Emergency Action Plan Template
When the horn goes, nobody reads a binder. The plan works only if every person already knows the signal, the stair, the assembly point and who counts heads. This template carries the six elements 1926.35(b) requires, pre-filled for a mid-rise job.
Pre-filled for a mid-rise wood-frame job. Every field is editable; print it for the trailer and the stair tower, and keep the written copy on site.
Emergency action plan
What an emergency action plan is
A written plan covering the actions employers and employees take to keep people safe from fire and other emergencies. In construction the rule is 1926.35, and it applies to every emergency action plan another OSHA standard requires. Even where nothing requires one, it is the standard shape for one. The minimum content:
| 1926.35 | Element |
|---|---|
| (b)(1) | Emergency escape procedures and escape route assignments |
| (b)(2) | Procedures for employees who remain to operate critical operations before they evacuate |
| (b)(3) | Procedures to account for all employees after evacuation |
| (b)(4) | Rescue and medical duties for those who perform them |
| (b)(5) | The preferred means of reporting fires and other emergencies |
| (b)(6) | Names or job titles of people who can explain the plan and duties under it |
Read from 29 CFR 1926.35(b) on 2026-10-18.
Two site rules sit beside it. 1926.150(e) requires an alarm system — a telephone system, a siren — that alerts employees on site and the local fire department, with the alarm code and reporting instructions posted at phones and employee entrances. And 1926.50(b) requires provisions for prompt medical attention in case of serious injury to be made before the project starts.
How to fill it in
- Write the address dispatch will need. A street number plus the gate an ambulance can actually get through. Where 911 is not available, post the numbers of physicians, hospitals or ambulances (1926.50(f)(1)).
- Give each alarm its own signal. If one system serves more than one purpose, each purpose needs a distinctive signal (1926.35(c)(2)).
- Assign routes by area, and update them as the building changes. The stair you assigned in March may be walled off by June.
- Decide who stays. Crane and hoist operators need an instruction for what to do with a load or a car before they leave.
- Make the headcount real. It is only as good as the day’s sign-in sheet — the same one your toolbox talk collects.
- Name the rescuers. Trench, confined space and suspended-worker rescue each need a plan of their own; see permit-required confined spaces and trenching and excavation safety.
Warning
Written or oral, and the training duty
The plan must be in writing, kept at the workplace and available for employee review — except that an employer with 10 or fewer employees may communicate it orally and need not keep a written plan (1926.35(e)(3)). General industry has the same allowance in 1910.38(b).
Before the plan is implemented, enough people must be designated and trained to assist in an orderly evacuation. The plan is reviewed with each employee when it is developed, when their duties under it change, and whenever it changes; new hires get the parts they need on initial assignment. Log it on the training matrix and put the summary in the site-specific safety plan. After a real event, the incident report is where the lessons go.
The rule text
Quoted from the current eCFR text of title 29, read on 2026-10-18.
This section applies to all emergency action plans required by a particular OSHA standard. The emergency action plan shall be in writing (except as provided in the last sentence of paragraph (e)(3) of this section) and shall cover those designated actions employers and employees must take to ensure employee safety from fire and other emergencies.
Before implementing the emergency action plan, the employer shall designate and train a sufficient number of persons to assist in the safe and orderly emergency evacuation of employees.
The employer shall review with each employee upon initial assignment those parts of the plan which the employee must know to protect the employee in the event of an emergency. The written plan shall be kept at the workplace and made available for employee review. For those employers with 10 or fewer employees the plan may be communicated orally to employees and the employer need not maintain a written plan.
An alarm system, e.g., telephone system, siren, etc., shall be established by the employer whereby employees on the site and the local fire department can be alerted for an emergency.
Sources, with the date each was read
- 29 CFR 1926.35 — Employee emergency action plans (eCFR)read 2026-10-18
- 29 CFR 1926.50 — Medical services and first aid (eCFR)read 2026-10-18
- 29 CFR 1926.150 — Fire protection, incl. (e) fire alarm devices (eCFR)read 2026-10-18
- 29 CFR 1910.38 — Emergency action plans, general industry (eCFR)read 2026-10-18