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Hospitality (Hotels & Restaurants) Emergency Action Plan

Hotels and restaurants accommodate large numbers of transient guests who are unfamiliar with the building layout. This EAP focuses on kitchen fire safety, guest notification, and safely clearing public spaces.

Review and adapt this starting point for your workplace before use.
Hospitality & Restaurants workplace emergency action plan
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Emergency Action Plan

HOSPITALITY & RESTAURANTS FACILITY / SITE

Site Name:
Site Address:
Date Updated:
Plan Coordinator:

Report an emergency

  1. Activate the facility alarm or internal emergency notification system.
  2. Call 911 for an immediate threat to life, fire, or another emergency requiring public responders.
  3. Give the site name, exact address, incident location, nature of the emergency, known hazards, and a callback number.
  4. Notify the Plan Coordinator named above.

1Potential Emergencies & Scenarios

Kitchen Fire

Activate the installed hood-suppression system and follow the site's validated equipment, fuel-shutoff, alarm, and evacuation procedures.

Hotel Guest Room Fire

Activating the localized alarm, sweeping the affected floor, and preventing elevator use.

Severe Weather / Tornado

Directing guests away from glass windows/atria to interior hallways, basements, or designated storm shelters.

Power Outage

Managing guest panic, securing cash/assets, and evacuating via emergency lighting if power is not restored.

2Roles & Responsibilities

General Manager / Manager on Duty (MOD)

  • Take command of the situation and trigger the alarm.
  • Call 911.
  • Grab the guest manifest/roster and employee schedule.

Front Desk / Host Staff

  • Direct guests to the nearest exits.
  • Prevent guests from using elevators.
  • Bring the guest/reservation list to the assembly point.

Executive Chef / Kitchen Manager

  • Perform only trained, site-specific cooking-equipment or fuel shutdowns when safe.
  • Account for back-of-house evacuation.

Housekeeping / Maintenance

  • Knock and announce emergency on guest room doors (if safe).
  • Assist with directing guests in hallways.

3Alarm & Communication

  • Primary Alarm: [Fire alarm pull station / strobe lights and sirens].
  • PA Announcement (Hotels): 'May I have your attention please. An emergency has been reported. Please evacuate the building using the stairs.'
  • Staff use two-way radios (Channel [X]) to coordinate sweeps.

4Evacuation & Shelter

  • Use the property's validated notification procedure and calmly direct guests to the nearest safe marked exits.
  • Check assigned areas only when the site's procedure calls for a sweep and conditions are safe.
  • Primary Assembly Area: [e.g., Far edge of the parking lot / across the street].

5Accountability

  • The MOD accounts for all employees using the punch-in system/schedule.
  • Front Desk staff check the guest manifest to identify unaccounted guests.
  • Inform the Fire Department immediately of any rooms that were not swept or any missing staff.

6Assistance & Rescue

  • Identify guests who requested ADA accommodations upon check-in and direct emergency services to their rooms.
  • Assign staff to assist elderly or disabled guests in public areas.

7Critical Shutdown

  • Only trained, authorized staff may follow the site's equipment-specific fuel or cooking-equipment shutdown procedure when safe.
  • Only employees designated and trained under the employer's plan may attempt initial fire suppression, and only within that training and with a safe escape route.

8Training & Drills

  • All staff must be trained on the location of exits, pull stations, and extinguishers.
  • Kitchen staff must be specifically trained on the hood suppression system and manual gas shutoff.
  • Conduct and document drills at a frequency appropriate to the site and applicable local requirements.

9Emergency Contacts

Emergency Services

911

Facility Manager

Maintenance Lead

Safety Coordinator

Customize before use. This template is a starting point, not legal advice, and does not guarantee OSHA compliance. The employer is responsible for ensuring the completed plan reflects the site's actual layout, hazards, alarms, and assigned duties.

Beyond the Template: Hospitality & Restaurants Emergency Planning

Practical steps to adapt this OSHA EAP framework for your site's specific hazards, shift patterns, and personnel.

Phase 01

Hotel and Restaurant Emergency Plan Priorities

Hospitality emergency planning must work for employees and guests who may not know the property, speak the same language, or receive instructions the same way. Assess front-of-house, back-of-house, lodging, event, parking, pool, and service areas as distinct operating zones.

