In brief
A drill is held at least once a year to measure whether the emergency plan works on site, and its results are written on the drill form. A good drill has a scenario chosen from the risk assessment, an observer at every critical point, measured times, and ends with corrective actions that each have an owner and a date. In this article you will find three sample scenarios, a timing table and the evaluation steps.
How is an emergency drill carried out, and what does it measure?
The answer to how an emergency drill is carried out starts with its purpose. Under Art. 13 of the Regulation on Emergencies in Workplaces, a drill is held to follow the plan's implementation steps regularly and to make sure it can be applied; the drill is supervised and reviewed, and the necessary corrective and preventive measures are taken. Apart from mining workplaces, a drill is held at least once a year. At the end, a drill form is prepared containing the date of the drill, the deficiencies observed and the arrangements to be made; a sample form is in Annex 2 of the Regulation.
The success of a drill is therefore not measured by the sentence "everyone got out". What is measured is this: did the alarm reach everyone, did the teams know their duties, were escape routes clear, was the roll call accurate and fast, did the plan match reality? We explained how to prepare the plan itself in our emergency plan guide; this article focuses on planning and evaluating the drill.
Preparation timetable: six weeks
Preparing a sound drill takes longer than the drill day. A sample timetable for a medium-sized production plant:
| Time | Task | Responsible |
|---|---|---|
| 6 weeks before | Choose the scenario from the risk assessment, write down the objectives | OHS specialist, employer's representative |
| 5 weeks before | Update the support staff list, shift distribution and deputies | Human resources, team leaders |
| 4 weeks before | Give teams refresher training on their duties; have them practise using extinguishers | Specialist, trainer |
| 3 weeks before | Choose observers, hand out checklists | Specialist |
| 2 weeks before | Inform visitors, subcontractors and neighbouring workplaces; coordinate with building management if any | Employer's representative |
| 1 week before | Preliminary check of the alarm, emergency lighting, escape routes and assembly point | Maintenance, protection team |
| Drill day | Safety briefing, drill, hot debrief meeting | All teams |
| 1 week after | Drill form and corrective action list | Specialist, employer |
Also choose the scale of the drill at the outset. The Regulation does not describe types of drill; in practice three approaches are used together:
- Tabletop exercise: Team leaders talk through the scenario step by step on a layout plan. It is low-cost and quickly shows who does not know what; however, it does not replace an evacuation on site.
- Partial drill: Only one department, one floor or one team takes part. For example, the firefighting team running out the hose from the cabinet and charging it with water, or the first aid team practising carrying a casualty.
- Full-scale drill: Alarm, evacuation, roll call and team response are carried out together. This is what meets the legal obligation and tests the plan as a whole.
A good annual arrangement is a tabletop exercise before one full-scale drill a year, with partial drills by team where needed.
How do you write a drill scenario?
A scenario is more than the sentence "a fire has broken out, everyone get out". A written scenario contains these elements:
- Initiating event: What happened, where, at what time, on which shift?
- Objectives: Three to five things you want to measure. For example, "the alarm being heard in all departments", "the roll call being completed within 10 minutes", "the firefighting team reaching the scene with an extinguisher".
- Trigger: How will the drill start? Alarm button, announcement or radio.
- Expected responses: What should each team and each department do?
- Injects: Surprises that bring it closer to reality. A blocked escape door, a "missing" employee, a volunteer playing a casualty.
- End criterion: Completion of the roll call and the coordinator's "drill over" announcement.
- Safety rules: The "real emergency" announcement to be used if a real incident occurs, and the people and departments not taking part in the drill.
Change the scenario every year. Art. 8 of the Regulation lists emergencies under the headings of fire and explosion, release of hazardous substances and poisoning, natural disasters and sabotage; the drill form in Annex 2 also includes these types as options to tick. Holding drills on different shifts and with different scenarios prevents the plan from being stuck in a single mould.
Sample drill scenarios
The three scenarios below are based on situations frequently encountered in production plants in Bursa and the surrounding provinces. Adapt them to your own risk assessment.
Scenario A: Fire in the paint and solvent store (day shift) Smoke is seen next to a thinner drum in the paint preparation room. The department manager presses the alarm button. The firefighting team goes to the scene with a suitable extinguisher, the protection team shuts off the electricity and ventilation at the shut-off points, and the building is evacuated. Inject: a pallet has been left in front of the escape door next to the store; employees must find the alternative route. To measure: the firefighting team's arrival time, knowledge of the shut-off points, use of the alternative escape route. For choosing extinguishers, see our guide to fire extinguisher types.
Scenario B: Chemical spill on the night shift An acid drum tips over on the plating line and a pungent vapour spreads. The protection team has to change the assembly point according to the wind direction. Inject: there is only one member of the first aid team on the night shift. To measure: whether the teams are complete on the night shift, directing people to the alternative assembly point, access to the spill kit.
