Emergency plan rules in Massachusetts
2 licence types researched, regulated by Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA). Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in Massachusetts as Assisted Living Residence (ALR) — certified, not licensed, by Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA).
651 CMR 12.00
Annual simulated evacuation drills and rehearsals, for all shifts.
That matches the most common figure across the states we have confirmed.
All assisted living residences must submit their current, site-specific disaster and emergency response plan to the state. 'Site-specific' is the operative word — a corporate template covering several residences does not satisfy it.
Authority: The Commonwealth (EOEA)
Massachusetts requires the residence to give every resident a copy of the instructions they will be given under the disaster and emergency plan. Most states require the plan to exist; this one requires it to have been handed to each resident in a form they can act on.
651 CMR 12.00- STRUCTURAL: Massachusetts assisted living is CERTIFIED by the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, not licensed by the Department of Public Health. Nursing homes sit with DPH under 105 CMR 150.000. Two regulators, two rule sets, two vocabularies — an operator running both in Massachusetts needs two plans, not one.
Reviewed 2026-07-30
Skilled nursing facility
Licensed in Massachusetts as Long-Term Care Facility, by Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
105 CMR 150.000; drills at 105 CMR 150.015(E)(4)
Simulated drills testing the effectiveness of the plan, conducted for all shifts at least twice a year.
That matches the most common figure across the states we have confirmed.
Reviewed 2026-07-30
What this page is
The requirements Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts requires. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.