Does my business need a workplace emergency plan?

Yes. Under the model Work Health and Safety Regulation reg 43, every person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must ensure an emergency plan is prepared for the workplace, and is maintained and implemented when an emergency occurs. This applies in NSW, QLD, SA, WA, TAS, ACT, NT and the Commonwealth. Victoria is not part of the harmonised scheme but the equivalent duty sits in the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic). There is no size threshold — the duty applies to small businesses as well as large ones.

What must a workplace emergency plan include?

Reg 43 requires the plan to provide for three things: (1) emergency procedures, including an effective response to an emergency, evacuation procedures, notifying emergency services at the earliest opportunity, medical treatment and assistance, and effective communication between the person coordinating the response and everyone at the workplace; (2) testing of the procedures, including how often they are tested; and (3) information, training and instruction for relevant workers on implementing the procedures. In practice the plan should also identify evacuation routes and an assembly point, wardens or a chief warden, emergency contacts, the alarm or notification method, and provisions for visitors and people with disability.

How often should an emergency plan be tested?

Reg 43 requires the emergency procedures to be tested, and the plan must state how often. There is no fixed legal interval, but common good practice is an evacuation drill at least once every 6 to 12 months, and more frequently for higher-risk workplaces or where there is high staff turnover. You should also re-test and review the plan after any actual emergency, after a drill that did not go well, and whenever the work, the workplace or the workforce changes.

Who needs to know the emergency plan?

Relevant workers must be given information, training and instruction on how to implement the emergency procedures (reg 43). That includes knowing the alarm, the evacuation routes, the assembly point, who the wardens are and what to do for each type of emergency. The plan should also account for everyone else who could be at the workplace, including visitors, contractors and people with disability, so wardens know who may need assistance to evacuate.

Do small businesses need an emergency plan?

Yes. The reg 43 duty has no employee-number threshold, so it applies to small businesses, sole-trader sites with workers, home-based workplaces with workers, and large workplaces alike. What changes is the scale, not the obligation: in preparing the plan you have regard to the nature of the work and its hazards, the size and location of the workplace, and the number and composition of the people there. A small low-risk office will have a short, simple plan; a factory or a site with hazardous chemicals will need a more detailed one.

Workplace Emergency Plan Generator

Site and business details

These appear at the top of your emergency plan.

Business nameSite / workplace nameSite addressPrepared by

Date preparedReview date

The work and its main hazardsNumber and composition of people on site

Emergencies this plan covers

Tick each emergency relevant to your work and hazards. The tool pre-fills an effective response procedure for each one that you can edit.

Response procedures (edit to suit your site)

Fire or smokeMedical emergency or injury

Evacuation and assembly

Where people go and how they get out safely.

Evacuation routes and exits (one per line)Assembly pointVisitors and people with disability

Wardens and emergency control

Who coordinates the response and assists the evacuation.

Emergency contacts

Numbers to call in an emergency.

Alarm, testing and training

Reg 43 requires the plan to set out how the procedures are tested and the training given to workers.

Alarm / notification methodHow the response is communicatedTesting of procedures (including how often)Information, training and instruction for workers

The plan opens below. Use Print / Save as PDF to produce a clean printable copy.