First aid in a pub or restaurant: do you need a first-aider, or is an appointed person enough? A 78-hour opening week checked against one trained member of staff

A new bar manager asks a fair question: how many of the team must be trained in first aid? The answer on HSE's page is less tidy than the question. It says it "cannot tell you what provision you should make for first aid", and that there are "no hard and fast rules on exact numbers". What it does give is a process, and one minimum that catches many small pubs out.

What HSE says employers need to do

From the page we read on 28 October 2026:

• Assess your first-aid needs. Consider the workplace, the workforce and the hazards. HSE lists the nature of the work, workplace hazards, the size of the workforce, work patterns and your history of accidents. It also mentions non-employees such as members of the public, which for a pub means customers.
• The minimum is an appointed person. This person looks after the equipment and facilities and calls the emergency services. HSE says an appointed person "is not required to have any formal training", and that someone should be available for those duties whenever people are at work.
• A first-aider is someone trained by a competent provider, in first aid at work, in emergency first aid at work, or at another level your assessment identifies. Since 1 October 2013 HSE no longer approves providers, so choosing a competent one is the employer's job.
• At least one first-aid kit for each workplace, easy to reach, checked often and restocked after use.
• You do not need to record the findings of the assessment, though HSE says a record can show how you reached your decisions.
• Absences count. The assessment should allow for holidays and other absences of the people you name.
• Accident book. With more than 10 employees you must keep one under social security law, and injuries and incidents are reported and recorded under RIDDOR. Keep these records somewhere confidential.

Nothing on the page says a pub must have a trained first-aider. Whether the assessment says you need one is for you to judge: a kitchen with hot fat, knives and a wet floor, plus a busy bar on a Saturday night, is a different picture from a quiet tea room.

The cover problem: appointed person on every shift

The part that bites in a rota is "at all times when people are at work". A named appointed person who works Thursday to Sunday evenings does not cover a Monday lunch. The calculation below is our own, with invented opening hours:

Now suppose the pub sends one bar worker on an emergency first aid at work course, and she works these shifts:

Check: 6 + 8 + 8 + 10 = 32, and 44 + 24 + 10 = 78. That is 32 / 78 = 41.0% of the week, leaving 78 - 32 = 46 hours with nobody trained. Over 52 weeks: 78 x 52 = 4,056 staffed hours, 32 x 52 = 1,664 covered, and 4,056 - 1,664 = 2,392 uncovered. If she is away four weeks in the year, she covers 32 x 48 = 1,536 hours, which is 37.9% of 4,056. The four weeks cost 1,664 - 1,536 = 128 hours.

Two lessons follow. One trained person is a start, not cover. And the rota matters as much as the certificate: the Monday and Tuesday daytime shifts are exactly where nobody is trained. HSE's own wording is that an appointed person can cover where a first-aider is unexpectedly absent, so every one of those 78 hours needs at least a named person who knows where the kit is and will ring 999. Our guide on the bar staff rota template shows a layout where a column for this can sit beside the rest-break check.

What to do this week

1. Write down who is the appointed person for each shift. One name per opening hour, including closing and Sunday.
2. Count the hours with a trained first-aider the way the table does. If the figure is low, decide whether a second person is worth training. That choice is yours; HSE gives no number.
3. Put the kit where staff can reach it and check it on a set day. The fire risk assessment guide uses the same weekly walk-round.
4. Tell new staff on day one who the appointed person is. The new starter checklist has the place for it.
5. Open the accident book if you have more than 10 employees, and keep it away from the bar.

Overlyft can set up new AI staff who join your team and take on the rota check: they read next week's rota, flag every opening hour with no named appointed person or trained first-aider, and send the manager the gaps, with a person deciding who covers.

Guidance is as read on the date shown. This is general information, not advice.