401.3 Emergency Preparedness Plans

The owner of any premises required by this chapter to have an emergency preparedness plan shall cause such plan to be prepared for such premises in the form prescribed by the commissioner, and periodically reviewed and amended, in accordance with this section and the rules. The commissioner may prescribe by rule the qualifications of the person preparing such plans.

This chapter establishes the following three types of emergency preparedness plans, which reflect the use, size, complexity and risk vulnerability of the building or occupancy; the presence of building staff and/or other building occupants capable of implementing such plan; the availability of voice communication capability; and other considerations:

1. Level 1: comprehensive fire safety/emergency action plan (FC401.4).
2. Level 2: fire and emergency preparedness plan (FC401.5).
3. Level 3: fire and emergency preparedness guide and notices (FC401.6).

The fire commissioner may approve a multi-building campus emergency preparedness plan, including specific minimum staffing qualifications and levels, for educational and health care occupancies subject to FC408, 410 and/or FC413, with certain specified emergency preparedness functions performed by staff assigned to multiple campus buildings. Such multi-building campuses shall consist of a single block, contiguous blocks or other approved geographic area, or a series of physically interconnected buildings.

A copy of the emergency preparedness plan shall be maintained at the premises for which such plan is required and kept readily available for inspection at all times. The department may require that the emergency preparedness plan be maintained at an approved location on the premises in an approved first responder box secured by a citywide standard key to ensure availability of the plan at all times.

In buildings or occupancies required to prepare a comprehensive fire safety and emergency action plan, and in high-rise buildings and large-area buildings required to prepare a fire and emergency preparedness plan, or such other building or occupancy as required by this chapter or the rules, a building information card depicting and/or setting forth the fire safety information prescribed by the commissioner by rule shall be maintained on the premises and submitted or otherwise made available to the department as set forth in the rules. An amended building information card shall be submitted for department review and approval as set forth in the rules. When required by this code or rule, building floor plans shall be submitted to the department in an approved manner.

Emergency preparedness plans and building information cards shall be reviewed and updated as necessitated by changes in staff assignments, use or occupancy, or the design and arrangement of the premises, but at least annually. An entry shall be made in the log book required by FC401.8 documenting such review, and indicating the general nature of any amendments to be made to such plan. Submission of an amended emergency preparedness plan shall not be required solely by reason of staffing changes or revisions to the building information card. Fire and emergency preparedness guides and notices shall be reviewed prior to each distribution required by this code or the rules, and shall be revised within 60 days of any change in building construction or service equipment materially affecting the content of such guide or notice.

The preparation of an emergency preparedness plan shall constitute an operational requirement. Except as otherwise provided in this section, owners of buildings and occupancies required by this chapter to have a comprehensive fire safety and emergency action plan shall have 24 months from the promulgation of rules implementing such emergency preparedness plan provisions of this chapter to prepare such plan and submit it to the department for acceptance. Owners of buildings and occupancies required by this chapter to have any other emergency preparedness plan shall have 18 months from the promulgation of rules implementing such emergency preparedness plan provisions of this chapter to prepare such plan and, if required by this chapter, submit it to the department for acceptance.

Until rules implementing the emergency preparedness plan provisions of this chapter take effect, buildings and occupancies required to prepare an emergency preparedness plan under this code shall comply with the emergency preparedness plan requirements set forth in the Fire Code and rules in effect on the date prior to the effective date of this section.

Any building or occupancy that prior to March 30, 2014, obtained department approval of the voluntary installation of a fire alarm system with a staged evacuation sequence and was required to provide a fire safety director or other specified emergency preparedness staffing shall provide staffing in accordance with this chapter and the rules.

All owners, employers of building occupants (including lessees of tenant spaces and similar occupancies) and building occupants shall cooperate in the development and coordination of emergency preparedness plans, including designation of building occupants to assist in the implementation of such plan.