No matter which industry you work in, there are risks. It isn’t limited to fields such as public safety, construction sites, or warehouses. Today, physical risks from accidents, natural disasters, and workplace violence are far more prevalent than we wish they were. And we all know that crime has been on the rise.
But when something happens, does your team know what to do? Many businesses don’t have emergency action plans (EAPs) in place, and this can pose serious risks that span beyond the financial. In this article, we’ll explain why an action plan should be non-negotiable in your business, and how to coordinate an emergency preparedness drill.
What is an Emergency Drill and Why Does it Matter?
When an emergency strikes and impacts your workplace, what do you want to happen? Imagine a small electrical fire starting in a break room, and the alarm sounds. Some employees rush toward the nearest exit. Some may take a moment to grab their purses or a few personal items from their desks. A few stand frozen, unsure if it is real. Some may ignore things altogether, assuming it’s not real.
If you don’t practice your emergency drill, confusion can get seriously out of hand. Before you know it, exits are crowded if not blocked entirely. People aren’t following instructions, and mayhem ensues. Does that sound a bit over the top? We promise, it’s not. Even the most minor of situations can escalate into avoidable injuries or far worse outcomes. Thankfully, putting a plan into place and practicing it aren’t all that complicated.
Here’s what you need to know to get started.
What is a Safety Drill?
A safety drill is planned in advance. The purpose is to prepare your employees for a specific emergency, making sure they know exactly what to do. It gives your team the opportunity to practice. Think of it like practicing for a major performance on Broadway. When the stakes are that high, do you really want to go on stage without a clue of what to do? It allows teams to rehearse. Simply stated, a safety drill builds familiarity with procedures so employees can act quickly and calmly when a real situation occurs.
What is an Emergency Preparedness Drill?
Though some people may use the terms safety drill and emergency preparedness drill interchangeably, the two really are different. An emergency preparedness drill takes things to the next level. This is what can really tell you if your organization would be ready should a disaster strike. It may involve multiple departments, communication systems, and leadership teams working together.
This type of emergency drill evaluates how well policies, training, and tools function under simulated pressure and whether the company can respond in a coordinated way.
The Difference Between Drills and Exercises
Are you thinking that a drill and an exercise are the same thing? That’s not exactly true. We define a safety drill as one where you actually practice one of the drills as part of your emergency action plan. You’re not just talking about it. You’re actually doing it.
On the other hand, an exercise might be something you talk about. For example, a team leader may provide a hypothetical example and ask meeting attendees to provide input on what to do and what not to do.
We encourage businesses to practice both drills and exercises. Both play a super important role in keeping employees and customers safe if and when an actual emergency takes place.
The Purpose Behind Workplace Drills
We’ve heard so many business owners tell us that drills can be expensive because they pull people away from daily work that needs to get done. And we understand this concern. Our response, however, is this: Can you really afford not to practice?
We promise that safety drills are not a waste of time or money. They are an investment in safety and performance.
A 2025 article from OSHA reports that workers with safety training were twice as likely to follow protocols and use proper protective equipment. Companies with structured programs saw injury rates drop by up to 50%. Studies also show employers may save four to six dollars for every dollar invested in workplace safety. These numbers make it pretty clear that emergency preparedness drills deserve serious attention.
Understanding the Emergency Action Plan (EAP)
Almost every workplace is required to maintain a written Emergency Action Plan. Under OSHA regulation 29 CFR 1910.157, if you have fire extinguishers or you expect your employees to evacuate during a fire emergency, then you need an EAP. This plan outlines the following:
- Procedures
- Responsibilities
- Methods of communication
The goal? To make sure your employees know exactly what to do if danger makes a presence.
Core Components of an EAP
The complexity of your Emergency Action Plan should reflect the level of risk in your workplace. For example, if your office is pretty small or you operate a small retail shop, you probably don’t need to create more than a simple written plan. In these types of businesses, employees will typically evacuate when an alarm goes off or if you tell them to do so over the intercom.
But here’s the thing. Workplaces that handle hazardous materials or require employees to fight fires, perform rescues, provide medical response, or shut down equipment before evacuating need something far more detailed than a simple plan written out on paper and hanging on the wall. For these businesses, you need to get a bit deeper into who is responsible for what and when and how you’ll communicate with everyone.
Make sure your plan includes evacuation routes and assembly areas that are clearly designated outside the building. If you don’t, it will be hard to take a count and to make sure everyone is safe.
Here’s a quick summary of what to include:
- An identified chain of command so employees know who is in charge.
- Clear communication procedures for reporting emergencies and giving instructions.
- Special accommodations for employees with disabilities.
- Hazard-specific protocols tailored to the risks in your facility.
Aligning Your Emergency Drill with Your Plan
An emergency drill should directly reflect the procedures written in your Emergency Action Plan. If your plan calls for a full evacuation, the drill should measure how long that evacuation takes and whether employees gather in the correct location. If certain staff members are assigned leadership roles, they should actively perform those responsibilities during the drill.
