Alberta OHS First Aid Requirements Explained in Plain English (2026)

The Law: Part 11 of the Alberta OHS Code

Workplace first aid in Alberta is governed by Part 11 of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Code (Alberta Regulation 191/2021), operating under the authority of the Alberta OHS Act. Part 11 mandates that every prime contractor — or employer where no prime contractor exists — must provide first aiders, first aid supplies, first aid equipment, and a first aid room where required.

The specific requirements are not one-size-fits-all. They flow from a mandatory risk assessment prescribed in Schedule 2, Tables 4 to 7 of the Code. Every employer must work through that matrix before workers ever set foot on site.

The Big Shift: Alberta Type P, 1, 2, and 3 Kits Are Now Obsolete

Effective March 31, 2023, Alberta's legacy kit numbering system — Alberta Type P, No. 2, and No. 3 — was replaced. All first aid kits must now meet CSA Standard Z1220-17, First Aid Kits for the Workplace. If you still have a kit labelled "Alberta No. 2" on your shelf without having verified its contents against the new CSA standard, it is not compliant. Similarly, all first aid training must now meet CSA Standard Z1210-17, First Aid Training for the Workplace.

The Alberta Formula: Hazard + Distance + Headcount

Unlike some other provinces that use headcount alone, Alberta uses a three-variable formula to determine your legal minimum. Get any one of the three variables wrong and your entire compliance determination is invalid.

Variable 1 — Hazard Level of the Work

Schedule 2 of the OHS Code assigns industries and work types to one of three hazard categories:

• Low Low-hazard work — work where injuries are unlikely to be severe: retail environments, offices, financial services, professional services, most restaurants (front-of-house), property management.
• Medium Medium-hazard work — elevated risk of injury from equipment, falls, or repetitive strain: manufacturing, warehousing, wholesale distribution, food processing, commercial kitchens (back-of-house), auto repair.
• High High-hazard work — significant risk of serious or life-threatening injury: construction, oil and gas, heavy equipment operation, forestry, mining, utilities, chemical processing, roofing, and excavation.

When work at a single site spans multiple hazard categories — for example, a construction project with both labourers and office-based site supervisors — you apply the requirements for the highest hazard present.

Variable 2 — Distance to Medical Care (Travel Time)

The OHS Code classifies every work site by its travel time to the nearest health care facility:

• Close work site: Travel time of up to 20 minutes to the nearest health care facility.
• Distant work site: Travel time of more than 20 minutes but not more than 40 minutes.
• Isolated work site: Travel time of more than 40 minutes.

This variable matters enormously. A medium-hazard site with 15 workers that is 25 minutes from a hospital requires significantly more first aid infrastructure than an identical site located next door to an urgent care clinic.

Variable 3 — Number of Workers Per Shift

Headcount is measured per shift, not per day. If you run rotating crews, the headcount for your busiest shift governs your requirements for all shifts. The Schedule 2 tables use the following general headcount bands: 1 worker (lone worker), 2–9, 10–19, 20–49, 50–99, and 100+, with further breakpoints at higher thresholds when first aid rooms are triggered.

How the Three Variables Interact: Quick Reference

This table is a simplified illustrative summary to help orient your planning. Always consult Schedule 2, Tables 4–7 of the OHS Code directly for the legally authoritative requirements. FA = First Aider; Sm = Small kit; Med = Medium kit; Int. = Intermediate; Adv. = Advanced.

Decoding the CSA Z1220 Kit Requirements

Understanding what the formula outputs requires knowing what each CSA kit type actually contains and when it's required.

CSA Type 1 — Personal Kit

The Type 1 kit is designed for a single worker or a person working in isolation across any hazard level. It is compact and contains the fundamentals for personal self-treatment: adhesive bandages, gauze, non-latex gloves, and a CPR face shield. If you have delivery drivers, lone service technicians, or any worker regularly dispatched alone to remote locations, each of them requires a Type 1 kit.

CSA Type 2 — Basic Kit

Type 2 kits are for low and medium hazard environments and come in small (2–25 workers), medium (26–50 workers), and large (51–100 workers) sizes. A small Type 2 is the most common kit for an office, retail store, or small warehouse. The contents step up from Type 1 to include larger dressings, burn treatment supplies, eye wash, and a greater quantity of core supplies.

CSA Type 3 — Intermediate Kit

Type 3 kits are for higher-risk work environments — construction, oil and gas, manufacturing, and any other context where severe trauma is a realistic risk. They contain everything in a Type 2 plus significantly expanded trauma supplies: additional wound packing gauze, splinting, larger dressings, more extensive burn care, and SAM splints. The same three sizes apply: small, medium, and large.

The key practical threshold to understand: as soon as your hazard level is classified as high, or your site is distant or isolated with medium-hazard work, your minimum kit jumps from Type 2 to Type 3. Many Alberta employers are sitting on Type 2 kits at high-hazard sites, not realizing they fell out of compliance in 2023.

Designated Areas and First Aid Rooms

At larger worksites, Schedule 2 of the OHS Code requires more than a kit on a shelf. Two levels of physical infrastructure can be triggered depending on your hazard/distance/headcount combination.

Designated First Aid Area

When site size and hazard level push past certain thresholds — often around 50 workers at close or distant high-hazard sites — the OHS Code requires a designated first aid area: a clean, accessible, clearly identified space dedicated to first aid treatment. This area must be equipped with stretchers, blankets, and all required kit supplies. It cannot double as a general storage room or be routinely blocked.