Key Action Items

  • Map guest rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, ballrooms, laundry, storage, offices, stairs, exits, and responder access.
  • Evaluate cooking fuels, grease systems, hot work, laundry heat, chemicals, crowding, severe weather, and overnight staffing.
  • Confirm alarm and notification methods reach sleeping guests, loud kitchens, event spaces, and people needing assistance.
  • Select assembly or shelter options that account for occupancy, weather, vehicle traffic, smoke, and continuing responder access.
  • Integrate vendors, entertainers, delivery personnel, contractors, and temporary staff into the workplace emergency plan.
Phase 02

Turn a Hospitality EAP Template Into Staff Actions

A usable evacuation plan gives each shift a short, coordinated set of actions rather than broad instructions to help guests. Assign only trained staff to notification, limited sweeps, equipment shutdown, assistance, or fire-extinguisher duties, with safety limits and alternates.

Key Action Items

  • Walk guest and employee routes from occupied rooms, kitchens, restrooms, event areas, and service corridors.
  • Define who calls emergency services, activates alarms, communicates with guests, brings available rosters, and meets responders.
  • Create role cards for the manager on duty, front desk, kitchen, housekeeping, maintenance, and event leadership.
  • Document cooking-equipment or fuel actions only from validated equipment procedures and only for trained, authorized staff when safe.
  • Review procedures after renovations, seasonal changes, major events, menu or equipment changes, and drill observations.
Phase 03

Hospitality Evacuation Plan Gaps Guests Will Expose

Employee-only assumptions break down when occupants are transient, asleep, distracted, or unfamiliar with alternate exits. Review the OSHA EAP alongside real occupancy patterns and the property’s locally validated fire, building, accessibility, and emergency procedures.

Key Action Items

  • Guest communication depends on one PA message with no process for rooms, patios, loud venues, or communication needs.
  • Staff are told to sweep areas without defined assignments, training, stop conditions, or a requirement to avoid unsafe re-entry.
  • Guest lists are treated as perfect headcounts despite check-ins, visitors, events, and people away from their rooms.
  • Kitchen instructions imply any employee should fight a fire or operate fuel controls regardless of training and conditions.
  • Assembly locations conflict with arriving apparatus, vehicle lanes, severe weather exposure, or the incident itself.
Phase 04

Customize Guest Emergency Communication by Property Type

A hospitality EAP template should tell staff how to communicate a protective action to the guests actually present, not assume one announcement fits every property. Adapt approved messages and delivery methods for lodging, food service, events, outdoor amenities, overnight occupancy, and accessibility needs while preserving local alarm procedures.

Key Action Items

  • Prepare property-approved messages for evacuation, shelter, relocation, and other site-selected actions without using ambiguous staff shorthand for guests.
  • Match delivery methods to guest rooms, patios, pools, kitchens, ballrooms, parking areas, drive-through lanes, and off-site property activities.
  • Plan accessible and multilingual communication based on the property’s guests, workforce, technology, and locally validated procedures.
  • Give event organizers and group leaders a concise emergency contact, alarm meaning, exit, and accountability briefing appropriate to their role.
  • Coordinate guest messaging with alarm-system functions, emergency services, property management, and brand or franchise procedures where applicable.
Phase 05

Maintain Hospitality Plans Through Every Shift and Event

Hotel and restaurant emergency procedures remain current when managers connect shift handoffs, occupancy changes, events, maintenance outages, and vendor work to a documented plan review. The record should help the manager on duty find current contacts and limitations without relying on an absent employee’s memory or an outdated binder.

Key Action Items

  • Include emergency-plan status in manager handoffs, noting unavailable exits, alarm impairments, utility work, large groups, and unusual operating areas.
  • Review banquet, catering, renovation, entertainment, and seasonal setups for effects on occupancy, egress, notification, and responder access.
  • Maintain current employee schedules, available guest or reservation information, contractor check-in, and event contacts under property procedures.
  • Log drills and incidents with observations from front desk, kitchen, housekeeping, maintenance, security, and event teams.
  • Assign and verify corrective actions, replace obsolete role cards or maps, and brief affected shifts before revised procedures take effect.
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