) and other medicines.