Emergency plan rules in Tennessee
One license type researched, regulated by Tennessee Health Facilities Commission. Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in Tennessee as Assisted-Care Living Facility (ACLF), by Tennessee Health Facilities Commission.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0720-26-.10(3)(a) (fire drills in assisted-care living facilities), Rules of the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission
Fire drills are held for each work shift in each separate building at least quarterly.
That matches the most common figure across the states we have confirmed.
Not verified. A secondary copy of 0720-26-.16(3) says the facility must participate each year in the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency local/county emergency plan by submitting a TEMA questionnaire, and keep documentation of that participation for survey staff. The official rule text has not been read.
Authority: Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (local/county emergency plan)
Cadence: Annual
Not verified. A secondary copy of 0720-26-.10(3) says records documenting and evaluating fire drills are kept for at least three (3) years. The official rule text has not been read.
At least once a year the facility must coordinate a fire drill with its local fire department, which observes the drill and gives the facility input on its fire safety.
T.C.A. § 68-11-236(j) (statute; not in rule 0720-26-.10) — not yet confirmed against primary text- filing — Open the official Rules of the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission, ch. 0720-26 (https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0720/0720-26.20260318.pdf), rule 0720-26-.16(3)(a)–(b), and record whether annual participation in the TEMA local/county emergency plan and the questionnaire are required, and what documentation must be kept. The official PDF returned HTTP 403 during research.
- retention — Open the official Rules of the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission, ch. 0720-26 (https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0720/0720-26.20260318.pdf), rule 0720-26-.10(3), and record the retention period for fire-drill records. The official PDF returned HTTP 403 during research.
- mandate[0] — Open the official Tennessee Code, T.C.A. § 68-11-236(j) (official publisher: https://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/tncode/), and record the annual fire drill coordinated with the local fire department and the facility types it applies to. It was read only on a secondary copy; the official viewer did not render during research.
Reviewed 2026-09-28
What this page is
The requirements Tennessee 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 Tennessee. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.