All eye injuries are potentially serious. The First Aid Regulations state: 3.40 Additional Items If mains tap water is not readily available for eye irrigation, at least a litre of sterile water or sterile normal saline (0.9%) in sealed, disposable containers should be provided. Once the seal has broken, containers should not be kept for re-use. Containers should not be used beyond their expiry date. The litre of sterile water is designed to sluice away any loose foreign body or chemicals in the eye and only works as a mechanical action to wash it away. Buffered Solutions are available that neutralise acids and alkalis. The use of 20ml pods has increased rapidly over the past few years as the size of the pod is very economical and practical where you only have dust or grit in the eye. The trouble is the pods often come in a pack of 25. That means a pack of pods is 500ml of water but it is not intended to be a substitute for emergency eyewash like a 500ml Bottle. There is a European Directive muted that defines an emergency eyewash bottle as being a minimum of 400ml although this is not law yet. This does not mean the pods will be illegal or anything that like that but just that they should not be thought of as a substitute for Emergency Eyewash and used either as just a convenience item for dust and grit or alongside an Emergency Eyewash Station.