Emergency plan rules in Washington
One licence type researched, regulated by Washington State DSHS — Aging and Long-Term Support Administration, Residential Care Services. Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in Washington as Assisted Living Facility, by Washington State DSHS — Aging and Long-Term Support Administration, Residential Care Services.
Chapter 388-78A WAC (assisted living facility licensing rules); RCW 18.20.525 (disaster preparedness plan)
Washington sets no local emergency management filing duty. The current disaster plan is held by the facility and produced on inspection.
This is a finding, not a gap: Washington has no filing duty here, so the plan is kept on file rather than submitted anywhere.
A written emergency preparedness plan describing what to do in emergencies or disasters, including events requiring sheltering in place or evacuation. It must cover communicating emergency information to staff, residents and external partners; maintaining resident care and treatment needs; and providing essential resident needs and supplies including water, food, medications and personal care items.
Chapter 388-78A WACAll employees are trained in the comprehensive emergency preparedness plan and staff procedures on hire, with an annual review thereafter, and the plan and procedures themselves must be reviewed and updated at least annually.
Chapter 388-78A WAC- Washington licenses assisted living facilities (Ch. 388-78A WAC) and adult family homes (Ch. 388-76 WAC) separately, and DSHS has an active disaster-preparedness rulemaking project covering both — check for amendments before relying on this entry.
Reviewed 2026-07-30
What this page is
The requirements Washington 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 Washington requires. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.