Emergency plan rules in Kentucky
One licence type researched, regulated by Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services — Department for Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) certifies; Office of Inspector General licenses other classes. Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in Kentucky as Assisted-Living Community — certified, not licensed, by Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services — Department for Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) certifies; Office of Inspector General licenses other classes.
KRS 194A.700–729; 910 KAR 1:240 (certification of assisted-living communities); 902 KAR 20:480 (assisted living communities)
Fire and evacuation drills in residential care / assisted living facilities must include COMPLETE EVACUATION of the premises, under the Kentucky Fire Code. The licensing regulations do not set their own separate count — the fire code governs the cadence.
- STRUCTURAL: Kentucky assisted living is CERTIFIED by the Department for Aging and Independent Living, not licensed by the health regulator — the same split seen in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Two regulation series apply (910 KAR under DAIL and 902 KAR under the Cabinet), so confirm which governs your class before writing to either.
- An earlier working note cited 906 KAR 1:100 for this. That is wrong — 906 KAR 1:100 concerns the nurse aide abuse registry and has nothing to do with emergency preparedness.
- Like Virginia, Kentucky leans on the fire code for drill cadence rather than stating a number in the licensing rule. Check the Kentucky Fire Code edition your jurisdiction has adopted.
Reviewed 2026-07-30
What this page is
The requirements Kentucky places on a facility emergency preparedness plan, taken from the state’s own rules rather than a national template. Where we have confirmed something against primary text it is stated plainly; where we have not, it says so and names what to check. Nothing here is inferred from what other states do.
The part that is the same everywhere
The federal floor does not vary by state. OSHA 29 CFR §1910.38 binds any employer: reporting an emergency, evacuation and exit-route assignments, critical-operations shutdown, accounting for everyone afterwards, rescue and medical duties, and naming who to ask about the plan. That layer, plus the exit-route, alarm and first-aid rules and the fire code’s plan structure, is covered in the main crash course rather than repeated on all fifty state pages.
Write the plan
The Emergency Plan Builder produces the document itself and is driven by this same research, so the two cannot disagree about what Kentucky requires. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.