The excerpt below is from the OSHA Best Practice guide on First Aid.  This publication is free to anyone wanting to improve on the first aid standard from OSHA. 

First aid is emergency care provided for injury or sudden illness
before emergency medical treatment is available. The first-aid
provider in the workplace is someone who is trained in the delivery
of initial medical emergency procedures, using a limited amount of
equipment to perform a primary assessment and intervention
while awaiting arrival of emergency medical service (EMS)
personnel.
A workplace first-aid program is part of a comprehensive safety
and health management system that includes the following four
essential elements1:

• Management Leadership and Employee Involvement
• Worksite Analysis
• Hazard Prevention and Control
• Safety and Health Training
  

The purpose of this guide is to present a summary of the basic
elements for a first-aid program at the workplace. Those elements
include:

• Identifying and assessing the workplace risks that have potential
  to cause worker injury or illness.
• Designing and implementing a workplace first-aid program that:
  • Aims to minimize the outcome of accidents or exposures
  • Complies with OSHA requirements relating to first aid
  • Includes sufficient quantities of appropriate and readily
  accessible first-aid supplies and first-aid equipment, such as
  bandages and automated external defibrillators.

Assigns and trains first-aid providers who:

• receive first-aid training suitable to the specific workplace
• receive periodic refresher courses on first-aid skills and
  knowledge.
• Instructing all workers about the first-aid program, including
  what workers should do if a coworker is injured or ill. Putting
  the policies and program in writing is recommended to
  implement this and other program elements.
• Providing for scheduled evaluation and changing of the first-aid
  program to keep the program current and applicable to emerging
  risks in the workplace, including regular assessment of the
  adequacy of the first-aid training course.
  

This guide also includes an outline of the essential elements of
safe and effective first-aid training for the workplace as guidance to
institutions teaching first-aid courses and to the consumers of
these courses.

So why is Best Practices important?  Chubb estimates workers compensation now accounts for 50 percent of medical care costs. Chubbs The Rewards of Managing Risk; A Guide for Entrepreneurs and Managers helps managers and safety professionals develop a best practice model to build a safety culture based on the “Best Practice” model.  OSHA standards are generally at a minimum standard because they cover a broad base of workplaces from very small companies/organizations to very large businesses.  Everyone has to be able to meet the standards. 

Building a safety culture based on ”Best Practices” means going above and beyond the standards.  Developing practices that create an injury free workplace and having everyone involved from the top down. 

What Best Practices does your company uses?  Let us know and we will pass them along for everyone to see.