An emergency response plan sets out what people at a work site will do when something goes badly wrong: a fire, a gas release, a serious injury, a fall, a building failure or severe weather. It names the likely emergencies, the people responsible, the equipment, how to raise the alarm, how to evacuate or shelter, and how to get rescue and medical help. Provincial OHS laws require employers to have one, and it only works if people have practised it.
Legal requirements
Alberta's OHS Code requires employers to establish an emergency response plan for responding to an emergency that may require rescue or evacuation, and to involve workers in developing it. British Columbia and Ontario have their own requirements, which include evacuation procedures, first aid and specific provisions for certain hazards. Separately, the National Fire Code of Canada, as adopted by each province, requires fire safety plans for many buildings. CSA Z1600 provides a broader framework for emergency and continuity management. Check what applies to your sites.
Emergency response plan or fire safety plan?
| Fire safety plan | Emergency response plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Fire emergencies in a building: alarms, evacuation, fire department access, fire protection systems | All foreseeable emergencies at a work site, including those specific to the work |
| Driven by | Fire code | OHS law |
| Usually prepared by | Building owner or manager | Each employer, coordinated with the owner and prime contractor |
Tenants and contractors in a building should align their emergency response plans with the building's fire safety plan, so that alarms, assembly points and roles do not conflict.
What the plan should include
- The emergencies that could reasonably occur, based on your hazard assessment
- How the alarm is raised and how emergency services are called, with the site address and access directions
- Roles and responsibilities: who takes charge, who calls, who meets responders, who accounts for people
- Evacuation routes, assembly points and a method for accounting for everyone
- Shelter-in-place procedures where evacuation is not the safest option
- Rescue procedures for specific hazards, with trained rescuers and equipment
- First aid: trained first aiders, supplies, and how to get injured people to medical care
- Locations of emergency equipment: extinguishers, AEDs, spill kits, eyewash and showers, rescue gear
- Procedures for shutting down equipment and isolating utilities safely
- Communication with workers, visitors, contractors and family
- Training and drill schedule, and a process to review the plan
Rescue is not the fire department's job alone
For some hazards, waiting for emergency services is not good enough. A worker suspended in a harness, unconscious in a tank or overcome by gas may need rescue within minutes. Where work involves these hazards, the plan must include site-based rescue capability with trained people and equipment on hand. See confined space rescue planning and fall rescue plans.
Never plan for untrained rescuers. Many confined space and gas deaths are would-be rescuers who went in without protection. The plan must make clear that only trained, equipped people perform rescues, and everyone else raises the alarm.
Medical emergencies
Provincial first aid rules set the number of trained first aiders and the supplies required, based on the number of workers, the hazard level and the distance to medical care. Consider an automated external defibrillator as part of the plan, with trained people and a maintenance routine.
Training and drills
Workers need to know the alarm signal, the evacuation route from where they work, the assembly point and their role. Visitors and contractors need a short briefing. Drills test the plan and build habits: run evacuation drills at least as often as your fire safety plan and provincial rules require, and practise specific rescues where they apply. After each drill, ask what slowed people down or confused them, and fix it.
Running a drill that teaches something
- Pick a realistic scenario from your hazard assessment, not always the same fire alarm at the same time of day.
- Decide what you are testing: alarm audibility, time to account for everyone, how quickly a rescuer arrives with equipment, or whether the call to emergency services gives the right address and entrance.
- Brief observers and give them a short checklist. One observer at the assembly point and one at the main entrance is a good start.
- Run it, including night or weekend shifts from time to time, since staffing and access differ.
- Debrief right away with the people involved. Ask what slowed them down or confused them.
- Record the date, scenario, who took part, times, problems found and the actions assigned, then follow up on those actions.
A worked scenario
A contractor's technician collapses in a basement mechanical room. A building operator finds him and raises the alarm by radio. The person in charge for that shift, named in the plan, sends the nearest trained first aider with the AED, calls emergency services with the street address and the loading dock entrance closest to the mechanical room, and sends someone to meet the paramedics and hold the freight elevator. Before anyone goes in, the first aider checks the room's gas detector reading, because the plan notes the boilers in that room as a possible source of carbon monoxide. Others keep the corridor clear. Afterwards, the debrief finds that the dock door was locked and the person meeting paramedics had no key. The plan is updated to keep a key with the security desk and to name the dock as the entry point in the call script.
The value of the plan in that case was not the binder. It was that each person knew their job and the gaps were found and fixed.
Keeping it current
Review the plan at least once a year and whenever something changes: new processes, building layout changes, new hazards, staff turnover in key roles, or lessons from an incident or drill. Post the key parts where workers can see them, and keep contact numbers up to date.
How ehZee can help
ehZee helps employers develop and review emergency response plans that match the hazards on site and work alongside the building's fire safety plan. See safety program development and review.
Common questions
Does a small office need an emergency response plan?
Yes, though it can be simple. It should cover fire, medical emergencies and any other emergencies that could reasonably happen, and align with the building's fire safety plan.
Who should be involved in writing it?
Workers, supervisors, the health and safety committee or representative, the building owner or manager, and where relevant the prime contractor and local emergency services.
What about people who need help to evacuate?
The plan should identify, with their agreement, workers and regular visitors who may need assistance, and set out who helps them and how. Coordinate this with the building's fire safety plan, which often covers areas of refuge and assisted evacuation.