OSHA First Aid Kit for a Small Cafe: What the Standard Needs

OSHA references the ANSI Z308.1 standard for first aid kits rather than a fixed list. Here is the Class A vs B call, minimum quantities, and burn care for a cafe.

By FranchiseFeast EditorialPublished July 18, 2026

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The decision that matters here is not “is this kit OSHA compliant,” because OSHA does not certify kits at all. What matters is whether the kit meets the current 2021 edition of the private ANSI/ISEA Z308.1 standard OSHA points to, whether Class A or Class B fits your hazard mix (espresso and steam, a slicer, maybe a griddle), and how many kits a multi-station counter and kitchen really need. Get that straight and the shopping part is easy.

FranchiseFeast is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, and the kit comparisons below may include affiliate links; we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. No prices appear here since first aid kits reprice often and any figure would go stale, so check the current price on Amazon through each link, and re-check the listing’s stated compliance edition (2015 versus 2021) before you order, since retailers update that copy over time.

Key takeaways

OSHA does not mandate specific kit contents for a cafe. Its rule (29 CFR 1910.151(b)) requires “adequate” supplies, and its non-mandatory appendix points to the private ANSI/ISEA Z308.1 standard as a benchmark, not a legal requirement.
OSHA’s own appendix text still names the 1998 edition of that standard by name. It has not been updated to cite 2021, even though 2021 is the current edition the safety industry sells against.
Class A versus Class B is a hazard-tier decision, not a headcount rule. A cafe running espresso, steam, and a slicer or griddle is a genuine judgment call, not an automatic Class A.
The 2021 revision made foil emergency blankets mandatory in Class A kits and added a tourniquet and splint to Class B. A kit still labeled to the 2015 edition may be missing these.
This guide covers kit selection and contents only. It gives no burn or injury treatment instructions, and it cannot replace confirming current requirements with OSHA and your local health department.

How many kits, and which class: the sizing math

Start with the hazards in your space, not your employee count. An espresso machine and steam wand carry burn risk. A knife station or pastry slicer carries laceration risk. A griddle, panini press, or fryer adds more thermal exposure on top of the espresso bar. A cafe that is bar-only, no hot kitchen line, sits closer to the “low-risk office” environment ANSI wrote Class A for. A cafe running a full breakfast or lunch line alongside the espresso bar sits closer to the “more populated, complex, or higher-risk” description ANSI uses for Class B.

Next, think about response time and layout, not just headcount. OSHA’s own standard-interpretation letters describe first aid access needing to be in “near proximity” to where an injury could happen, generally read as a fast response where a serious hazard exists and a longer window as acceptable in a low-hazard office. OSHA’s appendix guidance also states plainly that staff should not have to travel through several doorways or hallways to reach a kit. Practically, that means:

A single-counter micro-cafe, espresso bar only, can usually serve its whole footprint with one well-placed Class A kit near the bar.
A cafe with a physically separate kitchen or prep area, a drive-thru window, or a second floor should treat each area as needing its own accessible kit, not a single kit staff have to walk across the building to reach.
Bigger is not automatically safer. A 900-plus-piece industrial cabinet sized for a large multi-station kitchen is a real overspend for a two or three person espresso counter. A right-sized 25-person portable kit is usually the better fit.

Neither OSHA nor ANSI publishes a specific employee-to-kit ratio. Both expect the employer to run this kind of hazard and layout assessment themselves and document the reasoning, not look up a fixed number.

What OSHA actually requires, and what it just references

Here is the precise legal chain, because most competing guides blur it. The actual OSHA rule is 29 CFR 1910.151(b): in the absence of an infirmary, clinic, or hospital in near proximity, a person shall be trained to render first aid, and “adequate first aid supplies shall be readily available.” That is a performance standard. It says “adequate,” not a parts list.

OSHA’s 1910.151 Appendix A is explicitly labeled “(Non-Mandatory).” It states the contents listed in “the ANSI Z308.1 standard should be adequate for small worksites.” Read that sentence carefully: OSHA’s own appendix text, as published on osha.gov, still names the 1998 edition of the ANSI standard specifically, not the 2021 edition the safety industry currently sells kits against. That is not a typo on our end. It is OSHA’s own appendix language, unrevised, even as ANSI/ISEA has moved the private standard through several updates since. Do not read a kit’s “meets ANSI Z308.1-2021” label as something OSHA specifically named or certified. OSHA references the standard body generically; it did not adopt a specific edition into its own text.

There is one exception worth flagging, so it does not linger as a “wait, doesn’t OSHA mandate a list somewhere” question: OSHA’s Logging Operations standard, 29 CFR 1910.266 Appendix A, does mandate specific kit contents. A cafe is not a logging operation, so this exception does not apply here, but it is the only place OSHA departs from its performance-based approach on this topic.

OSHA’s appendix raises one more point worth flagging: if staff could contact blood or other potentially infectious material while giving first aid, the employer has a separate PPE obligation under 29 CFR 1910.1030(d)(3). That is a distinct standard from the kit-contents question, mentioned here only so it is not missed.

