Should you have a first aid kit in your vehicle?

Inside this issue...

-    When do we need to keep first aid kits in company vehicles?
-    What are the other benefits of being a Health and Safety Advisor Loose Leaf service subscriber?

Dear Reader,

Every week, we receive scores of questions from you, about your most pressing health and safety issues. This is one of the benefits of being a subscriber to the Health and Safety Advisor Loose Leaf service.

Since everyone can learn from the answers our consultant provides, we’ve decided that once a week, we’ll feature the “hottest” question, and its answer. It’s just another way we’re committed to keeping you safer and healthier!

When do we need to keep first aid kits in company vehicles?

Question

I’d like to know whether we need to put first aid kits in all our company vehicles. Does this only apply to employees who use company vehicles on a daily basis e.g. company drivers or does it also apply to employees who occasionally travel in their private vehicles?

Answer

You should base your decision to supply first aid boxes in company vehicles on the risks you assess, e.g. if you transport chemical substances or if you’re transporting employees. In both cases the drivers should do first aid training to enable them to use the box in case of emergency or injury.

On the other hand, your company could decide to give each employee a travel first aid pouch for their vehicles, but the motivation won’t then be risk driven, but rather a management decision.

What are the other benefits of being a Health and Safety Advisor Loose Leaf service subscriber?

If you purchase a copy of the Health and Safety Advisor Loose Leaf, you can also look forward to the following features:

• An easy-to-follow format, with step-by-step instructions to ensure there’s no room for misunderstanding.
• Many immediately understandable examples to bring the day-to-day implications of non-compliance to light, and to use these as warnings to yourself in your own business.
• An H&S Helpdesk that answers your need-to-know, urgent queries with a turnaround time of no longer than 72 hours.
• Practical tools and tips you can implement in your company RIGHT NOW!
• You don’t have to bother researching new laws yourself. You’ll automatically receive regular additions, updates and reports from us, which are priced at R1.97 per page (at approximately 100 pages). You’re not obliged to accept these deliveries. You can send them back, in which case your participation in this service ends, or you inform us that you no longer wish to receive further deliveries.
• You never need to build (or add to) your health and safety system from scratch: questionnaires and sample forms will give you a good grounding to assure the fundamentals of compliance in every area of your business.
• ‘Warnings’ advise you of things to be aware of and watch out for in your company.
• Handy checklists, so you won’t forget anything.
• Everything is referenced to the OHSA, so you’ll always be legally compliant.
• Your essential Health and Safety Toolkit CD, which contains 73 sample letters, forms, procedures, checklists and meeting agendas.
• A weekly e-bulletin from me, with the latest HSE news, information, tips and tools to fully apply health and safety in your business.
• Access to an online archive of everything we’ve published in the Handbook in case you’ve mislaid your hard copy.

Stay safe,

Nadia Smith-Pisanti