Question 1

What is Emergency Safety Planning?

Accepted Answer

A planning, preparedness, and notification platform for any organization responsible for people in a building. It writes your Emergency Operations Plan with you through a guided interview, turns every hazard into a step-by-step workflow your team can follow, schedules and records your drills, and reaches your whole response team with one button when something is real.

Question 2

What does "made easy" actually mean?

Accepted Answer

It means you answer plain-language questions instead of writing a document. The interview asks the things a county emergency manager would ask — how many people, which rooms have no windows, who holds the keys, who to call at two in the morning — and turns your answers into a plan in the structure of FEMA CPG-101. The whole interview takes about an afternoon, and you can stop and resume any time.

Question 3

How long does it take to get a plan?

Accepted Answer

About three hours for the interview, usually done by the facilities lead and one senior leader together. You get a full draft immediately. Reviewing it, editing it, and routing it to your board typically takes about a week.

Question 4

Do I need a credit card to start?

Accepted Answer

No. The guided interview and reading your finished plan are free. A paid plan unlocks your response workflows, roster, drills, equipment tracking, and one-button activation.

Question 5

Who should do the interview?

Accepted Answer

Whoever knows the building best — usually the facilities lead or head usher, plus one senior leader who can make decisions. It helps to have your floor plan, your staff or volunteer list, and any existing plan or evacuation sheet within reach.

Question 6

Can I sign in with Google?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can create an account with an email and password or sign up with Google. Either way, the first step after that is naming your organization and choosing what kind of organization it is.

Question 7

Can I stop in the middle and come back later?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The interview remembers where you stopped. Many organizations do it in two or three sittings.

Question 8

Is there an app I need to install?

Accepted Answer

No. Emergency Safety Planning runs in a web browser on a computer, tablet, or phone. Activation calls and texts go to your team's ordinary phones; nobody on your roster needs to install anything.

Question 9

We are not a church — is this built for us?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The planning structure is federal and identical everywhere: FEMA CPG-101 gives the document its shape, and NIMS and ICS give the command structure. A fire behaves the same way in a warehouse as in a sanctuary. What differs is vocabulary, so you pick your organization type once and every section, seat name, and announcement uses your words.

Question 10

Which kinds of organizations does it support?

Accepted Answer

Houses of worship, schools and campuses, businesses and workplaces, nonprofits and community organizations, clinics and care facilities, and municipal or civic buildings. There is also a "something else" option for a museum, a gym, a shelter, a co-op, or a theater — you tell it what you call your people and your main room, and the plan reads like you wrote it.

Question 11

We are a small congregation of forty people. Is this too much for us?

Accepted Answer

No. The Starter tier is built for exactly that: the daycare, the storefront congregation, and the office that has been meaning to write a plan for years. You get the complete plan, every workflow, and printable cards for $59 a month.

Question 12

We are a school district with twelve buildings. Does it scale?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Multi-Site tier gives every building its own plan, its own command chart, and its own call tree, and rolls all of them up to one district view showing readiness for each site. Past about twenty-five buildings, or for an airport, a hospital system, or a stadium, the Network tier starts with an on-site assessment and a quote.

Question 13

Does it work for a business with more than one shift?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Size your tier by the largest single shift plus office staff and drivers, and the plan's workflows name roles rather than people, so a night-shift lead follows the same steps as the day-shift lead.

Question 14

We already have a plan. Do we start over?

Accepted Answer

No. Bring it — a binder, a two-page evacuation sheet, an OSHA emergency action plan, a consultant's report from years ago. The interview starts from what you already decided rather than from a blank page. The parts worth keeping get kept; the parts that name people who left in 2019 get fixed, which is usually the real reason you are here.

Question 15

What is actually in the plan?

Accepted Answer

The Basic Plan (purpose, scope, situation overview, hazard identification and risk assessment, concept of operations, direction and control, communications, authorities and references), an Incident Command System structure, Annexes A through N covering evacuation, shelter-in-place, lockdown, active shooter response, fire, medical emergencies, severe weather, bomb threats, dependent care, cyber incidents, security operations, recovery, family reunification, and access and functional needs, plus a Continuity of Operations Plan, a training program, an exercise program, a resource inventory, a record of changes, a plan approval page, and an after-action report appendix.

Question 16

Is it FEMA compliant?

Accepted Answer

FEMA does not certify software, so nobody can honestly claim a compliance stamp. What we can say precisely: the plan follows the structure of FEMA CPG-101 v3, the command structure is NIMS and ICS, and the sector guidance is folded in where it exists — the REMS K-12 school EOP guide, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.38 for workplace emergency action plans, and the DHS material for faith-based organizations. When you hand it to your county emergency manager, your insurer, or your accreditor, they recognize the document immediately, because it is laid out the way they were trained to read.

Question 17

Does it meet my state's legal requirements?

