Free first aid and emergency steps poster template
This is a free printable first aid and emergency steps poster for a kitchen or bar wall — the first actions for burns, cuts, choking, falls and illness, plus blank fields for your own trained first aiders, emergency number and address.
Free. No email address, no sign-up — the first aid & emergency steps poster downloads straight away.
In an actual emergency nobody reads a policy document. They look at the wall. This poster exists to answer one question fast: what do I do in the first thirty seconds, and who do I call. Everything on it is deliberately short enough to be read while standing up under stress.
The most important part is the part you fill in. A poster with a printed generic number and no address is close to useless — the fields at the top are for your trained first aiders' names, where the kit and the defibrillator are, your local emergency number, and your full site address including any building or unit number an ambulance crew would need.
The guidance here is deliberately general and stops at the point where trained help takes over. First aid protocols differ between countries and are updated by national resuscitation and first aid bodies, so this poster is not a substitute for training, and it does not attempt to teach CPR or the treatment of severe injuries in a paragraph.
Print it, put it where the accidents happen — by the fryer, in the cellar, behind the bar — and check every few months that the names and numbers on it are still current. A poster naming a first aider who left last year is the version most venues actually have on the wall.
What's on the sheet
Reference sheet — nothing to fill in · Portrait A4 · PDF, Excel and CSV
Header fields
Venue / site · Emergency number · Trained first aiders on site · First aid kit & defibrillator location
In any emergency — do these first
- ·Stop what you are doing and make the area safe before you approach — turn off gas, equipment or power if that is what caused it.
- ·Call for the nearest trained first aider by name, loudly. Do not go looking for one alone.
- ·Call the emergency number if there is any doubt about how serious it is. Give the full site address, including unit or floor.
- ·Send someone to the door to meet the ambulance and clear a route to the casualty.
- ·Do not move a casualty unless leaving them there puts them in more danger.
- ·Stay with the casualty until trained help takes over, and keep everyone else back.
- ·Once it is over, record it on an accident and incident report form the same day.
Burns and scalds
- ·Move the person away from the heat source and turn the equipment off.
- ·Cool the burn under cool running water and keep it there — this is the single most useful thing you can do.
- ·Do not use ice, butter, oil or any ointment on a fresh burn.
- ·Remove watches and rings near the burn if you can do it easily; leave anything stuck to the skin alone.
- ·Cover loosely with cling film or a clean non-fluffy dressing after cooling. Do not wrap tightly.
- ·Get medical help for any burn that is large, deep, on the face, hands or joints, caused by chemicals or electricity, or affecting a child.
Cuts and bleeding
- ·Put on gloves before you touch anyone else's blood.
- ·Apply firm pressure with a clean dressing and raise the wound above heart level if you can.
- ·Keep pressure on. Do not lift the dressing to look every few seconds.
- ·Do not remove anything embedded in the wound — pad around it and get medical help.
- ·Dress with a blue detectable plaster and a glove if the person handles food, and take them off food handling if bleeding continues.
- ·Get medical help for deep wounds, a wound that will not stop bleeding, or anything from a mandolin, slicer or saw.
Choking
- ·Ask if they are choking. If they can cough, speak or breathe, encourage them to keep coughing.
- ·If they cannot cough, speak or breathe, shout for help and follow the choking procedure you were trained in.
- ·Call the emergency number without delay if the obstruction does not clear quickly.
- ·Never leave a choking person alone, and never put your fingers blindly into their mouth.
- ·Anyone who has needed help to clear an obstruction should be seen by a medical professional afterwards.
Falls, slips and head injury
- ·Do not rush to sit them up. Ask where it hurts before anyone moves them.
- ·If they hit their head, lost consciousness even briefly, are confused, drowsy or vomiting, call for medical help.
- ·Suspected broken bone, back or neck injury: keep them still and warm, and call the emergency number.
- ·Deal with the cause immediately — mop the spill, put the wet floor sign out, fix the mat.
- ·Record it, including near misses. A near miss on the same step twice is a warning you get once.
Feeling unwell, faint or unresponsive
- ·Sit or lie them down somewhere cool and quiet, away from the pass and the fryers.
- ·Get them water if they are fully alert. Nothing by mouth if they are drowsy or confused.
- ·If they are unresponsive but breathing, put them on their side and call the emergency number.
- ·If they are unresponsive and not breathing normally, call the emergency number and start the resuscitation procedure you were trained in; send someone for the defibrillator.
- ·Anyone reporting vomiting, diarrhoea or a stomach bug must be sent off food handling duties and reported to the manager.
What you get
- ✓Printable PDF poster, portrait A4, six sections on one page
- ✓Editable Excel (.xlsx) version if you want to adapt the wording
- ✓CSV version for import
- ✓Fields for your own emergency number, first aiders and kit location
- ✓Sections for burns, cuts, choking, falls, and unresponsive or unwell staff
- ✓A do-these-first block that works for any emergency
How to use it
- 1
Fill in your emergency number, the names of your trained first aiders, and where the kit and defibrillator are.
- 2
Add your full site address, including unit, floor or building name, so anyone can read it out on a call.
- 3
Print a copy for each area where accidents happen: kitchen, bar, cellar, housekeeping store.
- 4
Walk the team through it at induction so nobody is reading it for the first time during an emergency.
- 5
Pair it with an accident and incident report form kept in the same place.
- 6
Re-check the names and numbers every few months, and whenever a first aider leaves.
Questions
Is this a substitute for first aid training?
No. It is a wall prompt for the first thirty seconds and a reminder of who to call. Certified first aid training and the number of trained first aiders you need are set by your own local health and safety requirements.
Where should a first aid poster go in a restaurant?
Where the injuries happen and where people will actually see it: the kitchen near the hot section, behind the bar, in the cellar, and by the first aid kit. One poster in the office is one poster nobody reads.
What should we do after any first aid incident?
Record it the same day on an accident and incident report form, including near misses, and deal with the cause. Serious incidents may also be reportable to a national authority — check what your local rules require.
How do we treat a burn in a kitchen?
Cool it under cool running water and keep it there. Do not use ice, butter or ointment, do not wrap it tightly, and get medical help for anything large, deep, on the face or hands, or caused by chemicals or electricity.
Or stop printing it altogether
Rotahr does this check on a phone — timestamped, with the person who did it attached, reminders when one is due, and a PDF export when somebody asks for a month of records. Same job, no folder to search through.
Templates that go with it
Accident & incident report form
This free accident and incident report form template — printable PDF or editable Excel — records one incident per sheet: what happened, who was hurt, who saw it, what was done immediately, and what changed afterwards so it does not happen twice.
Fire safety checklist
This free fire safety checklist template — printable PDF or editable Excel — splits fire checks into daily, weekly, monthly and annual sections so the routine items get done on shift and the specialist items are never quietly skipped.
New staff induction checklist
This free new staff induction checklist template — printable PDF or editable Excel — splits induction into day one, week one and month one, with a signature from both the new starter and the manager against each stage.
Free to print, copy and use in your venue — no attribution required. Written for an international audience: where a threshold is a widely used figure it is printed as one, but food safety and employment rules differ by country and change. Check yours before relying on this sheet.
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