Emergency Action Plan

An EAP is a written document required by OSHA.  The purpose of this document is to facilitate and organize employer and employee actions during work pace emergencies.  These plans inform employees on what to do and where to go in case of severe weather, fire, earthquake, or other catastrophes.  When reporting to a new jobsite, each employee should be made aware of the EAP for that site.  When working on large sites employees shall review the EAP each day to ensure they have know the proper evacuation route and assembly area for their location.

An EAP should include:

• Means of reporting fires and other emergencies.  This can include procedures for reporting emergencies such as dialing 911, or an internal emergency number, or pulling a manual fire alarm.
• Evacuation procedures and emergency escape route assignments.  These are to inform employees who is authorized to order an evacuation, under what conditions and evacuation would be necessary, how to evacuate, and what routes to take.  Maps should be used to identify the escape routes to be followed by employees from each specific facility location.  These procedures can also include actions to be taken before or while evacuating such as shutting windows, turning off equipment or closing doors behind them.
• Procedures to be followed by employees who remain to operate critical plant operations before they evacuate.
• Procedures to account for all employees after an emergency evacuation has been completed.  This might include procedures for designated employees to sweep areas, check offices and rest rooms, before being the last to leave a workplace or conducting a roll call in the assembly area.
• Rescue and medical duties for those employees who are to perform them.
• Names and job titles of persons who can be contacted for further information or explanation of duties under the plan.
• A description of the alarm system to be used to notify employees to evacuate and/or take other actions.  The alarms used for different actions should be distinctive and might include horn blast, sirens, or public address systems.