The Office Emergency Response Plan Submission Tracker in Google Sheets keeps every emergency response plan your departments and sites submit in one register, from submission and review through approval, drill dates and the next review due date. Five charts on the same sheet show approvals, reviewer workload, department and location coverage, and plan types, so gaps in preparedness are easy to spot.
This guide is for health and safety officers, facility managers, admin teams and compliance leads who must collect fire, evacuation, medical, earthquake and cyber incident plans from several departments or offices. You will see the tracker’s columns, what each chart shows with the sample data, how the search sheet works, setup steps, use cases and the limits to know before you rely on it.
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Why Track Emergency Response Plan Submissions?
Most organisations ask each department and site to keep its own emergency plans up to date. In practice, plans arrive by email, sit in shared folders and are reviewed whenever someone remembers. When an auditor or insurer asks, “Which sites have an approved evacuation plan, and when was the last drill?”, the answer takes days.
A submission tracker turns that into a simple register. Every plan has an ID, an owner department, a location, a reviewer, a status and dates. With that in place you can answer:
- How many plans are approved, pending or rejected?
- Which departments and office locations have submitted the fewest plans?
- Is one reviewer carrying most of the review workload?
- Are fire safety plans well covered while earthquake or cyber incident plans lag behind?
- Which plans are due for review or need a new drill?
What Is Inside the Office Emergency Response Plan Submission Tracker
| Part | What it shows | What you do there |
|---|---|---|
| Chart panel | Approval status, reviewer, department, office location and plan type charts | Read the summary; charts refresh from the data |
| Tracker table | One row per plan, from Submission ID to Remarks | Log submissions, update review outcomes and dates |
| Search sheet | Matching records for a selected column and keyword, with a Total Record count | Select a column and type a keyword |
The Tracker Sheet: Columns Explained
Each submitted plan gets one row. Sample IDs run from ERP-1001 onwards. The columns are:
- Submission ID: a unique reference for the plan submission.
- Department: Finance, HR, Security, Operations, IT and Admin in the sample.
- Office Location: Branch A, Branch B, Head Office, Manufacturing Unit and Warehouse.
- Plan Name: for example “Office Emergency Plan 1”.
- Plan Type: Earthquake, Fire Safety, Cyber Incident, Medical Emergency and Evacuation.
- Submission Date.
- Reviewer: Admin Head, Safety Manager or Compliance Officer.
- Approval Status: Approved, Pending or Rejected.
- Approval Date: filled when a plan is approved.
- Last Drill Date: when the plan was last practised.
- Compliance Score %: a score for how well the plan meets your requirements (for example 86.7 or 72.4 in the sample).
- Next Review Due: when the plan must be reviewed again.
- Remarks: reviewer notes such as “Reviewed as per guidelines”.
The Five Charts and What They Tell You
The sample file holds 50 plan submissions. Each chart below uses that sample data.
1. Emergency Plans by Approval Status
A pie chart showing Approved (16), Rejected (21) and Pending (13). In the sample, more plans are rejected than approved, which is exactly the kind of signal that should trigger a template refresh or a briefing for plan owners.
2. Emergency Plan Submissions by Reviewer
A donut chart: Admin Head (20), Safety Manager (14) and Compliance Officer (16). Use it to balance review work so one person does not become a bottleneck.
3. Emergency Plan Submissions by Department
A column chart: Finance 7, HR 15, Security 12, Operations 6, IT 5 and Admin 5. Departments with few submissions are the first ones to follow up.
4. Emergency Plan Submissions by Office Location
A bar chart: Branch A 12, Branch B 14, Head Office 4, Manufacturing Unit 12 and Warehouse 8. In the sample, Head Office has the fewest plans on file.
5. Emergency Plan Submissions by Plan Type
A line chart across Earthquake (6), Fire Safety, Cyber Incident (7), Medical Emergency (10) and Evacuation (12). Fire Safety is the unlabelled peak of the line and accounts for the remaining 15 of the 50 plans, making it the most common plan type in the sample. A low count for a risk that matters to you, such as earthquakes in a seismic zone, is a clear gap to close.
