The short answer (prices checked 29 October 2026)
- Closest to the official list: Crest Medical 10 Person HSE Workplace kit, £8.68. It is the only kit on this page whose listing names all seven item types on the HSE suggested contents list, at £1.24 per item type.
- Cheapest per piece: General Medi Mini 92 Pieces at £8.95 works out at 9.73p a piece. Its listing names none of the seven.
- The cost spread: 9.73p to 26.48p a piece across six kits, a 2.7 times gap. Ranked by cost per HSE item type instead, the order reverses.
- The audit finding: of the first 20 unsponsored Amazon UK results read on 29 October 2026, 14 state a piece count and none state a cost per piece. The four highest counts on the page (420, 380, 309 and 210 pieces) name either none or one of HSE's seven item types in their listing text.
Two first aid kits sit in the Amazon UK charts this week. The General Medi 210 Piece kit is at number 27 in Health & Personal Care, and the same brand's 92-piece Mini is at number 13 in Sports & Outdoors, both read on 29 October 2026. They are sold on the same number, and it is printed in the product name: 210 pieces, 92 pieces, 420 pieces if you scroll far enough.
That number is the one thing the official guidance never mentions.
Prices in this table come from Amazon and are refreshed at least once a day, with the date of the last update under the table. The cost-per-use and running-cost figures on this page use prices Look Into read on 29 October 2026, so they can differ from today's price.
As an Amazon Associate, Look Into earns from qualifying purchases. Product prices and availability are accurate as of 29 October 2026 10:59 pm and are subject to change.
Prices and specs last checked by Look Into on 29 October 2026 · next check 24 December 2026 · how we picked
The only list that counts has no numbers on it
The Health and Safety Executive publishes what a workplace first aid box should hold. Read on 29 October 2026, its guidance sets a legal minimum of "a suitably stocked first-aid kit" and leaves the contents to the employer's own first-aid needs assessment. For low-hazard work it offers a suggested list: a general first aid guidance leaflet, individually wrapped sterile plasters in assorted sizes, sterile eye pads, individually wrapped triangular bandages, safety pins, large and medium sterile unmedicated wound dressings, and disposable gloves.
Seven kinds of thing. HSE attaches a quantity to none of them, and it calls the list "only a suggested contents list". So the question a shopper actually faces is whether a box holds those seven kinds of thing in a sensible quantity. The piece count answers a different question, which is how many separate objects are in the bag.
There is a British Standard, BS 8599-1, which does specify kit contents by size. HSE says buying a kit that complies with it "is not a regulatory requirement" under the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, and that either way the contents should reflect the needs assessment. BS 8599-1 is a paid document and we have not read it; everything said about it here comes from HSE's own description.
One more line from the same page is worth carrying to the checkout: "It is recommended that you don't keep tablets and medicines in the first-aid box." None of the 20 listings we read include any, which is the one thing the category gets consistently right.
What 56 pieces turns out to mean
The Healthcare by Amazon kit is unusual in listing every item with its quantity, so its piece count can be checked. The contents add up to exactly 56, and 34 of those 56 are plasters of one kind or another. That is 60.7 per cent of the headline number, before you reach the gauze, the scissors or the tweezers. The box holds no gloves, no eye pads, no triangular bandages and no safety pins.
Set that against the Crest Medical kit at £8.68, whose listing itemises 52 pieces: 20 plasters, 2 sterile eye pads, 4 triangular bandages, 6 safety pins, 6 medium and 2 large sterile dressings, 10 wipes, a pair of gloves and a guidance leaflet. Fewer pieces, four pence a piece dearer, and it covers all seven of HSE's item types. Per item type covered it costs £1.24.
The pattern holds across the wider search. The listings carrying the largest numbers were the least willing to say what the numbers were made of.
How we picked these
We read the Amazon UK Best Sellers charts for Health & Personal Care and Sports & Outdoors on 29 October 2026 and took the two first aid kits that appear in them. We then read the first 20 unsponsored results for the search term "first aid kit" on the same day, scoring each listing against the seven HSE item types using only the product title, the About this item bullets, the product description and the specification tables. Six kits were chosen for distinct jobs, each one opened on its own product page to confirm the price and a working buy box on 29 October 2026.
Look Into has not handled these products: every figure comes from the maker, the listing or a named source, read on the date shown. The item-type score measures what a listing states in writing. A kit may well contain something its listing never mentions, and several push their contents list into the product photographs where it cannot be read as text.
