Emergency plan rules in Ohio
2 licence types researched, regulated by Ohio Department of Health. Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Skilled nursing facility
Licensed in Ohio as Nursing Home, by Ohio Department of Health.
Ohio Admin. Code 3701-17-25 (disaster preparedness, fire and carbon monoxide safety)
Twelve fire exit drills a year — approximately every three months on each shift — held under varied times and conditions so staff meet the signals and required action in different circumstances. Plus at least two disaster preparedness drills a year.
That is more often than 77% of the other states we have confirmed a figure for.
Ohio sets no requirement to file the emergency plan with a local emergency management agency. The plan is kept and produced on inspection. Confirmed absent rather than merely unlooked-for.
This is a finding, not a gap: Ohio has no filing duty here, so the plan is kept on file rather than submitted anywhere.
Fire drill records kept on file in the facility for 3 years.
One of the two required annual disaster preparedness drills must be a tornado drill conducted during the months of March through July. The window is part of the requirement — a tornado drill run in November does not satisfy it.
Ohio Admin. Code 3701-17-25Reviewed 2026-07-30
Group home / residential care home
Licensed in Ohio as Residential Care Facility, by Ohio Department of Health.
Ohio Admin. Code 3701-16-13
Every staff member takes part in at least one fire drill a year. Residents capable of self-evacuation must be ACTUALLY EVACUATED to a safe area or the exterior in at least two fire drills a year on each shift. Plus at least two disaster preparedness drills a year.
That is more often than 77% of the other states we have confirmed a figure for.
No local emergency management filing duty. Kept and produced on inspection.
This is a finding, not a gap: Ohio has no filing duty here, so the plan is kept on file rather than submitted anywhere.
Fire drill records kept on file in the facility for 3 years.
One of the two annual disaster preparedness drills must be a tornado drill conducted during March through July.
Ohio Admin. Code 3701-16-13Reviewed 2026-07-30
What this page is
The requirements Ohio 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 Ohio requires. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.