GI-2026-40-reg1: Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Made Under the Canada Labour Code (First Aid Kits)

About 20,738 federally regulated workplaces across sectors including transportation (air, rail, road, marine), banking, telecommunications, broadcasting, postal services, pipelines, grain handling, and First Nations band councils are affected. The typical impacted business will need to replace existing first aid kits — which currently average about $65 each — with CSA-compliant kits averaging around $74, and may also need to increase the average number of kits per workplace from 1.5 to 2.0; for office-based workplaces, medium Type 3 kits run roughly $152 versus $144 previously. Small businesses (18,188 of them) face an average incremental cost of about $155 over 10 years, and will also need to spend roughly one hour per workplace doing a first aid risk assessment. About one quarter of employers who already operate in both federal and provincial jurisdictions may already be compliant and face little or no additional cost.