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A workplace emergency action plan (EAP) should give every person on site a clear answer to six questions: How do I report an emergency? Which route or protective action should I take? What critical work, if any, must be completed before evacuation? How will the employer account for people? Who has rescue or medical responsibilities? Who can explain the plan?
For U.S. workplaces covered by an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard that requires an EAP, 29 CFR 1910.38(c) establishes those six minimum elements. The plan must be adapted to the building, hazards, workforce and jurisdiction; the federal list is not a universal substitute for state-plan, local fire-code, building-code or industry-specific requirements.
The six elements required in a covered U.S. workplace EAP
When a Part 1910 standard requires an EAP, the employer generally must keep it in writing at the workplace and make it available for employees to review. An employer with 10 or fewer employees may communicate the plan orally instead of maintaining a written document. The plan should still contain the same operational information, whether it is written or communicated verbally.
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| Required element | What the plan must explain | Site-specific details to include |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency reporting | How employees report a fire or other emergency. | Emergency telephone number, alarm pull station, radio channel, internal notification method and any different reporting method for particular hazards. |
| Evacuation and exit routes | When evacuation is required, what type of evacuation is used and which exits or routes employees should follow. | Primary and alternate routes for each work area, assembly locations and instructions for evacuation versus sheltering in place. |
| Critical operations | What designated employees who remain briefly must do before evacuating, when such actions are necessary. | Equipment or process shutdowns, the person authorized to perform them, safe limits on the task and the point at which the employee must leave. |
| Employee accounting | How the employer will account for people after evacuation and report missing people. | Assembly-point leads, rosters or access records, a method for identifying unaccounted people and a way to give responders each missing person’s last known location. |
| Rescue and medical duties | The duties of employees assigned to perform rescue or medical tasks. | Named roles or job titles, the limits of those duties, required training and the point at which employees must defer to professional responders. |
| Plan contacts | The names or job titles of people employees can contact for more information or an explanation of their duties. | Plan owner, alternates, emergency coordinator, facilities or security contact and a current method of reaching each role. |
These elements describe the information employees need; they do not by themselves make a generic template suitable for every facility.
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Make the EAP match the actual workplace
Identify credible emergencies and protective actions
Start with emergencies reasonably associated with the site and its work. Consider fire, hazardous-material release, severe weather, violence, utility failure, medical events and other conditions that the facility’s hazards or operations make plausible. For each scenario, decide whether people should evacuate, move to a different area, or shelter in place. A single response is not appropriate for every event: leaving during an external chemical release could expose workers, while remaining inside during a spreading fire could be dangerous.
State who is authorized to order an evacuation, shelter-in-place action, equipment shutdown or other protective measure. Explain how that order is communicated if the usual manager or coordinator is unavailable.
Map routes and exits for each location
Use a facility-specific floor plan or posted evacuation diagram to show escape routes, exits and assembly areas. OSHA commonly uses exit diagrams to identify routes from different locations in a facility. A generic sign cannot represent a particular building and cannot replace the complete EAP. Update diagrams when walls, equipment, occupancy or exits change.
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Give each work area a primary route and, where feasible, an alternate route. Keep routes and exits usable, identify doors that are not emergency exits, and explain where employees should report after leaving. Include arrangements for visitors, contractors and anyone unfamiliar with the building.
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Design communication that everyone can perceive and understand
Describe every alarm signal and the action it requires. The employee alarm system must be maintained and use distinctive signals for different purposes in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.165. If a tone means evacuation and another means sheltering, state that distinction in plain language and post it where workers can see it.
Do not rely on a single audible method if some people cannot hear it or if machinery can mask it. OSHA practical guidance recommends ensuring alerts reach everyone affected, including workers with disabilities. Consider visual strobes, text or other supplemental notification, and provide instructions in languages understood by the workforce when language could otherwise prevent a safe response.
Write usable procedures for each required element
1. Reporting an emergency
Tell employees exactly how to initiate an alert. Specify the emergency number or internal extension, the location of alarm pull stations, radio or messaging procedures, and who receives the report. The instruction should answer what to report and where to give the information: the type of emergency, exact location, people at risk and any immediate hazards. Explain what to do if the primary reporting method fails.
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Link each alarm or notification to an action. State whether employees should leave immediately, move to a designated refuge area, or shelter in place; identify the route, exit or shelter location; and prohibit unsafe shortcuts such as elevators when the site’s procedures or emergency conditions make them inappropriate. Include assembly points far enough from the hazard for accountability and responder access.
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Plan assistance before an emergency. Assign a method for helping employees or visitors with mobility, sensory, cognitive or other access needs without requiring untrained coworkers to perform unsafe lifts. Ensure instructions and alarms can be perceived by affected workers, and explain how supervisors will account for people who work remotely or move between areas when that is relevant to the site.
