Running evacuation drills to time visitor accountability is permissible and, as of December 2025, is a common practice supported by both visitor management systems and workplace safety regulations in the United States. These drills function within the framework of OSHA’s (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requirements for emergency action plans, and comparable state-level workplace safety laws.
Modern visitor management systems now routinely include features to facilitate drill timing. During a drill, the system records the ‘evacuated’ status of each visitor, often via a mobile app or designated warden input. The system then generates a report detailing the time taken to account for all signed-in visitors, comparing it against pre-defined benchmarks. Data handling is subject to privacy regulations; in the US, this includes considerations under HIPAA (if healthcare facilities are involved) and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) regarding personal information. Record-keeping requirements, similar to those under Australian WHS (Work Health and Safety) legislation for PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) obligations, mandate retaining drill records and associated reports for audit purposes. Integration with building access control systems and emergency notification platforms is also common, allowing for automated visitor alerts during actual emergencies. As of December 2025, many systems offer real-time reporting and analysis of drill data.
Effectively, these systems provide a measurable metric for emergency preparedness, allowing organisations to identify and address weaknesses in their evacuation procedures.
“`