Custom evacuation plan software development
Appfront builds evacuation plan software for organisations with multiple buildings or a complex occupancy: the plan structured according to NEN 8112, the floor plans according to NEN 1414-1 from the same data, tasks recorded per BHV (in-house emergency response) role with occupancy per part of the day, drills and evaluations as actions with an owner, and every change approved with version, date and responsible person. So that the version on the wall, the version at reception and the version in the BHV folder are the same.
What is evacuation plan software?
Evacuation plan software turns the plan into a structured set of data rather than a text file: buildings, floors, zones, escape routes, facilities, roles, tasks and drills are separate components linked to one another. The chapter structure according to NEN 8112 and the evacuation floor plans according to NEN 1414-1 come from the same source. If you move an emergency exit or a fire extinguisher, the system shows which floor plans and procedure texts need to be re-approved.
Without such a system, the plan sits in a Word file on a network drive, floor plans from three years ago hang on the wall, the names of departed staff still appear in the body text, and the evaluation of the last drill is in someone's mailbox. During an inspection or after an incident, nobody can demonstrate which version applied when and who approved it.
We build custom software because an evacuation plan has to match your buildings and your organisation: how your zones are divided, which roles your fire safety team has, where staffing data comes from (HR, rotas, access control), which drawing files you hold, and what makes a care site different from a distribution centre. A document management system knows nothing about zones, roles or floor plans that stay in step with the plan.
One source for text and drawings
The plan in line with NEN 8112 and the floor plans in line with NEN 1414-1, both generated from the same data. A change to the building shows which texts and drawings need to be re-approved.
Roles instead of names
Evacuation tasks per function: fire safety manager, floor warden, alarm reporting point, assembly point coordinator. People are linked to roles; staff turnover affects the staffing list, not the plan.
Demonstrability
Every change, approval and drill with a date, owner and version number. During an inspection, one overview shows which version applies, since when, and who approved it.
How we build your evacuation plan software
We start with the zone layout, not the screens: until it's clear how the building is divided and who covers which zone, you're building on shifting sand.
We review the existing plans and take stock of buildings, zone and floor layout, roles and data sources: drawings in DWG or IFC, the detector list from the fire alarm system, and staffing from HR or access control.
Building, floor, zone, escape route, facility, role, task and drill as separate components. We then check that the mandatory elements of NEN 8112 and the drawing requirements of NEN 1414-1 each have a place in the model.
First building data and floor plans, then the plan components and publication, and finally the drill and review module. After each iteration, a floor warden tests the software with real building data, not demo data.
We migrate the existing plans, run one full review round per location, and hand over with operational documentation and a configured authorisation structure.
What evacuation plan software actually does
Every organisation thinks its situation is unique. That's true of the content, not the functionality: these six components nearly always come up, only the detail differs.
Plan structure
Chapters, procedures and tasks per role following a fixed structure, with standard texts at organisation level and location-specific deviations beneath them.
Floor plan management
Base drawings from AutoCAD or BIM, with escape routes, emergency exits, fire extinguishers, first aid equipment and assembly points as objects, using the symbols of NEN 7010 as NEN 1414-1 requires.
Roles and staffing
Fire safety manager, floor wardens, evacuation team, reporting point and assembly point coordinator, with staffing per shift and an alert when a zone is understaffed.
Drill module
Schedule a drill, record the scenario, log times per zone, and turn problems raised in the evaluation into actions with an owner and a deadline.
Review and version control
Change proposals, approval by a designated approver, automatic version numbering, and a list of floor plans that must be reprinted and re-posted.
Publication and offline access
Print-ready PDFs to scale for wall posting, a concise map for the fire safety folder, and a mobile view that still works when the network goes down.
Who we build evacuation plan software for
The software is intended for organisations where one template across all buildings won't do, because staffing, self-reliance or ownership differs by location.