3. Critical operations before evacuation
Some facilities require a short, controlled shutdown to prevent a larger release or additional danger. Identify only the employees specifically designated for this work and describe the exact equipment or process they may secure. Include the conditions that cancel the shutdown task and require immediate evacuation. No one should infer from the plan that ordinary employees are expected to stay behind, fight a fire or attempt a rescue.
4. Accounting for employees and other people
At the assembly area, assign supervisors or wardens to conduct the count. Explain which roster, access record or visitor log they use, how transfers between work areas are handled, and how a missing person is reported. The information passed to responders should include the person’s name, work area and last known location, rather than simply reporting that the count is incomplete.
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Decide how the plan handles contractors, visitors and delivery personnel. A process that counts only employees can leave responders without critical information about everyone still inside.
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5. Rescue and medical responsibilities
Name the roles assigned to rescue or medical duties and state what those duties entail. Identify required equipment, training and communication methods, but keep the role within the employee’s competence. The EAP should make clear that employees without an assigned and trained role are to evacuate or shelter, notify emergency services and avoid entering hazardous areas.
6. Contacts and plan ownership
List names or job titles employees can contact to ask questions or clarify their responsibilities. Include an emergency coordinator and alternates, identify who maintains the plan and provide a way to reach those roles during each shift. Review contact information whenever personnel, phone numbers or reporting structures change.
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Train evacuation assistants and affected employees
The employer must designate and train employees to assist with a safe and orderly evacuation. Training should cover the emergencies that could occur, reporting methods, alarm meanings, evacuation and shelter procedures, assigned duties and any authorized shutdown procedure. Employees should know where to assemble, how to report a missing person and whom to ask when an instruction is unclear.
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Review the EAP with each covered employee when the plan is developed or the employee is first assigned to the job, whenever that employee’s responsibilities under the plan change, and whenever the plan itself changes. Documenting the review helps show that workers received the current instructions, but a signature alone is not a substitute for understanding.
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Use drills as implementation practice
OSHA recommends practice drills when appropriate, followed by evaluation and improvements. Treat this as implementation advice unless another applicable rule makes drills mandatory. After a drill or real event, record delayed alarms, blocked routes, confusion about signals, unaccounted people and accessibility problems. Assign corrective actions, an owner and a completion date, then update diagrams, procedures and training.
Common EAP weaknesses and how to correct them
- Generic route posters: Replace them with diagrams that match the current floor plan, exits and assembly areas.
- One alarm, no explanation: Give each signal a defined meaning and provide supplemental alerts for people who may not hear or see the primary signal.
- Unassigned accountability: Name the people who collect counts, reconcile visitors and give responders last-known-location information.
- Uncontrolled shutdown duties: Limit pre-evacuation tasks to designated, trained employees and state when they must abandon the task.
- Unclear shelter decisions: Describe the conditions that favor evacuation and those that favor sheltering, and identify who issues the order.
- Outdated contacts or rosters: Set a review trigger for staffing, layout, equipment and process changes.
- Accessibility and language gaps: Check whether every affected worker can receive, understand and act on each alarm and instruction.
- Counting only permanent staff: Include visitors, contractors and other people on site in the accountability process.
Federal OSHA scope and additional rules
The six elements come from 29 CFR 1910.38 for workplaces where an OSHA Part 1910 standard requires an EAP. They are not a determination that every employer, hazard or industry is covered by that specific provision. Other OSHA standards may impose additional emergency procedures, and a state OSHA plan, local fire authority, building code or industry-specific rule may add requirements.
Before adopting the plan, identify which rules apply to the facility’s location, industry and hazards. Keep the federal six-element structure as the baseline where it applies, then add the notifications, equipment, staffing, protective actions and records required by those other authorities.
Quick Recap
A practical EAP development sequence
- Inventory the site: Document occupants, shifts, visitors, hazards, processes, equipment, exits, alarm coverage and potential shelter areas.
- Choose protective actions: For each credible emergency, decide whether to evacuate, shelter, isolate an area or perform a limited shutdown.
- Assign roles: Name reporting recipients, evacuation assistants, accountability leads, shutdown personnel, rescue or medical personnel and plan contacts.
- Write the six elements: Use plain language, facility-specific routes, alarm meanings, role limits and contact information.
- Publish the visual information: Post current route diagrams and alarm instructions where people can see them, while keeping the full plan available for review.
- Train and review: Explain the plan at initial assignment and whenever duties or the plan change.
- Practice and improve: Conduct appropriate drills, evaluate performance, correct deficiencies and revise the plan when the workplace changes.
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