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Guide · Kits and defibrillators
Since the British Standard for workplace first aid changed in 2026, many employers have been told they now need a defibrillator. This article explains what the law and the standard say in Northern Ireland, who can use one, how to choose and register it, and what it costs.
THE SHORT ANSWER
No law in Northern Ireland requires a workplace defibrillator. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance, which the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) follows, leaves it to your first aid needs assessment.
The British Standard for workplace first aid, BS 8599-1, now expects one within two minutes on any site with five or more people. We agree: most workplaces that size should have one, or reliable access to one nearby.
Anyone can use one, trained or not: it talks you through each step and only shocks if it’s needed. Register it on The Circuit so the ambulance service can send 999 callers to it, and budget for replacement pads and batteries.
Is a defibrillator a legal requirement?
Perhaps a supplier has told you the “new 2026 standard” means you must buy one. The law hasn’t changed. The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982 require first aid equipment that’s “adequate and appropriate in the circumstances”, and they don’t mention defibrillators. HSE’s guidance says health and safety law doesn’t require one, and that the decision belongs in your first aid needs assessment.
What has changed is the standard. BS 8599-1 is the British Standard for workplace first aid kits, and its 2026 version also covers defibrillators. It expects any workplace with five or more people on site during working hours to have a defibrillator that can be reached within two minutes from anywhere on the premises. A public defibrillator nearby can count, if you can get to it in that time. The standard counts people on site, not just staff, so we think it’s sensible to include visitors and customers who are regularly there, as in a shop or a gym.
That’s a standard, not the law, but it’s the right benchmark, because minutes decide the outcome. Around 1,400 people a year have a cardiac arrest outside hospital in Northern Ireland, and fewer than 1 in 10 survive. Every minute without CPR and a defibrillator lowers the odds, and an ambulance is rarely there in two minutes.
So if five or more people are regularly on site, we’d expect you to have a defibrillator, or reliable access to one within two minutes whenever people are there. The case is stronger if you have customers or visitors, an older workforce, physical work, or a long wait for an ambulance.
Suppose a design agency of 14 people is on the third floor of a shared building with a defibrillator in the lobby. The lobby locks at 6pm, when the agency is often still working, and even when it’s open, getting down to it takes more than two minutes. What counts is reaching a defibrillator quickly, not having one somewhere in the building, so the agency needs its own by the lifts on its floor.
NORTHLIGHT TIP
Time the walk
Walk briskly from the furthest point of your site to the nearest defibrillator you could rely on, with a timer running. Try it early and late, when doors may be locked. If it takes more than two minutes to reach, you need one closer: someone still has to carry it back.
Who can use it, and does anyone need training?
Anyone can use a defibrillator, without training, a certificate or permission. Once it’s switched on, it tells you what to do, checks the person’s heart rhythm and only allows a shock if one is needed. There’s no reported case in the UK of someone who helped like this being successfully sued.
If you provide one, the rules on work equipment apply: keep the manufacturer’s instructions with it and keep it in working order. HSE’s guidance adds that fuller training is likely to make people more confident.
Your first-aiders already have adults covered: Emergency First Aid at Work and First Aid at Work both include adult CPR and using a defibrillator. Neither covers using one on a child or baby, which our AED and CPR course does.
For everyone else, ten minutes at a team meeting will do: where the defibrillator is, that the first jobs are to call 999 and start CPR, and that someone else runs to fetch it. Training adds most where you have no first-aiders, children are often on site, or you want a few people ready to take charge.
Choosing a defibrillator and where to put it
Most workplace defibrillators do the job well. The real choices are about who might need it and where it will live.
- If you’re deciding...Semi-automatic or fully automatic
- What it means for youA semi-automatic one asks you to press a button to give the shock. A fully automatic one gives it after telling everyone to stand clear. Both are made for people with no training.
- If you’re deciding...Child mode or child pads
- What it means for youWorth having where children are often on site. Some models have a switch or key, others need separate pads. Adult pads can still be used on a child if nothing else is available.
- If you’re deciding...Indoor bracket or cabinet
- What it means for youThe cheapest option, but it can only be reached when the building is open.
- If you’re deciding...Outdoor heated cabinet
- What it means for youNeeds a weatherproof cabinet with a power supply, fitted by an electrician, but it’s available around the clock to staff and neighbours.
- If you’re deciding...Locked or unlocked cabinet
- What it means for youUnlocked is recommended, because a lock costs time. If you lock it, record the code on The Circuit so the 999 call handler can give it out.
Sources: Resuscitation Council UK, Public access defibrillators: A guide for communities (2025); The Circuit, frequently asked questions.
Put it on a main route, signed and reachable on every shift, not in a locked office. Large or spread-out sites may need more than one. Look for at least a five-year warranty, pads with at least two years’ shelf life, and any child key included in the price. Some models can also report their own status over Wi-Fi or mobile data, which helps across several sites.
Now suppose an agricultural machinery dealer in rural Tyrone has nine staff, farmers calling in all day and a 20-minute wait for an ambulance. The delay makes a defibrillator well worth having, and the customers and neighbours decide where it goes: in a heated cabinet by the main door, unlocked if possible, registered as available around the clock. A bracket in the workshop would be cheaper, but nobody could reach it once the yard was shut.
