A visitor unaware of hazards on a restricted floor can quickly become a safety incident. In both Australia and the United States, workplace health and safety legislation places a clear duty on those in control of a workplace (PCBU in Australia, employer in the US) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers *and* visitors. Restricting access is a fundamental part of fulfilling that duty, and a digital visitor management system is essential to doing it effectively.
Knowing Who Is Where Is The Law
Australian WHS legislation requires a PCBU to manage risks to health and safety arising from the workplace, and that includes controlling access. Similarly, OSHA in the United States mandates employers provide a safe working environment, and that extends to visitors. In our work with Australian and US organisations, we consistently see that a lack of real-time visibility of visitor location is a critical gap in safety protocols.
Paper Logs Don’t Protect People – They Record Arrivals
Most organisations still rely on manual processes that simply don’t scale to the demands of modern safety. A paper visitor log cannot tell you who is currently on the third floor, or whether they’ve left the building. This creates unacceptable risk during emergencies and undermines your ability to demonstrate due diligence.
- A visitor could access areas they are not authorised to be in, potentially exposing them to hazards or sensitive information.
- Emergency services responding to an incident won’t have an accurate picture of who needs to be evacuated from specific zones.
- Manual tracking is prone to errors, leading to inaccurate real-time occupancy data.
- Without zone restrictions, it’s impossible to enforce site-specific safety rules for different areas.
- A lack of visitor location data complicates muster point verification and increases the risk of unaccounted-for individuals.
Real-Time Visibility, Real-Time Control
A functioning visitor management system provides granular control over access, allowing you to define zones and restrict visitors to pre-approved areas. This isn’t just about security; it’s about proactively managing risk and ensuring everyone on site can be accounted for, especially during an emergency. The system must integrate with access control systems and provide real-time reporting.
- Define zones within your visitor management system to represent specific floors, departments, or hazardous areas.
- Assign access permissions to each zone based on visitor role, host approval, or pre-defined criteria.
- Integrate the system with your access control system (card readers, turnstiles) to automatically enforce zone restrictions.
- Utilize our Site Guard mobile app, connected to our Grabba pack, to verify visitor location and RFID card swipes at zone entrances.
- Generate an emergency evacuation report that displays the real-time location of all visitors, broken down by zone.
Time and People: Visitor Management That Works When It Has To
For over 12 years, Time and People has been helping Australian and US organisations move beyond paper-based visitor management to cloud-connected systems that deliver genuine safety and compliance. We’ve found that the ability to restrict access to specific zones, combined with real-time evacuation reporting, is a critical component of a robust safety program – protecting your people, and your organisation.
Content prepared by Time and People — visitor and contractor management across Australia and the United States.