Emergency Action Plan Template: OSHA's 6 Minimum Elements on One Page

This is a guide to what the rule says, not legal advice. Check the standards that apply to your own workplace and any state plan rules.

What is an emergency action plan?

An emergency action plan (EAP) is a written plan for what employees do in a workplace emergency: a fire, a chemical spill, a storm, a medical emergency or a threat. OSHA's eTool on evacuation puts its purpose in one line: "to facilitate and organize employer and employee actions during workplace emergencies."

It is not a fire prevention plan. A fire prevention plan, under 29 CFR 1910.39, is about stopping fires before they start: the major fire hazards, how flammable materials are stored, and who maintains the equipment. The emergency action plan is about what people do once something has happened.

When OSHA requires an emergency action plan

The rule applies "whenever an OSHA standard in this part requires one" (1910.38(a)). So the duty comes from other standards. One common route is the portable fire extinguisher standard: an employer with no extinguishers whose policy is that everyone leaves at the fire alarm is exempt from that standard only with a written fire safety policy, a fire prevention plan and an emergency action plan that meets 1910.38 (1910.157(b)(1)).

Two things are set for every required plan:

• It must be written, "kept in the workplace, and available to employees for review" (1910.38(b)).
• Small employers can say it instead. "An employer with 10 or fewer employees may communicate the plan orally to employees." A one-page written version is still the easiest way to make sure everyone hears the same plan.

The 6 minimum elements, in OSHA's words

Paragraph (c) says an emergency action plan "must include at a minimum" these six. Here they are as the rule words them, with what each looks like in practice.

The rule says "at a minimum". Most plans add a section for each kind of emergency the site can face, such as severe weather, a spill or a threat.

The other 3 duties in 1910.38

The six elements are what goes in the plan. Three more paragraphs are what the employer has to do around it.

(d) An alarm with a distinctive signal

"An employer must have and maintain an employee alarm system." It must "use a distinctive signal for each purpose" and meet the employee alarm standard, 1910.165. In practice: people must be able to tell an evacuation from a drill, or from a shelter-in-place, by the sound alone.

OSHA's eTool adds that describing the alarm in the plan itself is not specifically required, but it may be helpful. On a one-page plan it takes one line, and it is the line people remember.

(e) Trained evacuation helpers

"An employer must designate and train employees to assist in a safe and orderly evacuation of other employees." Many workplaces call them evacuation wardens. Name them by area, and say when they are trained.

(f) A review with each employee

The employer must review the plan with each employee it covers at three moments:

1. When the plan is developed or the employee is first assigned to a job.
2. When the employee's responsibilities under the plan change.
3. When the plan is changed.

A plan nobody has walked through is not much of a plan. Put the three moments on the plan so new staff know the review is owed to them.

An emergency action plan example

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A sample print shop's plan: OSHA's six elements as six numbered boxes, then the alarm, helpers and reviews.

What to notice:

• Each box is one element, in the rule's order. 01 Report it, 02 Get out, 03 Before you leave: shut down, 04 Count everyone, 05 Rescue and first aid, 06 Questions about this plan.
• Exit routes are by area, as (c)(2) asks. "Press floor: east doors. Office: front lobby doors." Then one meeting point: the far end of the north parking lot, by the flagpole.
• The shutdown has a time limit. Press operators hit the E-stop on two presses and close the gas valve, then "Leave within 60 seconds, done or not."
• The count names the list. The shift lead takes the day's sign-in sheet to the flagpole and tells the fire department who is missing and where they work.
• First aid is limited to the trained people, by name, and "Nobody goes back inside."
• The alarm has two signals: a continuous horn and flashing light means evacuate; short beeps mean a drill. That is (d)'s distinctive signal for each purpose.

The business is a sample. Open it as a template: emergency action plan template.

We checked our template against 1910.38

We read the template line by line against the rule on 12 October 2026.

9 of 9. What a template cannot do is know your building. The exits, the meeting point, the equipment to shut down and the names are yours to fill in, and an exit diagram usually goes on the wall beside it.

How to write an emergency action plan in 7 steps

1. Check which standards apply to you. The duty to have a plan comes from them, and some add their own requirements.
2. Walk the building. List every exit, the meeting point, and any equipment that must be shut down before people leave.
3. Write the six elements in order, one short instruction each, with names or job titles where the rule asks for them.
4. Set the alarm signals so evacuation sounds different from a drill or other alerts.
5. Name the evacuation helpers by area and book their training.
6. Post the plan where people work, keep it available for review, and put an exit diagram beside it.
7. Walk each employee through it when they start, when their duties change and when the plan changes. Then run a drill and fix what it shows.

Have an old binder plan that nobody reads? Drop its text into the free AI One-Pager generator and get it back as one designed One-Pager, then check every route and name against your building.

What else goes on the wall beside it

An emergency action plan often sits next to two other one-page documents: the safety data sheet summaries for the chemicals used in that area, and the weekly safety briefing.

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A sample shop cleaner's safety data sheet, summarized in the 16-section order with the hazards on top.

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A weekly site safety briefing: today's hazard first, then area status, dos and don'ts and near misses by week.

Emergency action plan mistakes

Make your emergency action plan

Open the free emergency action plan template, replace the sample print shop with your building's exits, meeting point, shutdown steps and names, and post it where people work. Then walk each employee through it. For the chemicals in the same area, add a safety data sheet summary.