What Royal Decree 486/1997 requires (Annex VI)
- Every workplace must have first-aid equipment suited to the number of workers, the risks and how far away the medical centre is.
- At least a portable first-aid kit with approved disinfectants and antiseptics, sterile gauze, cotton wool, bandage, adhesive tape, plasters, scissors, tweezers and disposable gloves.
- It is checked regularly and restocked as soon as something expires or is used.
- Workplaces with more than 50 workers must have a first-aid room; so must those with more than 25 if the labour authority so decides because of the danger or the distance to medical help. The room has, at least, a first-aid kit, a stretcher and drinking water.
- Equipment and rooms must be signposted.
What INSST recommends (NTP 458)
- In the kit, only first-aid material, tidy, with expiry dates checked and suited to the training of whoever will use it.
- Add, among other things, a thermal blanket, a resuscitation mask, eye pads, sealed saline solution if there is no eyewash, and bags for used material.
- For work away from the premises, a travel first-aid kit.
In practiceYou use the last gauze in the van's first-aid kit. You report it the same day so it is
restocked: the next person who opens it may need it for something serious.
Source: Real Decreto 486/1997, sobre lugares de trabajo (workplaces; consolidated text, in Spanish), Annex VI · INSST, NTP 458: Primeros auxilios en la empresa: organización (first aid organisation at work, in Spanish), first-aid kit