Healthcare providers
People with reduced self-reliance are usually moved horizontally to an adjoining fire compartment. The core elements are a current occupancy and mobility indicator per room and the reception capacity per compartment.
Education
Rooms change occupancy by the hour. The integration with the timetabling package makes the roll call at the assembly point workable: the teacher gets the class list for that moment.
Multi-tenant buildings
One building plan alongside separate fire safety organisations for each tenant. Shared components need to be managed centrally and tenant-specific areas need to be shielded.
Industry and logistics
Large sites, hazardous substances and shift workers. Occupancy per part of the day, integration with access control and drills per shift are the core.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about managing the plan and floor plans. For inspections against the standard, see our page on a NEN 2767 condition survey inspection app; for the workplace safety round, our page on a NEN 3140 inspection app; and for building management as a whole, our page on maintenance software. You can read about our approach at building software.
Why choose Appfront for your evacuation plan software?
An evacuation plan is only as good as the version hanging in the building. We build on that: one source, one sign-off, one overview at inspection.
Text and drawing cannot drift apart
The plan and the floor plan come from the same data. A changed emergency exit itself indicates which texts and drawings need to be signed off again.
The plan survives staff turnover
Tasks belong to the role, people to the occupancy. When someone leaves, they disappear from the list; the plan does not change.
Demonstrable at every inspection
Version, date, signatory and the last exercise in one overview. Not reconstructed from mailboxes, but shown.
Security and privacy for evacuation plan software
The software works with building floor plans, staff occupancy data and, at times, mobility data of residents or patients. Access is set up by role and by location: the fire safety lead manages, shift leaders see their sectors, tenants in a multi-tenant building see only their own section, and an inspector gets a readable overview. Every change and sign-off is logged; for healthcare organisations the setup aligns with NEN 7510.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily back-ups, and the mobile view keeps working if the network goes down. Integrations with HR, access control and timetabling packages use their own keys, which can be revoked per integration.
Frequently asked questions about evacuation plan software
Questions that fire safety leads and facilities managers ask before getting started.
It manages the evacuation plan as structured data: buildings, sectors, escape routes, facilities, roles and tasks according to NEN 8112; the floor plans according to NEN 1414-1 from the same source; the fire safety organisation's occupancy by part of the day; exercises with evaluation and actions; and version control with sign-off. Publication goes out as print and as a mobile view that works without a network.
No. Existing plans are migrated into the system's structure: chapters, procedures and tasks per role. What is the same across the organisation becomes standard text; what differs per location sits underneath as a deviation. We then run one revision round per location, so the first signed-off plan is right straight away.
As a background from your drawing files in DWG or IFC, onto which escape routes, emergency exits, fire extinguishers and assembly points are placed as objects using the NEN 7010 symbols. If you move an object, the floor plan changes and you receive a signal which texts and prints need to be updated.
Through integrations: the occupancy of the emergency response roles per part of the day from HR or the rota, attendance from access control, and for education the class list for that hour from the timetabling package. A section with no staffed role raises a signal for the shift leader before the shift starts.
Yes. A drill is scheduled with a scenario, the times per sector are recorded, and the bottlenecks from the evaluation become actions with an owner and a deadline. At the next drill, you can see which actions have been completed and whether the bottleneck has disappeared.
Yes. The mobile view of the plan and the floor plans is stored locally on the devices of the emergency response organisation and remains available without a network. Scaled PDF prints for the wall and the concise map for the emergency response folder come from the same version.
Ask that first. A document management system stores the plan as a file with versions, and that is enough for a single building with fixed staffing. Custom development makes sense if the plan and floor plan need to come from the same source, if tasks need to be assigned per role rather than per name, if staffing needs to come from other systems, or if you need to be able to show during an inspection which version applied when.
One plan, one floor plan and one version that demonstrably applies?
Tell us how many locations you have, where the staffing data comes from and when the plan was last approved. We will show you what the plan structure, floor plan management and version control look like.