First Aid Room

At the largest and highest-hazard sites — typically 100+ workers at close sites, or lower thresholds at isolated locations — a full first aid room becomes mandatory under Schedule 2, Table 4. The Code specifies that this room must include:

• Hot and cold potable running water (or cold water only if a temporary/mobile facility where hot water is not reasonably practicable)
• An examination bed with a waterproof mattress and pillow
• Clean linen and blankets
• Adequate lighting and ventilation
• A washbasin, soap dispenser, and hand-drying facilities
• A waste receptacle lined with a plastic bag
• A full complement of first aid supplies and equipment as specified in Table 4
• A means of communication to summon emergency services

A first aid room is not simply a large kit in a private room — it is a functional treatment space with specific infrastructure requirements. Failing to meet the room standard when it's triggered is a serious compliance gap.

Training: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced

Alongside the kit changes, Alberta adopted CSA Standard Z1210-17 for all first aid training. The headline change is a renaming that aligns Alberta with the rest of Canada:

• Emergency First Aid → Basic First Aid (same curriculum, new name)
• Standard First Aid → Intermediate First Aid (same curriculum, new name)
• Advanced First Aid remains unchanged in name and scope

Workers who hold a valid Standard or Emergency certificate issued by an approved training agency before March 31, 2023 are considered compliant until that certificate expires. When they recertify, they must complete the CSA-aligned course.

At high-hazard or isolated sites, the matrix frequently requires one or more Intermediate First Aiders on every shift. At the most demanding end — isolated high-hazard operations with large workforces — the Code may require an Advanced First Aider, an Advanced Care Paramedic, or a Registered Nurse. Ensure you're reading the correct table for your site and not assuming that a single Basic-certified worker is enough to cover all scenarios.

The Emergency Transportation Plan: A Prime Contractor Duty

One of the most commonly overlooked requirements in Part 11 is the mandatory emergency transportation plan. Under Section 180 of the OHS Code, the prime contractor (or employer, if no prime contractor exists) must develop and implement this plan before workers are sent to the work site — not after an incident occurs.

The plan must ensure that any ill or injured worker can be transported to the nearest health care facility. To comply, the transportation method must:

• Be suitable for the distance involved and the likely types of injuries at that site
• Provide protection from the weather
• Have a means of communicating with the destination health care facility
• Be able to accommodate a stretcher and at least one accompanying person

The accompanying person must be a designated first aider — and critically, the vehicle driver cannot also serve as the accompanying first aider. At sites with three or fewer workers, the requirement for an accompanying first aider does not apply.

For isolated sites, this plan is especially demanding. Identifying a helicopter landing zone, confirming air ambulance access, or pre-arranging paramedic-level transport may all be part of a compliant plan for a fly-in, drive-in, or remote work site.

Industry-Specific Considerations

Construction Sites

Construction is Alberta's most prominent high-hazard industry under the OHS Code, and it presents a unique compliance challenge: the requirements are dynamic. As a project moves from site preparation to framing to finishing, the nature of the hazards shifts. Subcontractor crews arrive and depart, changing the shift headcount. A site that required a small Type 3 kit and one Intermediate First Aider in its framing phase may need a medium Type 3 kit and additional first aiders during heavy concrete pours.

Prime contractors on multi-employer construction sites carry the full burden of compliance for the aggregate workforce on site at any moment. Written agreements between employers to share first aid resources are permitted under Section 178(4), but those agreements must be documented.

Restaurants and Commercial Kitchens

Commercial kitchens sit squarely in the medium-hazard category — a working environment defined by sharp knives, open flames, hot oil, and high-pressure service conditions. Burns and lacerations are the dominant injury types, and first aid supplies need to reflect that reality.

A critical detail specific to food production and commercial kitchen environments: wound care supplies — particularly bandages — must be food-safe. Blue detectable bandages are standard in food service because they are visible against food products and will trigger metal detection systems, reducing contamination risk. A standard first aid kit stocked with flesh-tone bandages does not meet best practice for a commercial kitchen, even if it technically meets the minimum contents list.

How and When to Audit Your Supplies

Owning the right kit is only half the obligation. Under the OHS Code, prime contractors and employers must ensure that first aid kits and supplies are kept in a condition that is clean, dry, and serviceable. Items that have been used, expired, or damaged must be replaced promptly. A kit that was fully stocked on day one of a project but has been raided for supplies over six months is not a compliant kit.

Best practice for most Alberta work sites includes:

• A documented inspection at regular intervals (monthly for active sites is standard)
• A dated inspection log kept with or adjacent to each kit
• A restocking protocol that assigns responsibility to a named person
• An annual review of whether changes to site location, phase of work, or headcount have changed your matrix requirements

That last point is where many organizations fall short. A compliance determination done at the start of a three-year construction project may be entirely wrong by year two if the site moved, headcount scaled up, or the phase of work changed the hazard classification.

Conclusion: Alberta Compliance Is a Moving Target

The central lesson of Part 11 is that compliance is not a one-time checkbox. Alberta's OHS Code ties your obligations directly to site conditions — and site conditions change. The moment your project moves to a more remote location, your contractor headcount crosses a threshold, or you bring in a new trade involving higher-hazard work, your required kit type, first aider certification level, or facility requirements may change with it.

The good news: the system is logical and consistent once you understand it. Work through the three variables — hazard level, distance to care, and workers per shift — consult Schedule 2, and the answer is clear. The challenge is staying vigilant as those variables shift over time.

For authoritative source material, always refer directly to Part 11 of the Alberta OHS Code and the Government of Alberta's First Aid in the Workplace bulletin (FA020), which is updated regularly and reflects the current law.