First Aid Kits for Construction Sites: 1926.50 Setup Guide (2026)

What first aid kits does a construction site need?

Published August 16, 2026

Short answer: First aid kits for construction sites run under their own OSHA standard — 29 CFR 1926.50 — and it asks for more than general industry: supplies easily accessible, contents in a weatherproof container with individually sealed packages, the kit checked before it goes out on each job and at least weekly on the job, and a person with a valid first-aid certificate on site whenever no clinic, hospital or physician is reasonably accessible. In practice that means a Class B fill in a Type III or IV case for every crew, a fixed kit at the trailer, bleeding control staged where steel meets flesh, and a weekly signed check.

The construction first aid rules, paragraph by paragraph

Note what the standard never says: it names no ANSI class, no kit size, and no employee ratio. The class decision comes from the hazard profile — and construction's profile is why Class B, with its splint, tourniquet and deeper quantities, is the defensible baseline, as the ANSI Class A vs Class B first aid kits comparison lays out. The full regulatory decode sits in our OSHA first aid kit requirements explainer.

The site setup that satisfies all of it

Per-crew portable kits, not one kit per project

On a project with trades working dispersed — four crews across three floors and a yard — one kit at the trailer fails (d)(1) the moment a worker three minutes away starts bleeding. The working interpretation is one kit per crew, in a weatherproof Type III or IV case that rides with the crew's gang box or truck. The container-type tiers are decoded in ANSI first aid kit types explained; the stocked options live in OSHA first aid kits and workplace first aid kits.

A fixed station at the trailer

The site office or trailer carries the anchor kit — a wall cabinet with Class B depth, restock trays, and the paperwork: inspection cards, the posted emergency numbers (f) requires, and the responder's certificate (c) requires. Cabinet formats are compared in best first aid cabinets.

Bleeding control where the energy is

Struck-by, caught-between and saw incidents are construction's severe-injury signature, and the response window for arterial bleeding is minutes. A Class B kit carries one tourniquet; a site with saws, steel and vehicle traffic stages dedicated bleeding-control kits at the hazard — cut stations, the crane pick zone, the yard — per the ranked options in best trauma kits and IFAKs.

Work trucks and the corrosive corner

Every work truck that serves the job carries the same weekly-check duty while assigned to it, so the fleet gets sealed-package vehicle first aid kits rather than loose consumer pouches. And wherever wet concrete, form-release acids, or epoxies put corrosives near eyes, (g)'s drenching duty applies — portable gravity-fed stations from the eyewash stations collection cover sites without plumbing, scored against the standard by the eyewash compliance checker.

The weekly check, operationalized

1. Before mobilization: every kit going to the job gets a full count against its class fill — (d)(2)'s "before being sent out" trigger.
2. Same weekday, every week: one owner walks every kit on the job — crew cases, trailer cabinet, truck kits — against the first aid kit inspection checklist.
3. Pull dated and damaged stock on the spot. Weather exposure makes construction kits age fastest; the expiration failure modes are charted in do first aid supplies expire.
4. Restock from sealed refills. Loose replacements break (d)(2)'s individual-sealed-packages requirement — use unit-packaged trays from first aid kit refills.
5. Sign, date, file at the trailer. The signed cards are the only evidence the weekly cadence happened.

Frequently asked questions

What OSHA standard covers first aid kits on construction sites?

29 CFR 1926.50 — construction's own medical services and first aid standard. It adds duties general industry's 1910.151 does not carry: the weatherproof sealed-package container, the before-each-job and weekly checks, and the certified trained person when no clinic is reasonably accessible.

How often must a construction first aid kit be checked?

Before it is sent out on each job and at least weekly on each job, under 1926.50(d)(2). It is the only hard inspection frequency OSHA writes for first aid kits anywhere.

Does OSHA require a Class B kit on construction sites?

No — 1926.50 names no ANSI class at all. Class B is the defensible baseline because construction's injury profile is what the Class B fill exists for: deeper quantities plus a splint and a tourniquet.

How many first aid kits does a construction site need?