ANSI/ISEA Z308.1-2021: Class A vs Class B, by the numbers

This is the table almost no competing guide actually cites with a source. These are the 2021 edition’s minimum item quantities:

Item	Class A minimum	Class B minimum
Adhesive bandages (1x3 in)	16	50
Antiseptic (1/57 oz)	10	50
Eye or skin wash	1 fl oz	4 fl oz
Burn treatment (1/32 oz)	10	25
Foil emergency blanket	1	1
Tourniquet	not required	1
Splint	not required	1

Two things changed in the 2021 revision that matter when you are shopping: the foil (emergency/mylar) blanket became mandatory in both Class A and Class B, where it was not a Class A requirement before, and Class B picked up a tourniquet and a splint for the first time. The tourniquet the standard has in mind is built for stopping serious limb bleeding, sized for limb use rather than the narrow strap used for a blood draw. We are holding off on quoting an exact width or circumference figure here since we could not independently corroborate the precise numbers against a second primary source at the time of writing; confirm the specific spec on the manufacturer’s page if it matters for your purchase.

Container Type I-IV: a separate spec from Class A/B

Class A and Class B describe what is inside the kit. Type I through IV describes the case it comes in, and the two are independent. Type I is fixed or wall-mounted for indoor use. Type II is portable, indoor use. Type III is portable and water-resistant, for mixed indoor and outdoor use. Type IV is water-proof and impact-resistant, for harsher outdoor or high-hazard settings. Any Type can hold either Class A or Class B contents, so a Type III, Class A kit and a Type I, Class B cabinet are both legitimate combinations depending on where and how you will use it. Don’t assume a higher Type number means a “better” kit; it means a tougher case for a specific environment.

Burn care for espresso and steam, without the treatment advice

Given the hazard mix in most cafes, burn care deserves its own look. The ANSI Class A minimum for burn treatment is modest (10 units of 1/32-oz product), adequate for the standard’s own baseline but genuinely light if burns are your most common realistic injury, which food-service injury patterns generally suggest. OSHA’s own appendix language explicitly allows an employer to “enhance their first aid kits” beyond the ANSI minimum where the workplace’s needs call for it. Stocking a supplemental burn dressing or burn gel product alongside a compliant kit is a legitimate way to do that, not a replacement for the compliant kit itself.

Buy your own kit, or contract a restock route service

Most single-location cafes are better served buying an ANSI-compliant kit outright and reordering refill packs as items get used. It is a one-time cost, it is the simplest thing to right-size, and there is no ongoing vendor relationship to manage. The tradeoff is that you are responsible for noticing when supplies run low and restocking them yourself.

The real alternative worth knowing about, even though it is not something you add to an Amazon cart, is a van-delivered restock service. Cintas, one of the larger first aid and safety providers in this space, and UniFirst both offer a model where a route representative visits on a schedule and refills the cabinet for you. That removes the “did anyone check the kit lately” problem entirely, but it comes with a recurring service fee and a standing vendor relationship rather than a one-time purchase. For a single small cafe, that is usually a worse cost fit than buying a compliant kit and reordering refills as needed. For a multi-location operator managing several cabinets at once, the route-service tradeoff can make more sense.

Who this fits, and who should look elsewhere

This guide is built for a single-location cafe owner trying to figure out which class of kit, how many, and where, without wading through OSHA and ANSI documents themselves. If that is you, the sizing walkthrough above and the picks below should get you to a decision.

If you are running multiple locations and already juggling several first aid cabinets across sites, the route-service option above is worth a closer look instead of managing each kit’s restocking yourself. And if your state or municipality layers its own workplace safety rules on top of federal OSHA (several state-plan states do), this guide will not tell you what those say; confirm with your state labor department or local health inspector before you finalize anything, since that layer is entirely outside federal OSHA/ANSI and outside what this research covered.

A quick word on timing: federal OSHA inspection activity has reportedly declined in the past year, with fewer inspections and fewer willful-violation citations reported industry-wide. That does not change the underlying requirement in 1910.151(b) or the ANSI standard’s contents. Fewer inspections is not a reason to skip this; it is just a fact about enforcement frequency, separate from whether your kit is truly adequate for your space.

The picks below are compared from manufacturer and retailer listing pages, not hands-on tested, so confirm the current spec and edition on the live listing before you buy. FranchiseFeast is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases through the links below. Prices are shown live on Amazon, never by us.

Budget entry point, clean 2021 labeling

First Aid Only 91324, 25-Person ANSI 2021 Class A Kit

Compliance: ANSI Z308.1-2021 Class A, stated on the listing
Fill: 25-person rated, 94 pieces
Case: Portable plastic case
Brand: First Aid Only / Acme United, an established safety-supply brand

The 2021 edition is stated directly in the title, so you avoid the 2015-vs-2021 ambiguity that shows up on several other listings. Tradeoff: this is a portable case, not a wall-mounted cabinet, so a cafe wanting a fixed station should look at one of the cabinet picks below instead.

Specs: Manufacturer listing, cross-listed at WebstaurantStore