Recording a Drill

Regular drills are a licensing requirement for NZ early childhood centres. The drill recording tool walks you through capturing the outcome in a structured way — who was there, how the evacuation went, and any issues that need following up.

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Starting a drill record

From the Emergency & Drills module, click New Drill (or Conduct Drill from the dashboard). This opens a four-step guided form.

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Step 1 — Drill details

Record the basics of the drill:

• Drill type — Fire, Earthquake, Lockdown, or other
• Date conducted
• Start time
• Duration — how many minutes the evacuation took
• Led by — which staff member ran the drill
• Staff present — number of staff on site
• Children present — number of children on site

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Step 2 — Evacuation outcome

Record how the evacuation went:

• Did everyone evacuate successfully?
• Was the assembly point reached?
• Was a roll call completed?
• Were there any injuries? (If yes, describe what happened)
• General notes about the drill

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Step 3 — Deficiencies

Record any issues identified during the drill. For each deficiency:

• Description — what the issue was
• Category — e.g. Evacuation, Signage, Communication
• Severity — Minor, Moderate, or Serious
• Assigned to — which staff member is responsible for resolving it
• Due date — when it needs to be resolved by

You can add as many deficiencies as needed. If the drill went smoothly with no issues, skip this step.

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Step 4 — Review and submit

A summary of the drill is shown before you submit — type, date, duration, outcome, and number of deficiencies recorded. Review it, then click Submit Drill Record.

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After submitting

The drill is saved and you’re taken to the drill detail page. Any deficiencies you recorded appear as open action items, each assigned to a staff member with a due date.

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Managing deficiencies

Open deficiencies appear on the drill record and on the module dashboard until they’re resolved. Each deficiency can be progressed through two states: In Progress — mark this when work has started but isn’t complete yet. Resolved — mark this when the issue has been fixed. You’ll need to add resolution notes explaining what was done, and you can upload a photo or document as evidence. A drill record stays open until all its deficiencies are resolved or explicitly waived with a reason noted.

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Drill history

All past drill records are listed in the Drills tab with the date, type, outcome, and number of open or resolved deficiencies. This history is available for ERO review and can be referenced when preparing your Evidence Pack.