Did you know that there are more than 155,000 offices that have more than 100 employees each in the United States alone? Working in an office is a common job for many people and while it is a relatively safe job, accidents and injuries still can occur. Many people don’t think about having first aid supplies on hand in an office because, after all, people rarely get injured in this kind of work environment.
However, just because offices are generally safe, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t bother with a first aid kit. First aid supplies are important no matter what work environment you happen to be in. But why should you bother with an office first aid kit anyway?
Keep reading and learn why having one is so important.
First Aid Supplies Makes Employees Feel Safer
Employees working in an office will rarely, if ever, experience an injury. Most of the time, these employees will sit at a desk as they sort through projects on their computers or talk with customers on the phone. On occasion, the employees might have to walk around the office to tell someone something or to deliver some files.
Whatever the case, an office work environment is, in general, very safe. There certainly aren’t going to be falling bricks, heavy machinery, or anything else that might cause a serious injury on a regular basis. However, random injuries could still happen.
For example, a person might hurt their leg when going down a flight of stairs or a person might accidentally slam their hand in a door or drawer. Slips and falls are relatively common office injuries and a fall alone can account for all sorts of bodily damage. Whatever the case, injuries can still happen in the office work environment.
The Details
For that reason, it is important to have first aid supplies on hand. If you don’t have a first aid kit available and the employees know this, the employees might feel unsafe in their work environment. After all, if one of them happened to hurt themselves on accident, they wouldn’t have anything to help their injury.
They wouldn’t have anything as basic as a bandage or an antibiotic ointment. This lack of medical supplies can make employees feel wary about working in that office environment. Even if the chances are that they will never experience an injury at work, they may still feel uneasy about the possibility of getting injured and then having nothing on hand to help with that injury.
This can be an especially bad situation if the injury happens to be serious and there is no way to help the situation. For that reason, it is always best to have a first aid kit on hand no matter how safe the business is. Even if no one ever uses the first aid kit, it can at least make the employees feel a lot safer knowing that it is around and on standby whenever a person happens to need it.
Besides that, if you are an office manager and you don’t have a first aid kit on hand for your employees, your employees may not feel that you have their best interests at heart.
First Aid Kits Can Relieve the Situation Quickly
The great thing about first aid kits is that they are extremely efficient. This is because everything you could possibly need is in one place. Most first aid kits have everything from bandages and antiseptic ointment to burn cream, tweezers, and more.
No matter what kind of injury a person happens to sustain in the office environment, a first aid kit will be able to be of some help. This, of course, is exactly what you want since no one will have to panic over an injury that they can’t treat right away. Also, because a first aid kit ensures that all of the supplies are in one place, no one will have to rush around the office trying to find supplies scattered all over the place.
As soon as a person gets injured, all one has to do is provide the first aid kit and the situation will be sorted out. Besides that, many of the medical supplies in such a kit work instantly. For example, suppose that an employee is making coffee on a break and that employee accidentally burns themselves on the hot coffee.
The burn might be quite serious and painful, but with the right first aid supplies on hand, it won’t be a problem. This is because one of the most common first aid supplies is a cream for burns. All the employee would need to do is put some of the burn cream on the burn and perhaps wrap it up.
What You Need to Know
This cream is designed to soothe burns as soon as it is applied. As soon as that’s done, the burn’s pain will vanish. Besides that, the cream will ensure that the burn heals properly and doesn’t get infected or irritated any further.
Besides burns, first aid kits can work equally as fast when dealing with other types of injuries. For example, suppose an employee accidentally cuts themselves with a sharp object, creating a deep cut in their finger that starts to bleed. Depending on the extent of the injury, the employee may need to go to the hospital to get stitches.
But in the meantime, the employee is bleeding everywhere. This can be fixed by getting the first aid kit and grabbing some bandages. Medical bandages are easy to use and easy to wrap around just about any kind of appendage.
Plus, you can wrap them quite tightly which is ideal for stopping the bleeding. Once you take care of this kind of wound, you can send the employee safely off to the hospital to get further treatment. Bandages are also good for less severe injuries such as minor cuts, burns, and so on.
As long as you have a first aid kit on hand, you can speedily get to whatever supplies you happen to need to treat an injury in the office workplace. That way, you can address the situation right away without wasting any time.
First Aid Supplies Are Very Easy to Store
No one wants extra clutter in the workplace. It will only get in everyone’s way and make everything a lot more frustrating to deal with. Fortunately, you won’t have to worry about first aid supplies getting in the way if you happen to buy them.
This is because they are always bundled up into a neat little kit that is easy to store just about anywhere. This is in contrast to having a few medical supplies scattered here and there. Not only is this inefficient but not having all your medical supplies in one place can also be a health hazard if an injured employee isn’t able to find them.
This is not to mention that rushing around for scattered products is a huge waste of time. Instead, it is far better to have everything in one place. That way, if someone happens to get injured, all they have to do is find the first aid kit and get whatever supplies they need from there.
What to Know
Besides that, first aid kits are very compact, so they are great for having in the office because they’ll never get in the way. You can easily store a first aid kit inside a small drawer or prop it up on a desk somewhere where it can be easily seen. Because first aid kits are relatively small, they are also easy to carry, so if you need to move them to another part of the office, you shouldn’t have any trouble attempting to do that.
And, if an employee happens to injure themselves on accident, they’ll know where the first aid supplies are. So, they’ll be able to walk over and get the supplies for themselves without wasting any time or energy. Having a first aid kit on hand is one of the simplest and most convenient things to have in the office workspace, so keep that in mind if you don’t yet have a kit in your office.
Why Office First Aid Supplies Are So Important
Office first aid supplies are important for a variety of reasons. For one, they make employees feel a lot safer. More than that, a first aid kit makes treating an injury a speedy task and it will never get in the way because it is so compact.
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