What is a headcount after an evacuation?
A headcount is the check, after people have left, that everyone who should be accounted for is, with the names and last known locations of anyone missing passed to whoever is in charge.
Also called head count, accounting for employees
What it means.
The rule underneath it is one line in 29 CFR 1910.38(c)(4): procedures to account for all employees after evacuation. The word comes from OSHA's guidance, which tells employers to take a head count after the evacuation and pass the names and last known locations of anyone not accounted for to the official in charge.
A number is not a headcount if it cannot say who is missing. The rule names employees; OSHA's guidance adds that visitors also should be accounted for, and notes that some employers use the visitor and contractor sign-in list to do it. No number of minutes appears in 1910.38, in 1926.35 or in the Subpart E appendix. A 10 or 15 minute target comes from a site, an insurer or a corporate standard, not from OSHA.
Take a head count after the evacuation. Identify the names and last known locations of anyone not accounted for and pass them to the official in charge.
Where it shows up on a job.
At the assembly point, the person running the count works from the list of who was on site, marks people as they are found, and gives the incident commander the names still missing.
Where this comes from.
Each source was read on 22 October 2026. Guidance is advice; a regulation is the rule.
- 29 CFR 1910.38Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29. Regulation. Emergency action plans, including the duty to account for employees after evacuation.
- Evacuation Plans and Procedures eTool, emergency action plan elementsOccupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA guidance, advisory. Assembly areas, head counts and accounting for visitors.
- OSHA eTools disclaimerOccupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA guidance, advisory. That eTool advice is not a standard or regulation.
A plain-language definition, not legal advice. For a decision on your site, read the standard that applies to it.
Related terms
- roll call
A roll call is reading names aloud at the assembly point to find out who is missing; it is one way of doing a headcount.
- muster point
A muster point is the place a site tells people to gather in an emergency so they can be accounted for; it does the same job as an assembly point under a different name.
- assembly point
An assembly point is the place people go after they leave a building in an emergency, so someone can find out who made it out and who did not.
- evacuation warden
An evacuation warden is a person given the job of helping others get out during an emergency, checking areas on the way, and helping account for people once they reach the safe area.
Read moreAccounting for contractors and visitors
In PanoraEmergency muster: Start an event, account for everyone at the muster point on a tablet, and keep the after-action report.