Search by Search Keyword and Field Name
The search sheet lists every plan that matches a value in one column. Choose the column in Select Column, type a value in Search Keyword, and the matching rows appear with a Total Record count.
In the example, searching the Department column for “hr” returns 15 plans, the same number shown in the department chart, along with each plan’s location, type, reviewer, status, drill date, compliance score and next review date.
How to Use It With Your Own Data
- Make your own copy with File > Make a copy.
- Edit the dropdown lists for Department, Office Location, Plan Type and Reviewer so they match your organisation.
- Clear the sample rows, keeping the header row and dropdowns.
- Log each plan when it is submitted with its ID, department, location, plan name, type and submission date. Set Approval Status to Pending.
- Record the review outcome: change the status to Approved or Rejected, add the Approval Date, Compliance Score % and Remarks.
- Keep dates current: update Last Drill Date after each drill and set Next Review Due for every approved plan.
- Review the charts monthly and follow up with departments or sites that show low submissions or many rejections.
Real-World Use Cases
Multi-site preparedness review
A company with a head office, two branches, a warehouse and a factory asks each site for fire, evacuation and medical plans. The location chart shows which sites are behind, and the safety team follows up before the annual inspection.
Audit and insurance requests
When an auditor asks for evidence of approved plans and recent drills, the compliance officer filters by location or plan type and shares the list with approval dates and last drill dates.
Reviewer workload planning
If the Admin Head is reviewing far more plans than the Safety Manager, the team reassigns new submissions so reviews do not pile up.
Best Practices
- Use the same three status values (Approved, Pending, Rejected) everywhere.
- Write a short reason in Remarks for every rejection so the owner knows what to fix.
- Set Next Review Due for every approved plan, usually once a year or after any major change.
- Update Last Drill Date straight after each drill.
- Agree on how Compliance Score % is calculated so scores are comparable between reviewers.
- Store the plan documents in Drive and keep the tracker as the index to them.
Who Should Not Use This Tracker (Limitations)
- It does not store the plans themselves. It tracks submissions and reviews; the plan documents stay in your file storage. You can add a link column if you want.
- No automatic reminders. Next Review Due is a date column; it does not send alerts unless you add your own automation.
- It is not an incident management system. It will not help you run a live emergency, notify staff or log incidents as they happen.
- Regulated sites with strict document-control rules may need a formal compliance system with version control and sign-off records.
Related Templates and Guides
To check the content of each plan, use the emergency response plan checklist in Google Sheets. For a higher-level view of readiness, see the office emergency preparedness dashboard. Keep contact details current with the office emergency contact tracker, log inspections with the office safety inspection tracker, and plan recurring reviews and drills with the health and safety compliance calendar.
Related template: the Emergency Response Plan Checklist in Google Sheets on NextGenTemplates.
If you want to go further with structured spreadsheet lessons, the learning paths on NextGenTemplates Academy cover everything from the basics to building your own trackers and reports.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an emergency response plan submission tracker?
It is a register that records each emergency plan submitted by a department or site, with its type, reviewer, approval status, drill date, compliance score and next review date.
Which plan types does the template include?
The sample uses Earthquake, Fire Safety, Cyber Incident, Medical Emergency and Evacuation. You can edit the list to add types such as chemical spill or bomb threat.
Can it handle several office locations?
Yes. Office Location is a column with its own chart. The sample includes Branch A, Branch B, Head Office, Manufacturing Unit and Warehouse.
Does it send reminders when a review is due?
No. The Next Review Due column records the date, but reminders need to be added separately, for example with Google Calendar or Apps Script.
Can several people update it at the same time?
Yes. As a Google Sheets file, it supports real-time editing by multiple users, with access set through sharing permissions.
Is it suitable for safety audits?
It gives auditors a clear list of plans, reviewers, approval dates and drill dates. Keep the plan documents themselves in your document storage.
Wrapping Up
Emergency plans only protect people if they are submitted, reviewed and practised. The Office Emergency Response Plan Submission Tracker in Google Sheets gives you one register for every plan, five charts that reveal gaps by status, reviewer, department, site and plan type, and a search sheet for audits. Start by setting your departments and locations, log the plans you already have and schedule the next reviews.
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📅 Last updated: October 2026
