Emergency Action Plan (EAP) template
An emergency action plan (EAP) is the written procedure for what everyone does when the alarm sounds: how emergencies are reported, how the alarm is raised, which routes people take out of the building, who checks that everyone is accounted for, and who does what in the meantime. It is the document OSHA's standard at 29 CFR 1910.38 describes, and the one your people need to know by reflex rather than look up mid-fire.
Evacuations fail on details: an exit route that dead-ends into stored pallets, an assembly point nobody can name, a headcount that misses the contractor in the restroom. The EAP fixes those details in advance and then drills them, so the real event is a rehearsal everyone has already done.
This template gives you the full plan: alarm and reporting procedures, the evacuation procedure itself, accounting for employees at the assembly point, critical-operation shutdowns, rescue and medical duties, and the training and drill routine that keeps it live.
Full text, ready to adapt.
Highlighted fields are placeholders — replace them with your organisation's specifics. A starting point, not legal advice.
Emergency Action Plan (EAP)
SOP · Health & Safety
1. Purpose and scope
This plan sets out how {{org.name}} responds to emergencies requiring evacuation at [site/address] — fire, gas leak, structural danger, or any alarm activation — and applies to all employees, contractors, and visitors on site. It covers [building(s)/areas] and is posted at [locations] with the evacuation map.
Questions about this plan go to the EAP coordinator, [name/role], at [contact] — the named contact the OSHA standard requires.
2. Roles and responsibilities
- EAP coordinator ([name/role]): owns this plan, maintains the maps and warden roster, runs drills, and liaises with the fire department.
- Evacuation wardens ([names/roles], [number] per [floor/area]): sweep their assigned area, assist people who need help evacuating, close doors as they go, and report their area clear or not clear at the assembly point.
- Shutdown operators ([names/roles]): perform only the critical shutdowns listed in this plan before evacuating, and only when safe to do so.
- First aid responders ([names/roles]): bring the first aid kit [and AED] to the assembly point and treat casualties until EMS arrives.
- All employees: know the two nearest exits from wherever they work, evacuate immediately on alarm, and report to their assembly point for the count.
3. Reporting emergencies and raising the alarm
- Anyone who discovers a fire or emergency activates the nearest alarm pull station [locations] and calls 911 from a safe place — do not assume the alarm auto-dials anyone.
- Then, if safe, notify [name/role] at [number] so the response can be coordinated; never delay the alarm or the 911 call to find a manager first.
- The alarm signal for evacuation is [describe: continuous horn/strobes]; [second signal, if any] means [shelter-in-place/other response].
- Fight a fire with an extinguisher only if you are trained, the fire is incipient, the alarm has been raised, and your exit is at your back — otherwise leave it and go.
4. Evacuation procedure
- 1On alarm, stop work immediately. Do not finish the call, the transaction, or the batch.
- 2Shut down your equipment only if it takes seconds and is listed in this plan; otherwise leave it as it is.
- 3Leave by the nearest marked exit route shown on the posted map — primary route [route]; if it is blocked or smoke-filled, use the secondary route [route].
- 4Do not use elevators. Close doors behind you as areas empty; do not lock them.
- 5Assist visitors and anyone in your area who needs help; employees needing evacuation assistance have a buddy assigned in the personal evacuation plan at [location].
- 6Take nothing that slows you down — no coats, bags, or trips to lockers.
- 7Stay low under smoke and test closed doors with the back of your hand before opening.
- 8Go directly to your assembly point — [location A for areas X; location B for areas Y] — and stay there; do not leave the site or sit in your car.
- 9Do not re-enter the building for any reason until the fire department or [name/role] declares it safe — an all-clear from the alarm going quiet is not an all-clear.
5. Accounting for everyone
- 1Wardens sweep their assigned area on the way out — including restrooms, break rooms, and [storage/plant] — and report "clear" or "not clear" to the coordinator at the assembly point.
- 2Supervisors count their own teams against the shift roster; the front desk brings the visitor and contractor sign-in log [or the coordinator pulls it from [system]].
- 3The coordinator collects counts and warden reports and confirms everyone is accounted for.
- 4Anyone unaccounted for is reported to the fire department incident commander immediately, with their last known location — employees do not re-enter to search.
- 5The coordinator logs the count result, times, and any issues for the post-event review.