Accepted Answer

We do not claim that. Requirements vary by state, county, and organization type, and the honest answer is that a plan aligned to the federal standard is the right starting point for almost every one of them, but confirming a specific legal requirement is a conversation with your local emergency management office or your counsel. Where we have curated a jurisdiction's requirements, the product shows them; where we have not, it says so.

Question 18

Does the AI write the whole plan?

Accepted Answer

It interviews and drafts. A human approves. The AI asks the questions and turns your answers into CPG-101 aligned language, but nothing becomes part of your plan until a person reads it and accepts it. You sign it, your board approves it, and it carries your leadership's names, not ours.

Question 19

Can I edit the plan after it is written?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every section is editable in the plan editor. When you change something that other sections depend on, the annexes that rely on it are flagged for review rather than silently going stale.

Question 20

Which hazards does it cover?

Accepted Answer

Severe weather of every kind — thunderstorm, tornado, hurricane, flooding, winter storm, extreme heat — plus fire, medical emergency, active shooter, workplace violence, civil disturbance, terrorism, bomb threat, suspicious package, missing child, transportation accident, utility failure, cyber attack, hazardous materials, structural failure, and pandemic or infectious disease. Every hazard in the catalog gets its own response workflow, and your organization type emphasizes the ones that matter most for you.

Question 21

What is a "workflow"?

Accepted Answer

A hazard, rendered as an ordered sequence of steps with a role assigned to each one and a target time — drawn from your own annexes, not from a generic template. It is the difference between "see Annex C" and "Incident Commander: announce lockdown over the PA, verbatim, within one minute."

Question 22

What is the ICS chart?

Accepted Answer

The Incident Command System chart names who is in charge of what during an incident: Incident Commander, Safety Officer, Public Information Officer, Liaison Officer, the Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance and Administration chiefs, the Security and Medical branch directors, a Dependent Care Lead, and a Designated Translator. The product builds it with named people, recommended alternates for each seat, and a readiness check that flags any seat one illness away from empty.

Question 23

Can I print it?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and you should. The plan exports to PDF for the board packet, with the signature page, distribution list, and record of changes intact. It also prints go-bag cards, wall posters, a color-coded emergency flip chart, and five plain-language PA announcements on cards for the front desk. We expect a paper copy in the office, at the front desk, and in every go-bag, because a plan that only exists on a screen is not a plan.

Question 24

Does it include floor plans and assembly areas?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can upload a floor plan drawing for each building, and the plan records primary and secondary assembly areas, sweep zones, evacuation routes, and the reunification site.

Question 25

What is the emergency flip chart?

Accepted Answer

A color-coded, tabbed quick-reference that hangs on the wall or sits by the front desk: one tab per hazard, with the first actions for that hazard on a single page. It is generated from your plan, so it says your assembly area and your announcements, and it is printable.

Question 26

What happens when I press the activation button?

Accepted Answer

One button declares an incident. The voice agent calls every seat on your ICS chart, reads each person their first action, and records who acknowledged. Texts and emails go out at the same time. If a primary does not answer, it escalates to the alternate. Everything is timestamped, so your debrief starts from facts rather than memory.

Question 27

Is this a replacement for calling 911?

Accepted Answer

No, and it never will be. Emergency Safety Planning does not dispatch anyone, does not monitor your building, and does not put people on your site. Call 911 first, always. What it does is make the twenty minutes before and after that call organized: the right people reached, the right actions in the right order, and a record of what happened.

Question 28

Does activation work if our building loses power or internet?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The fan-out does not run from your building. It runs from our servers over the public phone network, so your team's phones ring even if your site has lost power, internet, or both. If the cell network itself is down, the printed plan is what you fall back on, exactly as it should be.

Question 29

Where do the calls and texts come from?

Accepted Answer

Calls come from one consistent number so your team can save it in their phones as "Emergency Safety Planning" and recognize it on the day. Texts come from a toll-free number. We recommend every person on the roster saves both during the first drill.

Question 30

What if someone on the roster does not want automated calls?

Accepted Answer

They can say so, per channel. A teacher, a shift lead, or a volunteer who does not want calls can opt out of calls and still receive texts, or the reverse, and the fan-out respects it. Consent belongs to the person, not to the administrator who added them.

Question 31

What happens after the incident?

Accepted Answer

The incident page holds the timeline — who was called, who acknowledged, when — and you write the after-action report from it while the details are fresh. Incident history and after-action records are kept with the plan.

Question 32

Can I call just the command team without declaring a full incident?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A live incident has a "call the command team" button that rings every seat on the building's ICS chart at once, asks each person whether they can respond and their expected arrival time, and shows the answers on the incident page.

Question 33

Do we get an actual person on the phone in an emergency?

Accepted Answer

No — and it is important to be clear about this. Emergency Safety Planning is a planning and notification tool, not an emergency service or a monitoring center. In an emergency, call 911. The product's job is to reach your own people fast and keep a record.

Question 34

How do drills work?