Exercises without a plan won’t provide the insights you need to determine whether your team or location is ready for an emergency. We recommend scenario-based emergency preparedness drills to test conditions aligned with your facility’s actual risks. When drills mirror real-world scenarios, your team builds familiarity with the exact steps they may need to take during a true emergency.
Types of Emergency Drills Every Workplace Should Consider
We want to note that developing a single emergency drill won’t cut it. Why? Because there are multiple types of emergencies that can occur. How you respond to one type of emergency is likely to be very different than how you respond to another.
Here are six types of drills we recommend every business implement.
1. Fire Evacuation Drills
Fire evacuation drills are common in safety training. These little tests are a pretty solid way to see how quickly employees can get out of the building and whether or not your alarm systems are triggering the right response.
But that’s not all that a fire evacuation drill should test. During this process, verify that all exits are accessible and clearly marked. Also, confirm accountability procedures so supervisors can account for every employee at designated assembly areas.
2. Severe Weather Drills
If you live in Florida, you know that bad weather isn’t theoretical. It’s the real deal, and it’s not a matter of if, but when. Consider that from 1980 to 2024, Florida experienced 94 weather and climate disasters that exceeded $1 billion in losses. That’s no small number. And we’re not just talking hurricanes. These disasters included droughts, flooding, freezes, severe storms, tropical cyclones, wildfires, and winter storms.
Best practices for hurricane preparedness drills include a review of the following:
- Shelter locations
- Communication plans
- Shut-down procedures
Also, shelter-in-place drills should confirm that employees know where to go, how long to remain inside, and how updates will be communicated during the event.
3. Active Threat or Lockdown Drills
The rate of serious workplace violence injuries has risen to 4.3 per 10,000 workers. That number may seem small, but in reality, it’s not. And if you’ve watched the news even once in recent years, you probably understand that active threats are the real deal.
The difference between a successful and unsuccessful lockdown drill comes down to communication. Be sure to keep the instructions short and to the point. When your instructions are too long, the chances are that they’ll be disregarded. Also, make sure execution is controlled and calm. This will help reduce panic and help support coordinated decision-making.
4. Medical Emergency Drills
The definition of an emergency is that it is not something you can predict. In most cases, you rarely see it coming. One moment, everyone is fine, and the next moment, you have someone on the ground experiencing a serious medical event.
Medical emergency drills train your employees to help increase the likelihood that the affected person (s) will come out okay. And the last thing you want is for everyone just to stand around, hoping that EMS will arrive quickly.
Make sure these drills coordinate CPR response and clarify who retrieves emergency equipment. Testing access to Automated External Defibrillators is also important; if you don’t have one on site, now is the time to get one. Make sure that devices are visible (easy to find in an emergency), accessible (not locked down), and functional to avoid time loss during a real emergency.
5. Hazardous Material Spill Drills
If the idea of a hazardous material spill makes you cringe, we don’t blame you. You certainly don’t want something like that to happen in your place of work. But it does happen. In fact, a four-year study from 2021 to 2024 identified 102,177 hazardous chemical incidents in the U.S. That’s a lot. And worse? About 1,033 of those events were considered threats to public health.
And though these types of events are most common in manufacturing and industrial facilities, your business isn’t necessarily immune. Regardless of your business, employees must understand whether they are expected to evacuate immediately or assist in containment efforts. Practicing these steps in advance reduces confusion and limits exposure during a real incident.
6. Industry Specific Emergency Preparedness Drills
Every industry faces unique risks. Warehouses may need drills focused on forklift accidents or chemical storage. Construction sites may practice fall response or equipment shutdown procedures. Schools often conduct lockdown and severe weather drills. Healthcare facilities must coordinate patient evacuation and continuity of care.
An emergency preparedness drill should always reflect the real hazards associated with your specific workplace.
How to Plan an Effective Emergency Drill
A successful emergency drill does not happen by accident. It needs to be intentional. Here are the steps to take to coordinate an emergency drill for your business.
Step 1: Define the Objective
Start by deciding what you want to measure. Are you testing evacuation time? Communication flow between departments? Leadership response under pressure?
Figuring out your goals first will help make your drill more productive. Plus, it will help keep it from feeling routine. The truth is that if your employees don’t see the value, they’ll be far more likely not to take the experience seriously. So, make sure everyone is aligned with what you’re trying to accomplish and why.
Step 2: Assign Roles and Responsibilities
Every emergency preparedness drill should have clearly defined roles so employees know who is leading and who is supporting. Consider assigning the following to reduce hesitation and improve coordination when timing and communication really matter:
- Incident commander
- Floor wardens
- Communications lead
- First aid responders
Step 3: Communicate Expectations in Advance
Notify employees in advance when appropriate. Failure to do so can result in unnecessary panic. Remember, communication is just as important during the drill planning process as it is when the drill is actually underway.
Step 4: Conduct the Drill
Keep the drill structured and organized. Monitor response times and observe how information flows. Watch for delays or communication breakdowns.
