Workplace first aid kits: the CNESST rules

People search for “required first aid kit contents” hoping for a list. In the workplace regime that list is not in the regulation — and that is the first thing to understand. The CNESST text devotes one sentence to contents and several sections to everything around them: how many kits, how far away, what signage, who must be named. The exact opposite of the childcare regime.

The contents are not in the regulation

Section 4 simply states that the supply and contents of kits must comply with the standard Workplace first aid kits, CSA Z1220. That standard is published by the CSA Group: it is not a government text, and you have to obtain it from the body that publishes it.

One 2026 change deserves attention. The regulation previously cited a specific edition of the standard; it no longer does. The CNESST itself described the amendment as an evolving reference to the pan-Canadian standards. The practical consequence: the edition in force applies, and it can change without the regulation being amended. Naming an edition year here would make this page wrong the day the standard is revised — check the current edition with the CSA Group before buying.

The standard also distinguishes types of kits; the regulation names one directly, type 1, for certain vehicles. That is a useful clue when ordering: “a compliant kit” is not a precise enough order.

How many, and how far away

This is where the regulation gets specific.

In an establishment, the employer must provide an adequate number of kits, easy to reach, as close as possible to the work areas and available at all times. The number is not quantified: proximity is what governs, and it is on you to be able to explain your layout.

On a construction site, the regulation does give a number — and it is the only place it does. A site has an adequate number of kits when the time needed to reach one is about 5 minutes for every worker. One kit in the site trailer, for a crew at the far end of the site, does not meet that test.

Vehicles have their own rule

A frequent blind spot. When a vehicle is used to transport or serve workers and travels where no kit is accessible under the criteria above, it must be equipped with one.

The required contents then depend on two cumulative conditions: if the vehicle’s capacity is more than 5 workers and workers are more than 30 minutes from a medical service, the kit must hold the full section 4 contents. Otherwise, the contents provided for type 1 kits in the standard apply.

What almost nobody posts

Three signage and communication duties, rarely met in full.

• Locating the kits. Adequate signage must allow kits, the communication system and any other first aid equipment to be found easily and quickly.
• Naming the first aiders. The workplace, function, surname and given name of the first aider or aiders must appear on a poster placed somewhere easily visible and accessible to workers. Not “a first aider is available”: their names.
• Identifying them on a site. There, first aiders must identify themselves by wearing a safety helmet marked with a cross.

To which is added a communication system immediately available for reaching first aid services, with the way to reach them clearly indicated nearby.

The first aid room, beyond 100 workers

An establishment or a site with more than 100 workers must set up a room where the first aider can provide first aid. It must be available and easy to reach at all times during working hours, kept clean and in good condition, ventilated, lit, adequately heated and supplied with water.

Its equipment is listed: a stretcher — or, since 2026, equipment allowing a worker to lie down comfortably with an easily disinfectable surface —, a table and two chairs, soap and nail brushes, paper hand towels, and at minimum the contents of a section 4 kit. So the room has its own kit, on top of those spread across the work areas.

Clean, complete, in good condition

This is the only upkeep duty the regulation states, and it is brief: the employer — or the prime contractor on a site — must ensure that every kit is kept clean, complete and in good condition.

“Complete” is the expensive word. A kit compliant on the day it is bought stops being so with the first dressing taken and not replaced. No checking frequency is imposed: the routine is on you, and it is the one you will be asked to describe.

The register

Every intervention leaves a trace, and the regulation sets what it contains. The first aider providing first aid must complete a report stating their own name as well as the injured worker’s, the date, the time, a description of the injury or illness, and the nature of the first aid given.

That report goes to the employer or prime contractor, who keeps it in a register maintained for that purpose. Any information concerning a worker must be accessible to them.

Who pays

The regulation is blunt: the employer in an establishment, or the prime contractor on a site, bears the costs of setting up and maintaining first aid services.

And in childcare?

The contrast is worth the detour, because it explains why a kit bought for one setting does not suit the other. The childcare regulation lists seventeen items with their sizes, and requires the kit to be both out of children’s reach and unlocked. A kit sold as “CSA Z1220 compliant” is not, for that reason alone, compliant with that schedule — and the reverse holds too.

Yet a CPE is both a childcare service and a workplace. This page will not settle how the two regimes fit together: that is a question for the CNESST and your coordinating office. The childcare regime is covered separately.

Before relying on this page

The above reflects the text of the regulation, current as of September 2026. The contents of the kits are not in it: they are in the CSA Z1220 standard, which must be consulted in its edition in force. The regulatory text and the standard govern.

See workplace first aid courses, how many first aiders your establishment needs, or the prices charged in Quebec.

Source: Regulation respecting minimum standards for first aid and first aid kits (CQLR A-3.001, r. 10), sections 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18.