6. Critical operations and shutdowns
Most operations at {{org.name}} are simply abandoned on alarm. The only exceptions are listed here: [operation] shut down by [name/role] using [procedure, duration]; [utility isolation] by [name/role]. Shutdown operators evacuate immediately once their task is done or if conditions deteriorate — no shutdown on this list is worth a life, and each has a walk-away point written into its procedure.
7. Rescue and medical duties
Rescue is the fire department's job: {{org.name}} employees do not perform rescue beyond helping people near them to evacuate. First aid responders [names/roles] treat casualties at the assembly point with the kit [and AED] they bring out, and hand over to EMS on arrival. Anyone assigned duties in this section is trained for them before being assigned — assignments without training are removed from this plan rather than left as fiction.
8. Training, drills, and review
Every employee is walked through this plan when first assigned, when the plan changes, and when their own responsibilities under it change — the three triggers in the OSHA standard. Evacuation drills run [frequency, e.g. at least annually, per your local fire code], including [one] outside day shift if you run nights, and each drill produces a timed, logged debrief.
This plan is reviewed [frequency], after every drill and real activation, and whenever the layout, alarm system, or staffing changes. Owner: [name/role]. Next review due: [date].
How to adapt this template.
Walk the building with the floor plan and mark primary and secondary routes from every work area — then walk them again with a cart, a pallet, or whatever usually blocks them.
Name your wardens and shutdown operators by role, not person, and keep a current roster — plans keyed to individuals fail on their day off.
Fix the assembly point somewhere that does not block fire department access, and put it on the posted maps.
Reconcile this plan with your local fire code and your state plan — drill frequency and signage rules are usually local.
Run a drill within [30 days] of adopting the plan, time it, and fix what the drill exposes — the first drill always exposes something.
Review the plan with every new hire before their first shift; the alarm does not wait for orientation week.
Turn this template into trained, proven behaviour
A policy in a drawer proves nothing. In TrainedTeam this template becomes assigned training with knowledge checks, e-signature acknowledgments, version history, and an audit-ready record of who completed what, when.
Emergency Action Plan (EAP) template FAQs
Is an emergency action plan required by OSHA?
Yes, whenever an OSHA standard you are covered by requires one — the fire extinguisher standard is the trigger for many workplaces. Per 29 CFR 1910.38 the plan must be written, kept in the workplace, and available to employees; the smallest employers may be permitted to communicate it orally instead. Check the standard and your state plan for how it lands on you.
What must an EAP contain?
Per OSHA's standard: procedures for reporting emergencies, evacuation procedures and exit route assignments, procedures to account for all employees after evacuation, procedures for any employees who stay to operate critical operations before evacuating, rescue and medical duties for those assigned them, and a named contact for questions about the plan. This template maps section by section onto that list.
How often should we run evacuation drills?
Federal OSHA's EAP standard does not set a drill frequency, but local fire codes often do, and undrilled plans fail in practice — annually is a common floor and busy or high-hazard sites drill more. Time every drill, debrief it, and fix what it exposes. Check your local fire authority for what applies to your occupancy.
Who accounts for employees after an evacuation?
Supervisors count their own teams against the roster, wardens report their swept areas clear, and one named coordinator collects both and owns the answer. The visitor and contractor sign-in log has to come out too — the people not on any team roster are exactly the ones a headcount misses.
Should anyone stay behind to shut down equipment?
Only if the operation genuinely cannot be abandoned safely, only the named, trained people this plan lists, and only with a written walk-away point. If your shutdown list is long, that is a design problem to engineer out, not an evacuation task to staff up.
Related templates
Workplace Safety Policy
Free workplace safety policy template for US employers: OSHA General Duty Clause framing, safety responsibilities at every level, and hazard reporting.
First Aid Policy
Free first aid policy for US workplaces: OSHA 1910.151 basics, first aid kits, trained responders, emergency response, and bloodborne pathogen precautions.
OSHA Injury & Illness Reporting and Recordkeeping Procedure
Free OSHA recordkeeping procedure template: the 300 log, 301 incident reports, the 300A annual summary, and severe-injury reporting to OSHA.
Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) Template
Free OSHA-aligned job hazard analysis (JHA) template: break jobs into steps, identify hazards, and apply the hierarchy of controls. Ready to edit.