Emergency plan rules in Mississippi
One license type researched, regulated by Mississippi State Department of Health — Health Facilities Licensure. Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in Mississippi as Personal Care Home — Assisted Living, by Mississippi State Department of Health — Health Facilities Licensure.
15 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 16, Subpt. 1, Ch. 47 (Minimum Standards for Personal Care Homes – Assisted Living, effective 10/2023): Rule 47.21.1–47.21.2 (emergency operations plan); Rule 47.22.1 (fire drills); Rule 47.1.4 (reporting of fires and disasters)
Fire drills must be conducted one per shift per quarter. Each employee must take part in a fire drill at least four times a year.
That matches the most common figure across the states we have confirmed.
The final draft of the emergency operations plan is reviewed by the Mississippi State Department of Health's Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response for conformance with the state's All Hazards Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan. Written evidence of current approval or review of the plan by that Office must accompany every application for license renewal.
Authority: Mississippi State Department of Health — Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Cadence: Evidence of current review with every license renewal application
Written records of all drills must be kept, showing the content of each drill and who attended. A sign-in sheet alone does not show the content.
15 Miss. Admin. Code Rule 47.22.1The facility must develop and maintain a written preparedness plan using the All Hazards approach, covering acts of terrorism and man-made or natural disasters for its location, whether residents must evacuate or sustain in place. The plan must address six areas: communications, resources and assets, safety and security, staffing, utilities, and clinical activities. Facility status reports go to the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response in the format and frequency it requires.
15 Miss. Admin. Code Rule 47.21.1The emergency operations plan must be exercised and reviewed annually, or as directed by the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response.
15 Miss. Admin. Code Rule 47.21.2A fire evacuation plan must be posted in a conspicuous place in the facility and kept current.
15 Miss. Admin. Code Rule 47.22.1All fires, explosions and natural disasters, and any avoidable deaths or avoidable serious or life-threatening injuries to residents resulting from them, must be reported by telephone to the Life Safety Code Division of the licensing agency by the next working day.
15 Miss. Admin. Code Rule 47.1.4At least one functioning, battery-operated emergency light must be provided in each hallway. Heating and cooling must keep the inside temperature between 68°F and 78°F.
15 Miss. Admin. Code Rules 47.19.2 and 47.19.4Reviewed 2026-09-28
What this page is
The requirements Mississippi 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 layer does not vary by state, and it is narrower than it is usually described. OSHA 29 CFR §1910.38 does not bind every employer on its own — by its applicability paragraph it governs an emergency action plan whenever another OSHA standard requires the employer to have one, and it then settles what that plan must contain. The CMS emergency preparedness rule applies by certified provider type rather than by building. 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. It reads the same research as this page, but it does not yet carry every requirement here into the plan it writes, so check the plan against this page before you rely on it for Mississippi. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.