First Aid Only 200-Piece Kits Are a Starting Point, Not a Program: A Safety Buyer's Checklist

Who this checklist is for

If you buy first aid and PPE for a warehouse, plant, or construction site, this checklist is aimed at you. If you manage a low-risk office, ignore most of it. I am not trying to sell the same solution to every space, because the safest type of article is often the least useful one.

I have handled safety supply orders for a facilities maintenance group since 2019. My early orders looked fine. My first order included a First Aid Only 200 piece first aid kit for each building, which sounded like a complete answer. It was not. Then a worker needed a pressure bandage that was not in the kit, and I learned the difference between checking a first-aid-only box and building a response. That lesson cost me roughly $3,000 in reorders, delays, and embarrassment over six years.

Here is the seven-step checklist I use now. It is not a perfect formula.

Step 1: Read injury logs and near-miss notes before you shop

When I first started, I ordered by what I thought every workplace needed. Now I open the incident log first. A cut-related incident near a metal storage area is a sign to add more pressure dressings, not just more bandage strips. A heat-related event in the parking lot is a sign the closest kit needs to cover that route.

If your company does not keep detailed records, ask the crew. I have used this method since May 2023, and it always surfaces one item I would have missed. The exercise is awkward at first, because maintenance crews are not shy about telling you what is missing.

Step 2: Treat the first aid only 200 piece first aid kit as a baseline

The most popular order I see is the first aid only 200 piece first aid kit. On a normal day, in a normal break room, it covers splinters, small cuts and minor burns. That is useful. The mistake I made was assuming the count 200 meant full coverage. It means unit count, not hazard depth.

For general use, I still buy from First Aid Only. But I build beyond the base kit: trauma pads, burn gels, eye flush, and bloodborne pathogen supplies. This list changes by site. OSHA has a first aid regulation (29 CFR 1910.151), and ANSI/ISEA Z308.1 gives content minimums. If your work involves grinding, cutting, or chemicals, choose closer to Class B and add what the site-specific assessment says. Neither standard says one generic 200-piece kit is enough for every high-risk task.

Step 3: Do not make the first aid bag only mistake

I am not against vehicle kits. If a crew moves between job sites, a bag is the smart solution. What I stopped doing is assuming a first aid bag only is enough for a fixed site. In 2022, I ordered bags for every service vehicle and did not put a wall kit in an area where workers handled pallet racking. The crew parked at a different lot, and the bag stayed far from the injury. That was my 45-minute delay and a very unhappy superintendent.

Fixed location gets wall kit. Moving worker gets bag. If you have many vehicles, make sure each truck has its own first aid bag only after you confirm the fixed locations are covered.

Step 4: Test the fire alarm link at the same time as first aid locations

First aid coverage is part of emergency response, but it is not all of it. I once focused entirely on kit contents while the fire alarm panel in the same building had a fault. The emergency response plan looked complete on paper. In practice, nobody could hear an alarm in the far warehouse, and a first aid location near that area made no difference when an evacuation was unclear.

During every supply check, walk to the kit locations and ask: Can someone hear the fire alarm from here? If the answer is no, fix that before spending another dollar on bandages. I know it is tempting to stay in the first aid aisle because that product has a clear label. Safety does not work that way. Fire alarm failures create emergencies; first aid kits only help after someone is already hurt.

Step 5: Get signage and translations right

If you work around temporary fencing, you need signs in the languages workers use. Fence in Spanish can translate to cerca or valla. On a construction site, valla is usually the term for a temporary barrier, while cerca can sound like a yard fence. But both words vary by region. Ask the crew. The bigger point is not to rely on the English word danger plus a drawing.

I lost trust with a crew in 2021 when I ordered a sign that treated the fence as decorative. From then on, I ask for the exact wording before the sign goes to print. When you do not know what a safety sign means, you ignore it or you stop to question it. Both outcomes are bad.

Step 6: Buy work boots before the 7:30 a.m. text

Bad foot protection is a first aid problem, but most safety buyers do not put boots on the same order as bandages. I now do. New workers show up with broken boots more often than you expect, and the scramble starts when someone searches where to buy work boots near me on a phone in the parking lot.

The answer should be: we have spare boots in the supply room. Order a small inventory of common sizes ahead of time. If you do not know what type to carry, ask the foreman which boots actually lasted and look for composite toe or EH-rated options based on the exposure. Buying boots at the last minute means buying whatever is in stock, and that is how a puncture or slip injury happens.

Step 7: Mark expiration dates and inspect seals

The final step is boring, but it was the most expensive one I skipped. In December 2024, I found a sealed pouch that had expired twelve months earlier. The kit looked fine because nobody opened the lid to check the dates. I now put an inspection month/year marker on the outside of every cabinet and include restock dates in the same log I use for the fire alarm test.

Check for plastic wrapping tears, expired saline, rusty scissors and broken bag seals. If a package looks suspicious, replace it. This is not an annual event; it should be quarterly in high-heat or humid environments.

Honest limit of this checklist

This is not an exhaustive audit. If you run a chemical plant or a refinery, you will need specialized medical planning beyond this list. The value of the checklist is that it keeps me from ordering a box of kits and calling it done. First aid-only is a floor, not a ceiling.