Accepted Answer

You schedule a drill, and the product reminds the right people thirty days out, then weekly, and sends a missed-drill notice if the date passes. Drills run on the same activation machinery as a real incident, announced as a drill at the start and end of every call, so your team practices the real thing. Attendance, response times, and a written after-action are recorded every time.

Question 35

How often should we drill?

Accepted Answer

The FEMA cadence is built in: fire drills twice a year, a lockdown drill and a tabletop exercise annually, and a full-scale exercise every three years. Your calendar shows what is due.

Question 36

Does it track training certificates?

Accepted Answer

Yes. IS-100, IS-700, and CPR/AED are tracked per staff member and volunteer, with expiration dates. Certificates are self-reported uploads — the product records them, it does not verify them with FEMA.

Question 37

Does it track equipment like AEDs and fire extinguishers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, from the Single Site tier up. Equipment tracking records where each item is, its inspection date, and its expiry, and flags what is coming due.

Question 38

What is the readiness score?

Accepted Answer

A single number, built from five weighted factors, that tells you how ready the organization actually is: plan completeness, command structure (whether every ICS seat has a person and an alternate), contact reachability (whether the numbers on the roster will actually ring), drill currency, and equipment readiness. It is meant to be honest, not flattering — a beautifully written plan naming people who cannot be reached scores low on purpose.

Question 39

How much does it cost?

Accepted Answer

Starter is $59 a month for up to 60 people on site. Single Site is $169 a month for up to 300 people in one building. Multi-Site is $139 per building per month, minimum two buildings. Network — for campuses, districts, chains, and agencies — is quoted after an on-site assessment. Every tier includes the complete plan and every workflow; higher tiers add buildings, activation minutes, and drill analytics, never the parts that keep people safe.

Question 40

What if we have more than 300 people in one building?

Accepted Answer

Add the premium add-on to Single Site: $79 a month for each additional 500 people, up to 2,000 people on site. A 1,000-person distribution center is Single Site plus two add-ons, $327 a month. Above 2,000 people in one building, or for a site with many separate spaces, ask for a Network quote so we can scope it properly.

Question 41

How do we count "people on site"?

Accepted Answer

Use your busiest normal hour — not your annual peak and not your average. A school counts students plus staff on a school day. A warehouse counts the largest single shift plus office staff and drivers. A congregation counts its biggest service. A one-off event that doubles you twice a year does not change your tier; tell us and we will plan for the event instead.

Question 42

What is an activation minute?

Accepted Answer

Time spent on an outbound voice call to a member of your response team, whether that is a live incident or a drill. Text messages and emails are counted separately and are far cheaper. Single Site includes 300 minutes a year, Multi-Site 1,500. A typical medical activation reaching seven people uses about six minutes.

Question 43

What happens if we run out of minutes in the middle of an incident?

Accepted Answer

Nothing stops. We never cut off an activation for billing reasons — the overage lands on your next invoice at our carrier cost with no markup. We would much rather you drill often than ration minutes.

Question 44

Is there a setup fee or an annual contract?

Accepted Answer

No setup fee, and month to month unless you would rather pay annually, which takes two months off the price. Network plans are quoted per rollout because the work is different at fifty sites.

Question 45

Do you discount for small or rural organizations?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If Single Site is out of reach — a rural school district, a volunteer-run food bank, a small congregation — write to us and tell us your situation. We would rather have you prepared than have your money.

Question 46

What happens to our plan if we cancel?

Accepted Answer

You export it — the PDF, the printable cards, and your roster and records — and it is yours, in full, forever. It is your plan. We only ever held the copy.

Question 47

What data do you store about the people we serve?

Accepted Answer

Only what an activation needs: names, ICS seats, and contact details for the people on your response team — normally a few dozen people, not your student roster, your employee directory, or your membership roll. We do not import your student information system, your HR directory, your patient records, or your church management software, and we have no interest in your payroll or your giving records.

Question 48

Do you sell or share our data?

Accepted Answer

No. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone building a mailing list of schools, employers, or congregations. There is no version of this business where that is acceptable.

Question 49

How is our data protected?

Accepted Answer

Every connection is encrypted in transit, and the database and its backups are encrypted at rest. Access is role-based and scoped to your organization; administrators, staff, and volunteers see different things, and anything that spends money or places a call requires an administrator. Plan approvals, roster changes, incident declarations, and every outbound call are logged with who, what, and when. There are no cameras, no sensors, no location tracking, and no listening — the product only knows what you typed into it and what happened during an activation you started. Ask us to delete your organization and we delete it.

Question 50

How do we get help?

Accepted Answer

Three ways. Call (859) 295-5238 — an automated receptionist answers, can answer questions about the product, take a message, and open a support ticket; have your eight-digit Client ID from Settings ready and the ticket lands on your account. Email support@emergencysafetyplanning.com. Or open a ticket from the Support page in your dashboard, which every role can reach at no charge. A person replies within 24 hours.

Fifty questions, answered plainly.

Getting started

Who it is for

The plan

Response and activation

Drills and training

Pricing and billing

Security and your data

Support

Give it one afternoon.