Step 5: Debrief and Evaluate
After the drill, don’t just head back to your office, open up your laptop, and get back to work. Take the time to analyze how the drill went off. The more you share with your team, the more likely they will be to buy in and support the process the next time a drill rounds around.
Common Mistakes That Undermine Safety Drills
We’d be remiss if we didn’t take a bit of time to outline some of the common mistakes we see from businesses that don’t put the importance on safety drills that they should. Too often, drills become routine rather than intentional. When that happens, valuable learning opportunities are lost, and risks remain unaddressed.
Be on the lookout for these pitfalls that can get in the way of a successful drill.
- Employees or leaders thinking that they’re simply checking a box
- Not testing communication devices before the drill
- Excluding leadership from visible safety drill roles
- Disregarding feedback from employees after the exercise or drill concludes
- Running drills too often or not enough (we suggest at least annually and two times a year if possible)
Communication Remains a Top Priority During an Emergency Drill
Do you think your action plan is foolproof? Think again. The reality is that even the best plan can fall apart fast if communication isn’t a key component. In a crisis, information must move quickly and clearly. An emergency drill isn’t just to test how people move through the drill, but how they message and communicate, too.
Why Communication Breaks Down During Emergencies
We won’t deny it. High-stress situations are stressful! Of course they are. For that reason, our ability to communicate as humans often fails. But when you combine our own fear and stress with unreliable cell-phone networks, you end up with the perfect storm. And when a lot of people are trying to make calls at the same time, these networks can’t handle it. They get congested. This is especially common during bad weather or large-scale emergencies.
If that’s not bad enough, Wi-Fi systems may go down due to power outages or infrastructure damage. And when people panic, they either ignore or misunderstand instructions. Let’s not forget that the noise from alarms, machinery, and panicked crowds can make clarity that much more elusive. This means more risk and a greater chance of injury or worse.
Why Two-Way Radios Offer a More Reliable Alternative
Two-way radios can be a lifeline in the event of a disaster. The technology is as easy as push-to-talk communication without dialing or waiting for connections. This means that supervisors can broadcast messages to entire groups at once. The result? Far more clarity and a lot less (if any) confusion.
And because radios do not rely on cell phones and cellular networks, they continue working when phone systems are overloaded. Many models are also built for industrial environments, with rugged designs that hold up in demanding workplace conditions.
Integrating Radios into Your Emergency Drill Strategy
Okay, we want to begin this section with a little caveat. Yes, at EMCI Wireless, we are a Motorola Solutions Partner, and we are in the business of two-way radios. But it is true that without radios as part of your plan, communication may become intermittent, if reliable at all.
Solutions like MOTOTRBO mobile radios and portable devices such as the Motorola R7 are designed to support coordinated response across facilities of all sizes.
Assign Radios to Specific Roles
Don’t just hand out radios randomly. There needs to be some strategy behind this to make sure your plan is effective and successful. We suggest that you designate radios to specific members of your leadership team. This can help keep communication organized and make sure employees listen to those whom they typically associate with authority.
And remember those roles we talked about earlier? Now is the time to align those roles with communication responsibilities. Here are some tips on who should do what.
- Make your incident lead responsible for directing overall response efforts.
- Your floor wardens are the ones to guide the overall evacuation process and provide status updates to the leadership team.
- Have your security personnel coordinate building access and perimeter control.
- Your facilities team should communicate about utilities, shutdown procedures, and building systems.
Test Radio Functionality During Drills
So, when is the best time to test your equipment? It’s definitely not during the emergency itself. Drills are the best time to make sure your equipment is operating the way it should.
The best way to do this is to create a coverage map that you can use to confirm signal strength throughout the building and outdoor areas. As you do this, evaluate how clear your signals are in noisy environments.
Also, be sure to check battery readiness to verify devices last for the duration of the drill.
Create Radio Communication Protocols
Technology alone is not enough. Establish a standardized language so messages are concise and easily understood. The last thing you want is a set of complicated instructions that no one can understand, especially during a tense or scary situation.
Instruct your staff to identify themselves when speaking. Make sure escalation procedures are clearly defined so they know when to escalate. Practicing these communication protocols during each safety drill helps people become more familiar with the process. The result? Reduced hesitation during real events. This can be the difference between life and death.
Preparation Is an Ongoing Process
We’ve implied this before, and we’ll go there again: creating an action plan and practicing safety drills is not a one-and-done strategy. Safety drills should be conducted at least once per year, and ideally twice per year, depending on your level of risk. New employees should be trained on procedures as part of onboarding rather than waiting for the next scheduled drill.
Communication is super important in every emergency drill, no matter what the emergency may be. Without clear messaging, even the best laid plans can fall apart, and fast. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t reiterate one more time that integrating two-way radio systems into your preparedness strategy can pay itself forward in so many ways. Why not invest in the best communication tools and have them in place when it matters most?
If you are evaluating communication tools for your next emergency preparedness drill, the team at EMCI Wireless can help you identify the right solution for your workplace. Contact us today to learn more.