- The employer must analyse possible emergencies and adopt first-aid, firefighting and evacuation measures, taking into account its size, its activity and whether outsiders are present (Law 31/1995, Article 20).
- It must designate the staff who carry them out. Those staff must have the necessary training, be sufficient in number and have the right equipment.
- And it must organise contact with outside services (emergency medical care, rescue) so help arrives quickly.
What INSST recommends (NTP 458)
- The first aider is a volunteer, trained according to the company's risks and with regular refresher training.
- As a guide, in low-risk work such as an office, one first aider per 50 workers per shift, with substitutes. Elsewhere, that figure is the minimum.
- Someone must always be available: shifts, holidays and the distance to the medical centre are taken into account.
- All workers must be told how it works, with posters, talks or leaflets, and new staff must know what to do as witnesses.
The NTP is a good-practice guide: it is not compulsory unless a regulation says so.
In practiceYou start at a warehouse. On your first day, ask who the first aider on your shift is,
where the first-aid kit is and which number to call. If nobody knows, the company has not informed staff as it should.
Source: Ley 31/1995, de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales (Law on the Prevention of Occupational Risks; consolidated text, in Spanish), Article 20 · INSST, NTP 458: Primeros auxilios en la empresa: organización (first aid organisation at work, in Spanish), sections on legal framework, first aider and organisation