Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan

A general evacuation plan assumes everyone can use the escape routes as designed. Where that assumption does not hold for a particular person, a personal emergency evacuation plan sets out what will actually happen for them.

What a workable plan contains

The person's specific needs, the route they will use, the assistance they will receive and who is named to provide it, any equipment involved and where it is kept, where they will wait if a refuge is part of the arrangement, and how they will communicate with the people managing the evacuation. It is agreed with the person rather than written about them.

Who needs one

Anyone who cannot evacuate unaided — which covers mobility, sensory and cognitive needs, and temporary conditions such as injury or late pregnancy. In workplaces the population is usually known; in residential settings it changes over time, so the arrangements need a way of staying current.

Testing the assumptions

A plan naming assistance that depends on a particular colleague being present, or equipment nobody has been trained to use, describes an intention rather than a provision. The useful test is whether the plan still works on a day when the building is unusually quiet.