Scenario C: Casualty and missing person on the office floor During the evacuation, one employee plays someone who has fallen on the stairs; another employee is missing at the roll call. The rescue team carries out a search and the first aid team treats the casualty. To measure: the accuracy of the roll call, what information the search for the missing person is based on, carrying the casualty safely to the assembly point. This scenario also reveals whether the visitor log and the shift list are up to date.
Observer duties and timing
The observer does not take part in the drill; they watch, measure and write. Place an observer at every critical point: every floor exit and staircase, the scene of the incident, the assembly point and the coordination point. The checklist given to the observer contains these questions: was the alarm heard at this point, did employees stop machines safely, was there any obstruction on the escape route, did the team leader do their job, was there panic or anyone going back?
Record times against a single clock and in the same table:
| Measurement point | Definition | Who measures? |
|---|---|---|
| T0 | The moment the alarm is raised | Coordinator |
| T1 | The firefighting or rescue team reaching the scene | Scene observer |
| T2 | The last person leaving the building | Floor and exit observers |
| T3 | Completion of the roll call at the assembly point | Assembly point observer |
| T4 | Information on a missing person passed to the rescue team | Coordination observer |
The difference between T2 and T3 is usually the most telling value: people get out quickly but the roll call takes a long time. The cause is often an out-of-date staff list, no visitor log or department managers not knowing their own teams.
Drill report: the Annex 2 form and evaluation
The sample drill form in Annex 2 of the Regulation contains these fields: workplace name, name of the drill, date and type (fire, explosion, natural disaster, release of hazardous substances, poisoning or epidemic, sabotage, other), number of participants and the roll call result at the assembly point, start and end time, location of the drill, purpose of the drill, what was done right, what was done wrong, conclusions drawn, and the signatures of the person conducting the drill and of the approving employer or employer's representative.
Before filling in the form, hold a 20–30 minute "hot debrief" meeting immediately after the drill. Observers read out their findings and team leaders describe what they experienced. Then turn the findings into a corrective action table:
| Finding | Cause | Corrective action | Owner | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The store escape door was blocked | Insufficient dispatch area | Floor marking in front of the door, daily check | Warehouse manager | 2 weeks |
| The roll call took 18 minutes | The shift list was not up to date | Daily shift list given to the protection team | HR | 1 week |
| There was only one first aider on the night shift | Appointments made only on the day shift | Designating first aiders from the night shift | Employer's representative | 1 month |
The Regulation requires the plan to be reviewed and corrected in light of the shortcomings found and the experience gained in the drill (Art. 13/3). Do not plan the next drill until the corrective actions are closed.
Fill in the "conclusions drawn" field with measured values rather than general statements. A weak example: "The drill was successful and employees left the building in an orderly manner." A strong example: "The alarm was heard in all departments; the last person left at 4 minutes 10 seconds; the roll call was completed in 18 minutes, exceeding the target; the store escape door was found blocked; the number of first aiders on the night shift was insufficient." The second example both lets you compare at the next drill and shows at an inspection that the plan has actually been tested. Attach photographs taken during the drill and the observers' checklists to the form.
Common mistakes
- The same scenario, the same time and the same shift every year.
- Announcing the drill in advance so that employees wait ready with their coats.
- A drill held without observers and without measuring times.
- Filling in the form with the phrase "no deficiencies observed".
- Not including subcontractor employees and visitors in the drill.
- No coordination with building management in business centres; the Regulation requires drills in such places to be run under the management's coordination (Art. 13/4).
For breaches of emergency obligations, the 2026 base administrative fine is 22,194 TL per obligation and applies for each month the breach continues. You can track drill dates with the OHS calendar tool. For preparing the scenario and managing it on site, see our emergency plan service, and for teams to actually use extinguishers, our theoretical and practical fire training.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should an emergency drill be held?
Apart from mining workplaces, at least once a year. In workplaces with shift work or more than one building, it is advisable to plan so that every shift and every building takes part in at least one drill.
Should the drill be unannounced?
The Regulation sets no requirement on this. The date can be announced for the first drills; as teams gain experience, drills with no announced time show the plan's real performance better. In every case, a safety briefing and a "real emergency" announcement must be agreed.
Who signs the drill form?
The sample form in Annex 2 contains the name, title and signature of the person conducting the drill and the signature of the employer or employer's representative approving it. Keep the form together with the emergency plan.
Should visitors and subcontractor employees take part in the drill?
Yes. The employer is obliged to ensure that subcontractor employees, customers and visitors are informed about emergencies, the evacuation plan, escape routes and assembly points. The drill shows on site whether this information has worked.
An emergency plan that really works on site, with scenarios, support teams, evacuation diagrams and an annual drill.
Bursa SİSTEMER OSGB Technical Team — written from the field experience of our OHS specialists and workplace physicians. Legal information is valid as of the publication/update date; contact us for an assessment specific to your business.