What is a roll call in an evacuation?
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.
What it means.
OSHA does not use the phrase in 29 CFR 1910.38, 1926.35 or the Subpart E appendix. The rule asks for procedures to account for all employees after evacuation, OSHA's guidance calls the step a head count, and neither specifies the method.
Roll call works for a small crew. It gets harder with noise, a crowd, people who arrived after the list was printed, or two people with the same name. Whatever the method, the result that matters is the names and last known locations of anyone not accounted for.
Where it shows up on a job.
A supervisor stands at the assembly point with the shift list and calls out names, ticking each person who answers, then checks the visitor sign-in sheet the same way.
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.
A plain-language definition, not legal advice. For a decision on your site, read the standard that applies to it.
Related terms
- headcount
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
In PanoraEmergency muster: Start an event, account for everyone at the muster point on a tablet, and keep the after-action report.