Health and safety laws require all workplaces to have an emergency plan and emergency procedures, including a documented evacuation procedure. Training in these procedures must be given to all workers, including contractors and labour hire workers. Practice drills must be held at appropriate intervals to ensure evacuation procedures can be carried out smoothly.

The training workers receive must enable them to carry out the emergency procedures should the need arise, so reasonably frequent practice drills should be arranged. Workers may need to be familiar with:

• actions to take if an emergency eventuates, including raising the alarm
• location and use of fire extinguishers and other firefighting equipment if relevant
• location of first aid kits and first aid providers
• assembly points after evacuation
• the identity of the emergency coordinator
• specialised training for those directly involved in dealing with an emergency, eg firefighting, first aid, coordinating evacuation, etc
• simulated 'emergencies' such as fire drills, to test that the procedures and equipment work effectively.

Training should be provided during the worker induction process and backed-up by refresher training and retraining where required.

For more information on emergency procedures and relevant training, see ‘Emergencies’.

[Last updated 16 June 2016]