How to build a jobsite emergency action plan people will actually use
Most construction emergency action plans are written for the prequalification binder. They're three pages of company boilerplate with "call 911" and "go to the designated assembly area" and no address, no gate, no muster point, and no names. When something really happens, the super is on the phone with 911 trying to remember the street number of a site that doesn't have one yet. The free emergency action plan template above is site-specific by design. Every section asks for the detail you'll need in the first five minutes of a real emergency.
OSHA 1926.35: the six required elements
The construction EAP rule is short. Under 29 CFR 1926.35(b), the plan must include at least:
- Emergency escape procedures and escape route assignments. The template gives each area, floor, or crew a primary route, a secondary route, a muster point, an evacuation type, and a warden.
- Procedures for employees who stay to operate critical operations before they evacuate. On a jobsite that means the crane operator landing a load, the welder shutting torches and cylinders, the pump operator relieving line pressure. The template names who stays, what they do, and the maximum time they stay before leaving.
- Procedures to account for all employees after evacuation. Where the head count comes from (sign-in sheet, badge log, crew lists, visitor log), who counts, who reports to whom, and what happens when someone is missing.
- Rescue and medical duties for the employees assigned to perform them, with their training and card expiration dates.
- The preferred means of reporting fires and other emergencies. Usually 911 first, then the site radio channel, with a runner sent to meet EMS at the gate.
- Names or job titles of people to contact for more information about the plan or employees' duties under it.
The rest of 1926.35 adds requirements the template also covers:
- Alarm system. An employee alarm system that meets 1926.159, with a distinct signal for each purpose. The template uses evacuate, shelter-in-place, and all-clear signals as the example.
- Types of evacuation. Full, partial, shelter in place, or relocate.
- Training. Designate and train enough people to assist in an orderly evacuation. Review the plan with each employee when it is first developed, when their responsibilities change, and when the plan changes, and review the parts they need to know at initial assignment.
- Availability. Keep the written plan at the workplace for employees to review. Employers with 10 or fewer employees may communicate it orally.
Emergency contacts: call them before you need them
The contacts tab starts with a 911 script ("construction site emergency at [address], entrance at [gate], [injury/fire/gas leak] on [floor]"), because a new site often has no address on the map. Then it lists the nearest ER and occupational clinic, poison control, 811, electric, gas, and water utility emergency lines, fire and police non-emergency lines, the National Response Center and the state spill line for releases, OSHA reporting, and the company chain of command. There is a Verified column. Call every number at mobilization, because utility emergency numbers and clinic hours change.
Know the OSHA reporting clocks: a work-related fatality within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours (29 CFR 1904.39). Check your state plan for any differences.
Muster points and the site map
Good muster points are far enough from the structure to be clear of falling debris and smoke, not in the path of arriving fire apparatus, and have an alternate in case the wind puts the primary downwind of the fire. The template records location, the areas each point serves, capacity, and the warden and alternate. An emergency equipment table tracks where extinguishers, first aid kits, the AED, eyewash stations, spill kits, and alarm horns are, with a last-inspected date, an interval, and a next-inspection date that turns red when overdue.
The site map checklist covers what has to be on the map, from the EMS gate to utility shutoffs and crane swing radius, and there is a bordered box to paste the map or logistics plan into.
Emergency procedures by hazard
The procedures tab has step-by-step actions you can edit for your site:
- Fire: alarm and 911, when to use an extinguisher and when to leave, critical-operation shutdowns, and meeting the fire department with the map.
- Medical emergency: make the scene safe first (power, equipment, trench walls), 911 triggers, the designated responder, a runner to the gate, and preserving the scene.
- Chemical or fuel spill: stop the source safely, check the SDS, protect storm drains, evacuate upwind for large releases, and report.
- Gas line strike: no ignition sources, evacuate upwind, call 911 and the gas utility, never try to plug the leak, and report to 811.
- Electric strike or overhead line contact: the operator stays in the cab unless there is a fire; if they have to leave, they jump clear with feet together and shuffle away; everyone else stays back.
- Severe weather: lightning stop-work and 30-minute resume rule, high-wind lift limits, tornado shelter (trailers and vehicles are not shelters), heat, and post-storm inspections of scaffolds, cranes, and excavations.
A severe weather shelter plan table lists the trigger, action, shelter location, and who calls the all-clear for each hazard. Set the triggers to match your company program.
The drill log: measure the head count
1926.35 doesn't require drills, but a drill is the only honest test of an EAP. Log the date, type, scenario, alarm used, alarm time, and the time everyone was accounted for. The sheet calculates minutes to account (red when it's over your target) and % accounted (red below 100%). The example drills show the usual findings: a horn nobody on the upper deck could hear during a pour, a visitor missing from the sign-in sheet, an unstaffed EMS gate.
The Weekly Safety Audit scorecard
The last tab is separate from the EAP but belongs in the same binder. It's a weekly scorecard, not a daily hazard walk (use the safety inspection checklist for that). It has 42 audit items across 12 categories, each scored Yes / No / N/A with a finding, a responsible person, a due date, and a closed date. The scorecard calculates:
- % compliance by category = Yes ÷ (Yes + No), with N/A excluded, plus an in-cell bar.
- Rating: Good (95% or better), Needs attention (80–94%), or Unacceptable (under 80%).
- Overall compliance, findings this week, and findings still open (a No with no closed date).
- Week-over-week trend, so a PM or safety director can see whether the site is improving.
The audit shows where your program is slipping, which a single daily walk can't. If fall protection scores 75% three weeks in a row, that's a training and supervision problem, not a missing guardrail.
Related free safety templates
- Safety inspection checklist for the daily site walk
- Incident report template
- Fall protection rescue plan
- Site safety orientation checklist, where the EAP review with new workers happens
- Visitor sign-in log, which feeds your head count
- Hot work permit
- All free construction templates
An EAP in a binder in the trailer doesn't help the foreman on the fourth floor. Field PM puts site inspections, JSAs, toolbox talks, incident reports, and safety forms on every foreman's phone, with a live safety dashboard for the PM and safety manager. Start a free 30-day trial.
Planning aid only, not legal advice. Verify against current OSHA text (29 CFR 1926.35, 1926.159, 1904.39), your state plan, GC and owner site requirements, and local fire department guidance.
