Emergency plan rules in Tennessee
One licence type researched, regulated by Tennessee Department of Health — Health Care Facilities. Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in Tennessee as Assisted-Care Living Facility (ACLF), by Tennessee Department of Health — Health Care Facilities.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-08-25; Tenn. Code §68-11-236 (fire safety in assisted-care living facilities)
Fire drills at least quarterly for each work shift, for personnel in EACH SEPARATE BUILDING, with one drill per quarter held during sleeping hours. Each drill needs a written report evaluating it and naming the action recommended or taken for any deficiency found.
Records documenting and evaluating drills maintained for at least 3 years.
At least once a year the facility must coordinate a fire drill with its local fire department, and the fire department observes the drill and gives the facility input on its fire safety. This is a scheduled outside inspection of your response, not just a filing.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-08-25Reviewed 2026-07-30
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 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 Tennessee requires. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.