Register it on The Circuit
The Circuit is the national defibrillator network, run by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) with the NHS ambulance services, and every ambulance service in the UK uses it. When someone dials 999 for a person in cardiac arrest, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) uses it to find the nearest available defibrillator, usually within a mile. The call handler sends someone to fetch it, gives them any cabinet code and talks the caller through CPR. If your defibrillator isn’t on The Circuit, the ambulance service doesn’t know it exists.
Registering is free and takes about five minutes at thecircuit.uk. The person who looks after the defibrillator, called the guardian, sets up the account. Organisations with five or more defibrillators across different sites can use an organisation account.
INFORMATION
What you’ll need to register
The address, exactly where the defibrillator is, and its What3Words location
The brand, model and serial number
The days and times it can be reached
The expiry date of the pads
Confirmation it’s showing its ready signal
The cabinet code, if it’s locked
A defibrillator inside your building, or only available in working hours, can still be registered with those days and times. NIAS asks you to register only defibrillators in a fixed place that you’re happy for the public to use, not mobile ones kept in vehicles. Our view: if a 999 caller from the street could reach it during your opening hours, register it for those hours.
Once it’s registered, The Circuit emails the guardian every three months to log a status check, warns when the pads are due to expire, and tells you when the ambulance service sends someone to fetch it. Our article on looking after a workplace defibrillator explains that routine.
What it costs and where to buy
From the prices we checked in October 2026, most workplace defibrillators cost about £800 to £1,600, often shown before VAT, and connected models cost more. On top of that:
an indoor bracket costs from about £20, and an indoor cabinet about £90 to £350;
an outdoor heated cabinet costs about £400 to £600, plus around £200 to £250 to fit;
a set of pads costs about £35 to £155, and a battery about £50 to £350.
Pads usually last two to five years and batteries four to five, and pads must be replaced after every use, so compare the ten-year cost, not just the box. We found one popular model priced from under £1,000 to almost £1,300 before VAT at different sellers, with just under £500 of pads and batteries over ten years.
Funded defibrillators in Northern Ireland, from the BHF and some councils, are for community groups and sports clubs rather than businesses.
We don’t sell defibrillators or earn anything from these suppliers. They’re here to save you a search. If you’re unsure what your workplace needs, we’re happy to talk it through and point you to the right information, with nothing to sell you.
These Northern Ireland firms sell defibrillators and can advise on choosing and fitting one:
MKB Medical, Old Dundonald Road, Belfast;
Ebrington Medical, Maydown, Londonderry;
Emergency Aid Supplies, Skeoge Industrial Park, Londonderry;
Arco, Mayfield Link, Mallusk.
Specialist online suppliers include BHF Defibrillators, the British Heart Foundation’s shop, First Aid Warehouse, Jax First Aid Supplies and FirstAid4Less. Check their delivery terms to Northern Ireland. Big marketplaces such as Amazon list defibrillators too, but we’d buy the defibrillator itself from an established seller who can supply genuine pads and batteries for its whole life.
Whatever you buy, check the warranty and who to call about a fault, what replacement pads and batteries cost, and that the seller will pass on any safety notices from the manufacturer.
THE NORTHLIGHT TAKEAWAY
Before you buy a defibrillator
01
Check your two minutes
Time the walk from the furthest point on site to a defibrillator you can rely on.
02
Choose for the location
Pick the model, child option and cabinet that suit where it will live and who might need it.
03
Register it on The Circuit
Make sure the ambulance service knows where it is, when it’s available and any cabinet code.
04
Budget for ten years
Compare pads and batteries over its life, not just the price of the box.
KEEP READING
Read next
TRAINING FOR THIS TOPIC
Courses that cover this
Regulated qualifications. Public dates in Belfast, Mallusk and Ballymena, or at your workplace.
Sources & Further Reading
Northern Ireland legislation: Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982. Regulation 3, equipment and facilities.
HSE: Frequently asked questions on first aid, “What training is required for using a defibrillator?”, and First aid at work: Guidance on Regulations (L74), 2024 reissue, paragraph 44 and Appendices 5 and 6. HSENI follows this guidance.
Department of Health: Community resuscitation. Cardiac arrest and survival figures for Northern Ireland.
BSI: BS 8599-1:2019+A1:2026, Workplace first aid kits. Contents of first aid kits and provision of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in the workplace. The current standard, sold by BSI.
Resuscitation Council UK: Public access defibrillators: A guide for communities, 2025, and CPR, AEDs and the law. Choosing, placing and registering a defibrillator, and using one without training.
Northern Ireland Ambulance Service: Public access defibrillators. How NIAS uses The Circuit and what to register.
The Circuit: The national defibrillator network and its frequently asked questions.
British Heart Foundation: What are the costs of owning a defibrillator?
Written by Northlight Training
Review sooner if Northern Ireland law, HSENI or HSE guidance, BS 8599-1, The Circuit or NIAS procedures change. Check supplier links and prices every six months.