Emergency Preparedness and Response Planning
Emergency preparedness and response planning
This domain tests site-specific emergency action planning, roles, communication, evacuation or sheltering, accounting for personnel, drills, first aid, fire protection, and rescue coordination. The exam expects plans that fit the site's actual hazards, not a generic handout.
Core rules
- Under 1926.35, employers need a written emergency action plan; employers with 10 or fewer employees may communicate it orally. Include reporting procedures, evacuation, employees who remain, accounting, and rescue duties.
- Under 1926.50, provide trained first-aid personnel, supplies, emergency phone numbers, and eye-wash facilities where needed.
- Under 1926.150, provide firefighting equipment, alarms, exits, and training appropriate to the site.
- Make the plan site-specific: muster points, routes, utility shutoffs, severe-weather shelters, and trench or confined-space rescue procedures.
- Drill the plan, critique performance, and update it after site changes.
Worked example
A trench wall collapses and traps a worker. The crew stops work, calls 911, establishes an exclusion zone, and accounts for all personnel. No one enters the unprotected trench. The reasoning is that a secondary collapse and atmospheric hazards are likely; untrained rescue can create additional victims. The emergency plan should identify the rescue authority, meeting point, and site information responders need.
Traps that cost marks
- Attempting trench or confined-space rescue without training and equipment.
- Failing to account for all workers, visitors, and subcontractors.
- Using a generic plan that ignores site hazards and routes.
- Never drilling or revising the plan.