Emergency Preparedness & Drills: the full procedure

Establish a written emergency plan with scheduled fire, evacuation, lockdown, shelter, and weather drills, maintained emergency contacts and supplies, and a parent reunification procedure.

• Applies to: Director & all staff.
• Frequency: Drills on the required schedule (e.g. fire monthly); plan reviewed at least annually.
• Scope: Covers building and operating the center’s emergency plan and drill program. All required drill frequencies, plan content, and hazard responses defer to state child-care licensing and local fire/emergency authorities.

What you need

• Written emergency plan
• Drill log
• Emergency contact roster
• Go-bag / emergency supply kit
• Current attendance records

The procedure, step by step

1. Maintain a written plan — Keep a facility-specific written emergency plan covering evacuation, relocation, shelter-in-place, lockdown, weather, communication, and reunification, using your state’s required template.
2. Schedule & run drills — Conduct fire, evacuation, lockdown, shelter, and weather drills on the schedule your licensing and local authorities require (often at least monthly for fire).
3. Log every drill — Record date, time, drill type, evacuation duration, staff present, and any issues for licensing inspection.
4. Keep contacts & supplies current — Maintain up-to-date emergency contacts for every child and a stocked emergency supply kit; verify both regularly.
5. Account for every child — Use current attendance records to account for each child during any drill or real event, including children with disabilities or medical needs.
6. Identify relocation sites — Designate a primary and backup relocation site — one within walking distance, one outside the immediate area.
7. Plan parent reunification — Define meeting places and a reunification process, including how families are notified and how children are released only to authorized adults.
8. Review & train — Review the plan at least annually, after any real event, and train all new staff on their roles.

Quality check before you finish

• Written, facility-specific emergency plan on file and current.
• Drills run on the required schedule and logged.
• Every drill log records duration, staff, and issues found.
• Emergency contacts current for every enrolled child.
• Emergency supply kit stocked and checked.
• Primary and backup relocation sites identified.
• Reunification process releases children only to authorized adults.

This is a free, source-anchored standard operating procedure (SOP) you can print and hand to staff. It documents the work sequence for a Daycare Center business — not safety or regulatory rulings, which defer to the cited authorities, the applicable code, and your own health-and-safety plan. Open the tool above to print it, toggle ink-saver, or (with a free ToolFluency Business account) edit it to match your own workflow.

Sources

• Child Care Aware of America — Emergency Preparedness (childcareaware.org)
• FEMA — IS-36 Multihazard Planning for Child Care (training.fema.gov)
• Illinois EMSC / Lurie Children’s — Child Care Preparedness Guide (luriechildrens.org)