The short answer: everyone. Every employee in a workplace, every student and teacher in a school, every member of a household, and every person who regularly occupies a building should participate in basic emergency preparedness training and drills. Federal regulations, safety agencies, and emergency management organizations all converge on the same principle: emergency preparedness isn’t reserved for designated responders. It works only when the people who will actually be present during an emergency have practiced what to do.
Employees at Every Level of a Workplace
OSHA requires employers to review their emergency action plan with each employee covered by the plan. That review must happen when the plan is first developed, when an employee starts a new job, when their responsibilities under the plan change, and whenever the plan itself is updated. This isn’t limited to safety officers or floor wardens. It applies to every worker the plan covers.
Beyond that general requirement, employers must designate and train specific employees to assist in a safe and orderly evacuation of others. Some employees have additional responsibilities: those who remain behind to operate critical plant systems before evacuating, and those assigned rescue or medical duties. These roles require targeted training on top of the baseline that all staff receive. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees can communicate the plan verbally rather than in writing, but the training obligation still applies.
Workers in hazardous environments face stricter requirements. Under OSHA’s hazardous waste operations standard, all employees exposed to hazardous substances on site, along with their supervisors and management, must complete training before performing any work that could expose them. Employees expected to participate in emergency response must be trained to a defined competency level, ranging from basic awareness up to on-scene incident command, depending on their role.
Students, Teachers, and School Staff
School emergency planning is built around the participation of students, teachers, and all school staff. Federal guidance from SchoolSafety.gov calls for developmentally appropriate drills, meaning the way a drill is conducted should match students’ ages and abilities. A kindergarten fire drill looks different from a high school lockdown exercise, but both groups participate.
Schools are also encouraged to coordinate drills with community partners like local fire departments and law enforcement, so that school plans align with how first responders will actually operate during a real event. Families and students should be notified about planned exercises in advance. This notification step matters because it reduces anxiety (especially for younger children or students with trauma histories) and gives families the chance to prepare children who may need extra support.
Every Member of a Household
The American Red Cross recommends that all household members practice emergency evacuation drills at least twice a year, with fire drills specifically called out at the same frequency. “All household members” means children, older adults, and anyone else living in the home. If someone in your household has a mobility limitation, uses assistive devices, or would need help evacuating, practicing together is the only way to identify obstacles before a real emergency forces you to deal with them under pressure.
A home drill doesn’t need to be elaborate. Walking through your exit routes, confirming that everyone knows where to meet outside, and making sure windows and doors open easily covers the basics. The value is in repetition and in including people who might otherwise be overlooked.
High-Rise Occupants and Building Visitors
People who live or work in high-rise buildings face unique evacuation challenges. The U.S. Fire Administration advises all high-rise occupants to familiarize themselves with exit locations, practice their exit routes, and meet with building management about fire drills. Stairwells, not elevators, are the evacuation path during a fire, and knowing which stairwell to use before an emergency matters more than most people realize.
This guidance extends beyond regular occupants. If you’re visiting a building you don’t normally occupy, FEMA recommends noting the locations of exits, fire alarm pull stations, and fire extinguishers when you first walk in. Look for posted maps near exits or in the lobby. The principle is simple: anyone inside a building during an emergency needs to know how to get out, whether they work there every day or arrived ten minutes ago.
People Who Support Vulnerable Populations
Emergency planners, caregivers, and anyone who supports people with disabilities, older adults, or individuals experiencing homelessness should receive targeted preparedness training. SAMHSA provides training resources specifically for emergency planners serving people with disabilities, covering ADA compliance, effective communication during crises, and planning that preserves independence during disaster response and recovery.
This matters because standard evacuation procedures often assume a baseline level of mobility, hearing, vision, and cognitive function that not everyone has. A caregiver in a group home, a teacher in a special education classroom, or a staff member at an assisted living facility needs to know how emergency procedures apply to the specific people they support. Generic training isn’t enough when someone in your care uses a wheelchair, is deaf, has an intellectual disability, or relies on powered medical equipment.
Emergency Management and Supervisory Personnel
FEMA’s Incident Command System training framework identifies tiers of preparation based on responsibility level. The basic ICS course is designed for all personnel who may respond to or be affected by an incident. A more advanced course targets those likely to assume supervisory positions during a response. Additional coursework covers Emergency Operations Center functions for personnel who would staff coordination roles during larger events.
In practical terms, this means that managers, department heads, building supervisors, and anyone who might coordinate others during an emergency should go beyond basic drill participation. They need to understand the command structure that first responders will use when they arrive, how information flows during an incident, and what their decision-making authority looks like before professional responders take over.
What Training Actually Accomplishes
A scoping review of health emergency preparedness exercises found that drills and exercises consistently improve participants’ knowledge of emergency procedures, their overall competence, and their confidence in responding. Those gains are measurable immediately after training. The evidence on whether those improvements hold up over time or translate directly into better outcomes during real emergencies is more limited, which is precisely why repeated practice matters. A single drill teaches the plan. Regular drills keep it fresh.
The Red Cross recommendation of twice-yearly drills for households reflects this reality. So does OSHA’s requirement to re-train employees whenever plans change. Preparedness isn’t a one-time event. It’s a skill that degrades without practice, and it only works when the people who need it most, meaning everyone who would be present during an actual emergency, have done it recently enough to remember what to do.