Connect workplace alarm technology to the emergency action plan

Source facts: the signal must support the planned action

OSHA’s 29 CFR 1910.38 applies when another OSHA standard requires an emergency action plan. For a covered workplace, the rule identifies minimum elements including procedures for reporting a fire or other emergency, evacuation and exit-route assignments, critical operations before evacuation, accounting for employees, rescue or medical duties, and a contact for more information. It also addresses employee alarms, designated and trained evacuation assistance, and review of the plan when it is developed, responsibilities change, or the plan changes.

The related 29 CFR 1910.165 says employee alarms covered by the rule must provide warning for the necessary emergency action, be perceivable above ambient noise or light in affected areas, and be distinctive and recognizable for evacuation or another action in the plan. It addresses emergency reporting, restoration, maintenance, testing, power, supervision, trained service personnel, and accessible manual actuation. Tactile devices may be used for employees who would not otherwise recognize an audible or visual alarm.

Applicability and required details depend on the workplace and governing requirements. Safety, human-resources, facilities, accessibility, fire/life-safety, and legal personnel should confirm the current obligations and approved plan. This article is operational guidance, not a legal determination or substitute for an emergency professional.

DSE recommendation: build a signal-to-action matrix

List the emergencies addressed by the approved plan. For each one, record who may initiate a signal, the signal’s meaning, areas and people to be reached, action expected, reporting method, responsible coordinator, accounting method, responder handoff, alternate method during impairment, and return-to-normal authority. Keep fire/life-safety signals and functions under the direction of qualified personnel and the applicable authority.

Survey perception, not device presence. Test occupied workstations, production floors, restrooms, mechanical spaces, outdoor work areas, vehicles, noisy rooms, bright areas, remote buildings, and other relevant locations. Include employees who may not perceive the primary audible or visual method and use approved accommodations.

Make meanings unambiguous. Document every tone, voice message, strobe pattern, display, text, or other signal and the action it represents. Check for conflicts with fire alarm, intrusion, machinery, process, severe-weather, security, and routine paging signals.

Test reporting and escalation. Exercise the approved method for a worker to report an emergency and verify the destination, location information, priority handling, acknowledgement, and fallback. Do not expose personal contact details or sensitive response instructions more broadly than necessary.

Include people who are not in the employee directory. Define how visitors, contractors, temporary staff, guards, delivery personnel, and after-hours occupants receive instructions and are accounted for without assuming an access-control occupancy report is perfectly current.

Exercise technology dependencies. Test approved loss of normal power, network, cloud messaging, telephony, a paging zone, or a primary workstation. Verify the backup communication method and the people authorized to use it.

Prove restoration. After a drill, test, alarm, or maintenance period, reconcile devices and supervisory conditions, remove test modes, restore integrations, notify stakeholders, and document who confirmed normal operation.

Coordinate every live test to avoid panic, injury, process disruption, or unintended responder dispatch. Announce drills and impairments according to the approved plan, establish stop conditions, and provide alternate protection where required. Technology personnel should not independently simulate fire or life-safety inputs without the authorized parties.

Measure useful outcomes: areas reached, perception exceptions, message delivery time, reporting accuracy, participation, accounting gaps, failed devices or paths, restoration time, and corrective-action closure. Revisit the matrix after construction, staffing or shift changes, a plan revision, new alarm or collaboration technology, network redesign, an accessibility need, or an actual event. The goal is not merely that a horn sounded or a text was sent; it is that every affected person can recognize the warning and perform the safe, approved action.

Official references

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 29 CFR 1910.38, Emergency action plans; current text reviewed August 11, 2026.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 29 CFR 1910.165, Employee alarm systems; current text reviewed August 11, 2026.