How the six compare
| Kit | Price, 29 Oct 2026 | Pieces | Cost per piece | HSE item types named, of 7 | Cost per item type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crest Medical 10 Person HSE Workplace | £8.68 | 52 | 16.69p | 7 | £1.24 |
| Astroplast Mezzo 20 Person | £17.74 | 67 | 26.48p | 6 | £2.96 |
| Astroplast 90 Piece Premium | £12.00 | 90 | 13.33p | 3 | £4.00 |
| Healthcare by Amazon 56 Pieces | £6.02 | 56 | 10.75p | 1 | £6.02 |
| General Medi Mini 92 Pieces | £8.95 | 92 | 9.73p | 0 | n/a |
| General Medi 210 Piece | £20.99 | 210 | 10.00p | 0 | n/a |
The six kits
Crest Medical 10 Person HSE Workplace First Aid Kit
£8.68 on 29 October 2026 · 52 pieces · 16.69p a piece · 7 of 7 HSE item types
The listing itemises the lot: 20 assorted washproof plasters, 2 sterile eye pads with bandages, 4 non-woven triangular bandages, 6 safety pins, 6 medium and 2 large sterile dressings, 10 alcohol-free wipes, a pair of powder-free vinyl gloves and a first aid guidance leaflet. Every category on HSE's suggested list is there, which no other kit we read can say. At £1.24 per item type it is also the cheapest way on this page to cover the list.
The catch: one of its bullets reads "Contents Compliant to HSE Standards". HSE publishes a suggested list rather than a contents standard, so there is no body issuing that compliance. The contents do match the suggested list, which is the part that matters. One pair of gloves is also thin for a ten-person workplace.
Astroplast Mezzo First Aid Kit, 20 Person
£17.74 on 29 October 2026 · 67 pieces counted from the listing · 26.48p a piece · 6 of 7 HSE item types
The only kit in the six whose listing claims compliance with the British standard for workplace kits, and one of two that prints a full itemised contents list: 6 triangular bandages, 3 large and 9 medium sterile dressings, 3 four-packs of gloves, 4 eye pad dressings, 12 safety pins, 10 wipes and 20 assorted plasters. The quantities are the sort a needs assessment for a small office would actually land on.
The catch: it is the dearest per piece on this page at 26.48p, which is the arithmetic working exactly as you would expect once the plaster padding comes out. No guidance leaflet is listed, the one HSE item type it misses. At 290mm wide it wants a wall or a cupboard rather than a glovebox.
Astroplast 90 Piece Premium Kit with Eyewash
£12.00 on 29 October 2026 · 90 pieces · 13.33p a piece · 3 of 7 HSE item types
Eyewash is the reason to choose this one. HSE's suggested list stops at sterile eye pads, which cover an eye after the event; a bottle of sterile wash is what you want in a workshop, a garden or a kitchen where something splashes. Two cold packs and a thermal blanket come with it, and it is a bag rather than a box, so it travels.
The catch: the listing names its item types and gives no quantities for any of them, so the "90 pieces" claim cannot be reconciled against the list. Eyewash bottles carry an expiry date and this listing does not state one.
Healthcare by Amazon First Aid Kit, 56 Pieces
£6.02 on 29 October 2026 · 56 pieces · 10.75p a piece · 1 of 7 HSE item types
The cheapest kit here and the most honest about what it is, because it prints every item and every quantity. Those quantities add up to exactly 56, so for once the headline number can be audited. For plasters, wipes and a pair of tweezers in a drawer it does the job at a price that makes a second kit for the car painless.
The catch: 34 of the 56 pieces are plasters, 60.7 per cent of the count. There are no gloves, no eye pads, no triangular bandages and no safety pins, so four of HSE's seven item types are absent. Treat it as a plaster tin with extras.
General Medi Mini First Aid Kit, 92 Pieces
£8.95 on 29 October 2026 · 92 pieces · 9.73p a piece · 0 of 7 HSE item types named
Number 13 in Sports & Outdoors on 29 October 2026, and the cheapest per piece of the six. The case is small, soft and water resistant, which is the point of it: this is the kit that lives in a glovebox or the lid pocket of a rucksack, where the Mezzo would never fit. An emergency foil blanket and scissors are included.
The catch: the listing sends you to the product images for the contents, so none of HSE's seven item types is named in text and the 92 cannot be checked before you buy. Its "ISO13485, CE and FDA approvals" line describes how the supplies are manufactured and regulated, which is a separate matter from what is in the bag.