Enough that supplies are easily accessible to every crew — the working interpretation is one kit per crew plus a fixed station at the trailer, and the 25-employee/300-foot planning benchmark gives a floor for large single-area sites. No federal ratio is codified.

Does every work truck need a first aid kit?

Trucks serving the job carry the same accessibility and weekly-check duties while assigned to it, and a cab is a hostile storage environment — heat ages dated stock fast. Purpose-built weatherproof vehicle kits with sealed contents are the practical answer.

Who has to be first aid trained on a construction site?

1926.50(c): when no infirmary, clinic, hospital or physician is reasonably accessible in time and distance, a person holding a valid first-aid training certificate must be available at the worksite. Most sites train at least one responder per crew per shift so coverage survives absences.

What does "reasonably accessible" mean for medical care?

OSHA has interpreted proximity for serious injuries in the range of a few minutes of response time — 3 to 4 minutes is the figure its interpretation letters use for life-threatening cases. If EMS reliably arrives faster than the site can respond, the trained-person duty softens; remote sites should assume it applies.

Is a tourniquet required on a construction site?

No regulation names one. A Class B fill carries one under Z308.1-2021, and the severe-bleeding profile of saws, steel and vehicle traffic is why sites stage dedicated bleeding-control kits beyond the base kit — arterial bleeding does not wait for the trailer.

What triggers the eyewash requirement on a site?

1926.50(g): where eyes or body may be exposed to injurious corrosive materials, suitable quick-drenching facilities must be within the work area. Wet concrete is corrosive — flatwork and masonry crews trigger the duty more often than they realize, and a kit bottle is supplementary only.

What container should a construction kit use?

(d)(2) requires weatherproof with individually sealed packages per item. A Type III water-resistant or Type IV waterproof impact-resistant case satisfies the concern; a soft consumer pouch in a gang box does not.

Do subcontractor crews need their own kits?

Each employer owes its own employees compliant first aid provision, so subs typically carry their own crew kits while the GC anchors the trailer station and the emergency information postings. Coordination goes in the site safety plan, not assumptions.

What goes in beyond the ANSI fill?

What the site's hazards add: burn coverage for hot work and torch cutting, heavy dressings for framing and steel, electrolyte and shade planning in heat, and the bleeding-control layer. The method for deciding is a workplace first aid needs assessment run against the job, phase by phase.

Does the trailer kit satisfy the whole site?

Only on a compact single-crew site. The test is (d)(1)'s easy access from where work happens — vertical projects and dispersed trades fail it with a single station, which is why the per-crew model is the working standard.

What paperwork should the program keep?

The signed weekly inspection cards, the responder's first-aid certificate, and the posted emergency numbers or location information (f) requires. Together they evidence every duty in the standard that an inspector can ask about.

Where do I start if the site has nothing?

Run the first aid kit selector with the construction setting — it returns the class, per-crew format, station count and add-on modules — then stand up the weekly check from day one. Retrofitting a cadence after an incident is the expensive order of operations.

Further reading on this site

• OSHA first aid kit requirements — 1910.151 and 1926.50 decoded side by side.
• First aid kit inspection checklist — the weekly walkthrough (d)(2) demands.
• Best trauma kits and IFAKs — the bleeding-control layer for struck-by and saw hazards.
• OSHA first aid kits — contractor-oriented kits with ANSI fills.
• Vehicle first aid kits — sealed, weatherproof kits for the fleet.
• First aid kit selector — five questions to the site's class, format and station count.

Why trust WC Safety

WC Safety is an independent, affiliate-supported review site. It is not a retailer: it holds no inventory, takes no orders, and earns only from qualifying purchases through clearly marked links — which never changes what a product is rated to do. Every 1926.50 paragraph summarized on this page was read from the regulation text for this guide, and the page is explicit about which duties are written law — the weatherproof container, the weekly check, the trained person — and which are working interpretations, like the per-crew kit model. We run no laboratory and perform no testing of our own.

Our methodology

Researched and written by Steven Eaton, editor of WC Safety. Steven holds no safety certification and does not test products; this page reports what the regulations and the published standard say, with the gaps in that record marked. Last reviewed August 2026.