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717 Emergency Action Plans
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Who Must Have an Emergency Action Plan?

Almost every business is required by OSHA to have an emergency action plan (EAP). OSHA may require you to have an EAP if:

  1. fire extinguishers are required or provided in your workplace, and
  2. anyone will be evacuating during a fire or other emergency.
An EAP is required if you have fire extinguishers and employees evacuate.

The only exemption to this is if you have an in-house fire brigade in which every employee is trained and equipped to fight fires, and consequently, no one evacuates.

In most circumstances, immediate evacuation is the best policy, especially if professional firefighting services are available to respond quickly. There may be situations where employee firefighting is warranted to give other workers time to escape, or to prevent danger to others by spread of a fire. In this case, the employer is still required to have an EAP.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

1-4. OSHA may require an employer to develop an emergency action plan in which of the following situations?