Emergency plan rules in North Carolina
One license type researched, regulated by North Carolina DHHS — Division of Health Service Regulation. Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in North Carolina as Adult Care Home, by North Carolina DHHS — Division of Health Service Regulation.
10A NCAC 13G .0316 (fire safety and emergency preparedness plan / disaster plan)
At least four rehearsals of the fire evacuation plan each year.
Two separate filings, on two different clocks. A NEWLY LICENSED facility must submit its emergency preparedness plan to the local emergency management agency within 30 DAYS of obtaining the license; already-licensed facilities submit annually. Separately, records of the fire evacuation rehearsals are maintained and copies furnished to the COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES annually.
Authority: Local emergency management agency; and the county department of social services
Cadence: Within 30 days of a new license, then annually
A written fire evacuation plan including a DIAGRAMMED DRAWING, carrying the approval of the local code enforcement official, prepared in LARGE PRINT and posted in a central location ON EACH FLOOR. Three requirements most plans miss: the drawing, the outside approval, and the type size.
10A NCAC 13G .0316Reviewed 2026-07-30
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Everything else we’ve researched about North Carolina
Same state, the problems either side of this one. Each carries its own statute and the date we last checked it.
What this page is
The requirements North Carolina 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 layer does not vary by state, and it is narrower than it is usually described. OSHA 29 CFR §1910.38 does not bind every employer on its own — by its applicability paragraph it governs an emergency action plan whenever another OSHA standard requires the employer to have one, and it then settles what that plan must contain. The CMS emergency preparedness rule applies by certified provider type rather than by building. 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 North Carolina requires. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.