Good questions @Jason Borcovsky. This old chestnut is never short a few fishhooks. Previous life, the company I worked for had over 250 field staff and 100 vehicles. We undertook an important breakdown of 'essential lifesaving resources' vs. 'comfort consumables': A tourniquet will save your life if you're bleeding out, and nothing else will do, where as a band-aid weren't quite to the same category.

The attached photos show a tourniquet, hemorrhaging bandage and a few other irreplaceable life-saving tools (permanently) mounted on the back of the passenger headrest - makes it visible, mostly out of the way, easily accessed by the driver. The bag is closed with a breakable seal, so it can be easily identified if someone's gone into it. Everything inside the bag is attached to removable plate and we added a pair of surgical gloves under the drivers visor. Nothing it the kit is a daily / routine consumable - if this kit is used, people need to be talking about the event. When aligned with training, this will save a life.

Through the process, people started to understand that the other stuff, such as bandaids are a good idea, however they can be improvised and they'd survive for a while without them. These got put in a ziplock bag in the glove box and there was an easy process for them to get them restocked, with the responsibility for doing so sitting with the vehicle user, who ultimately benefits from them being there.

We opted not to put first aid stickers on the vehicles, partly because people learnt about them in training and partly because they were quite visible.

I'm now in a manufacturing business, with different 'lifesaving' requirements and more brutal environmental conditions - we've put them into a waterproof impact resistant case, also with a breakable seal, with wall mounted brackets and they are on the routine factory floor inspections.

That is fascinating. That is quite the serious kit when you have Israeli bandages and tourniquets.

Its interesting you talk about bandaids. They, as you mention, are the most minor part of first aid kit but they seem to generate the most requests for us. I do like the idea of putting them in a separate small bag or container in the glovebox and that avoids opening, and spilling, the more serious contents of the main kit.

Food for thought:
1. If you are mounting first aid kits/fire extinguishers on machinery don't compromise the ROPS (#OwnGoal).
2. From an emergency response perspective my favourite first aid kits are the ones that fold out where you can see what is in all the sections. They can be stored in a waterproof box and pulled out when needed.
3. Like Matt, I'm a big fan of CAT's and decent-sized trauma bandages, but you need to do the risk assessment first to justify the purchase and people need to be trained in how to use them. I'm also a fan of having a decent pair of medical scissors (they have a bend in them and blunt ends) I carry a pair of Leatherman Raptors in my grab-and-go bag, They fold up small and apart from being medical scissors they have a strap cutter, ring cutter, ruler, Oxygen Tank Wrench and carbide glass breaker….although to be fair, I’m a magpie who’s attracted to shiny things that are well designed!!

It's hard to argue against the usefulness of a good multitool!

Since I first posted I've had some discussion of CATs and trauma bandages. We're leaning towards including them in kits for high risk staff and our generic vehicle-mounted kits will focus on treating minor injuries you'd received in an orchard. I felt there was room for a little more in the kits but we're balancing preparedness against practicality. We're also fortunate enough the local ambulance is close enough that it is literally minutes away if there was major trauma.

The next step is to find a low cost way to secure the kits in the vehicle.