Emergency plan rules in Oklahoma
One license type researched, regulated by Oklahoma State Department of Health. Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in Oklahoma as Assisted Living Center / Continuum of Care, by Oklahoma State Department of Health.
Okla. Admin. Code tit. 310, ch. 663 (Continuum of Care and Assisted Living): 310:663-9-6 (staffing and the written emergency and disaster preparedness plan); 310:663-3-3(a)(9) (evacuation provisions); 310:663-3-8(c) (food supply); 310:663-7-1(a) (fire safety under the State Fire Marshal); 310:663-19-1 (incident reports); 310:663-19-3 (records)
The drill frequency for Oklahoma assisted living has not been verified, so none is stated. OAC 310:663 contains no drill rule; fire safety is left to the State Fire Marshal and the fire and life-safety codes it enforces.
Open the NFPA 101 board-and-care chapters (32/33) in the edition the State Fire Marshal applies under OAC 265:25-1-3 ("latest Edition"), and confirm the edition with the State Fire Marshal's office. OAC 310:663 was read in full and has no drill section. The only frequency seen, six drills a year on a bimonthly basis with two at night, comes from a 2005 OSDH guidance supplement that cites the 2003 edition; it has not been read in the current NFPA text.
When only one direct-care staff member is on duty, the center's plan for urgent or emergent situations, including resident falls, must be approved by the Oklahoma State Department of Health. No filing of the emergency and disaster preparedness plan with a local emergency management agency was found in OAC 310:663.
Authority: Oklahoma State Department of Health
Incident reports: 2 years. Resident records: 5 years after transfer, discharge or death. OAC 310:663 sets no retention period for drill records or the emergency plan.
The center must have a written emergency and disaster preparedness plan for fires and other natural disasters. Adequate trained staff must be awake and present 24 hours a day to carry out all the processes listed in the plan.
Okla. Admin. Code 310:663-9-6(a)The center's description of services must state its provisions for evacuation of the building structure and staff to meet the evacuation needs of residents.
Okla. Admin. Code 310:663-3-3(a)(9)If only one direct-care staff member is on duty, the center must have a plan for urgent or emergent situations, including resident falls. The plan must be approved by the Department and disclosed to residents and their representatives before admission.
Okla. Admin. Code 310:663-9-6(b)(1)-(2)If the center has a unit or program that prevents or limits access to areas outside it, at least 2 staff must be on duty and awake on all shifts, and at least 1 direct-care staff member must be awake inside the unit at all times.
Okla. Admin. Code 310:663-9-6(c)A written incident report goes to the Department for an accidental or unsupervised fire on the licensed real estate, storm damage that relocates a resident from their assigned room, a missing resident, or a utility failure lasting more than 8 hours. Report within 1 Department business day of discovery, follow up within 5, and file the final report within 10. During a disaster response the center may instead coordinate through the local emergency response coordinator and file a final report within 10 days after the response ends.
Okla. Admin. Code 310:663-19-1The center must keep a food supply sufficient in quantity and variety to prepare menus for 3 days.
Okla. Admin. Code 310:663-3-8(c)Fire safety for assisted living is governed by the State Fire Marshal statutes (74 O.S. §§ 317–324.21). The State Fire Marshal's Office is required to inspect every assisted living facility each year.
Okla. Admin. Code 310:663-7-1(a); OAC 265:25-1-10(d)- The assisted living rule (OAC 310:663) has no drill requirement. Drills fall under the fire codes enforced by the State Fire Marshal, not under an OSDH rule.
- drills — Open the NFPA 101 board-and-care chapters (32/33) in the edition the State Fire Marshal applies under OAC 265:25-1-3 ("latest Edition"), and confirm the edition with the State Fire Marshal's office. OAC 310:663 was read in full and has no drill section. The only frequency seen, six drills a year on a bimonthly basis with two at night, comes from a 2005 OSDH guidance supplement that cites the 2003 edition; it has not been read in the current NFPA text.
Reviewed 2026-09-28
What this page is
The requirements Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.