When the fire alarm goes, the fire marshal's job is simple to describe and hard to do: make sure everyone is out. Staff are usually covered by a rota or a register. The people most likely to be missed are the ones who don't work there: visitors, contractors and delivery drivers.
What the law expects
In England and Wales, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes the "responsible person" for a building put in place procedures for serious and imminent danger, including evacuation, and make sure people can be safely evacuated. Scotland and Northern Ireland have equivalent legislation. Your fire risk assessment and emergency plan should say how everyone on the premises will be accounted for. Visitors are part of "everyone".
Why the paper book lets you down
- It stays on the desk. Nobody wants to stop and pick up a book while an alarm is sounding.
- Sign-outs are missing. People leave without filling in the time-out column, so the book overstates who's inside.
- It's hard to read. A scrawled name is no use when you're calling out a list in the car park.
- It isn't a list of who's here now. You have to scan the whole day's page and work it out.
What a useful visitor roll call needs
A live list of who is in the building now
Not a log of everyone who came today: a list of everyone who signed in and hasn't signed out. That's the list a marshal needs.
Reliable sign-out
Make signing out quick, and make it easy for reception to sign someone out on their behalf when they forget. A unique ID on each record means the right person is always signed out, even if two visitors share a name.
A plan for getting the list outside
Decide in advance how the list reaches the assembly point. That could be a laptop or tablet showing the live board that the receptionist takes with them, a quick printout, or a second screen elsewhere. Write it into your emergency plan.
Drills that include visitors
Run your fire drill when there are visitors on site and check whether the list matches who is actually standing at the assembly point. That's how you find out whether sign-out discipline is working.
How Visitor Book fits
Visitor Book has two screens: a sign-in page and a live visitor board showing everyone currently on site, with one-tap sign-out. On the Cloud tier, the board can be opened on any authorised device, such as a tablet or phone, from wherever your site's access settings allow. On the Local tier, it runs on the device at reception, so decide in advance who carries that device out. Either way, the list is current and readable when you need it.
The same list helps with lockdown and invacuation planning under Martyn's Law.
This article is general information, not fire safety or legal advice. Your fire risk assessment should be carried out by a competent person.