General Medi 210 Piece First Aid Kit
£20.99 on 29 October 2026 · 210 pieces · 10.00p a piece · 0 of 7 HSE item types named
Number 27 in Health & Personal Care on 29 October 2026 and the kit that put this subject on the charts. The reflective panel on the case is a genuinely useful idea if the kit lives in a boot or a tent, and a cold pack, moleskin pad and emergency blanket go beyond anything on the HSE list. Four times the pieces of the Crest kit for two and a half times the money.
The catch: the contents are in the photographs, so the listing names none of HSE's seven item types. At 10p a piece it looks like the value buy on this page, and on cost per item type covered it cannot be scored at all. Buy it for the case and the extras, and read the contents photo before you trust it as your only kit.
What 20 listings actually claim
On 29 October 2026 we read the first 20 unsponsored results for "first aid kit" on amazon.co.uk. One product appeared twice, leaving 19 unique listings. Each was scored on its product title, its About this item bullets, its product description and its specification tables. Nothing from the customer reviews or the wider product details block was counted, because that scope pulls in text the seller did not write.
- 14 of 19 state a piece count. The range runs from 56 to 420.
- 0 of 19 state a cost per piece, per item or per use.
- 3 of 19 mention BS 8599-1 or a British Standard.
- 3 of 19 use HSE as a compliance badge, in the words "HSE Compliant", "HSE-Compliant" and "British Standards and HSE guidelines". A fourth uses "HSE Workplace First Aid Kit" as a product name, which is ordinary trade shorthand for a kit built to the suggested list.
- 0 of 19 include tablets or medicines, matching HSE's recommendation.
- Coverage of the seven HSE item types across the 19: plasters 9, eye pads or eyewash 8, gloves 7, safety pins 5, triangular bandages 4, sterile wound dressings 3, guidance leaflet 2.
The four largest piece counts in the set were 420, 380, 309 and 210. Between them those four listings name one of the seven item types. The 420-piece listing says its supplies "carry certificate of conformity to ensure conformance to global standards" and names no standard, then directs the reader to the product images for the contents. Three listings that state no piece count at all score five, six and seven out of seven.
A claim we checked and could not stand up: "HSE Compliant". HSE's guidance, read on 29 October 2026, calls its own contents list "only a suggested contents list" and says buying a BS 8599-1 kit "is not a regulatory requirement". There is no HSE kit certification for a seller to hold.
Questions people ask
Is there a legal list of what a first aid kit must contain?
No. HSE's guidance sets the minimum as "a suitably stocked first-aid kit" and leaves the contents to a first-aid needs assessment. The suggested list for low-hazard work names seven kinds of item and gives a quantity for none of them.
Does a kit have to meet BS 8599-1?
HSE says buying a compliant kit is not a regulatory requirement under the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, and that the contents should reflect the needs assessment either way. BS 8599-1 is a paid standard and we have not read it, so everything here about it comes from HSE's description.
Should a first aid kit contain paracetamol?
HSE recommends keeping tablets and medicines out of the first-aid box. None of the 19 listings we read includes any.
Is a 200-piece kit better than a 50-piece kit?
It depends entirely on what the pieces are. In the one kit here that itemises its 56 pieces, 34 of them are plasters. A 52-piece kit on this page covers all seven HSE item types and a 210-piece kit names none of them in writing.
How often should the contents be replaced?
Sterile items carry expiry dates printed on their wrappers, so the honest answer is to check the dates rather than the calendar. HSE's guidance pages read on 29 October 2026 give no fixed replacement interval.
Sources
- HSE, First aid at work: frequently asked questions, read 29 October 2026. Suggested contents list, "only a suggested contents list", BS 8599-1 not a regulatory requirement, tablets and medicines recommendation.
- HSE, First aid at work: are you an employer?, read 29 October 2026. "A suitably stocked first-aid kit" as the minimum, and the first-aid needs assessment.
- Amazon.co.uk Best Sellers in Health & Personal Care and in Sports & Outdoors, chart positions read 29 October 2026.
- Amazon.co.uk search results for "first aid kit" and the six product pages listed above, prices and contents read 29 October 2026.
Prices were read on 29 October 2026 and change often; the comparison table above pulls live prices. Look Into is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. This page is general information about buying a first aid kit and is not medical advice or a substitute for first aid training.