Appendix 1: Contents of a touchline first aid kit

1. Appendix 1: Contents of a touchline first aid kit • The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 legally oblige you to provide a suitably stocked first aid kit. The container should be identified by a white cross on a green background and in the sports environment it should ideally be waterproof and made of a high-visibility material. • There is no statutory list of items that must be included in a sport first aid kit but some sport National Governing Bodies (notably the Rugby Football League) do have official requirements. Where these are not provided, it is up to each first aider to decide the contents based on a Risk Assessment of the injury factors in their sport (i.e number of players and spectators, previous history of accidents, players with special medical requirements, allergies, etc). • If there are no special risks or requirements, a standard ‘touchline’ kit suitable for a team sport might contain the following: • Gloves x 4 pairs minimum (non-latex!) • Resusci face shield or Pocket Mask (if trained in use) - for rescuer protection during m-t-m • Plasters - various sizes, waterproof, conforming so as not to restrict movement • Sterile dressings - for larger bleeds • Tape and bandages - to secure dressings in place - avoiding skin contact if possible • Gauze swabs - for wiping the wound surface • Yellow plastic bags (or similar) – for disposal of soiled plasters, dressings and gauze • Ice/cold packs (various forms) – for cold therapy of soft tissue injury • Crepe bandages (wide, 6 inch) for use in conjunction with ice for compression purposes • Triangular bandages – for general purpose splintage • Large safety pins – for general purpose splintage • Petroleum jelly - for blister hot spots, to ease friction - not for use on broken skin • Water in ‘squirty’ bottle - for irrigation of wound area - not drinking! • Foil space blankets – to assist heat retention for injured athlete • ‘ Tuf-cut’ scissors - for quick removal of clothing if necessary • Accident report sheet - for basic info on pitchside treatments • This is a suggested list only – equivalent but different and additional items can be included subject to the Risk Assessment and the skill level of the first responder. Simple first aid kits can be bought quite cheaply ‘off-the-shelf’ at Boots, Supadrug, etc but you should be careful to check they don’t contain antiseptic creams, eye drops, burn lotions, aspirin or paracetamol preparations. Whilst it would be considered reasonable for a first aider to look after an athletes asthma inhaler, drugs and other medications should not be kept. • There is no medical requirement for heat therapies such as ‘Deep Heat’, ‘Ralgex’, etc in the immediate phase of musculo-skeletal injury – these should not be kept in your touchline kit.