Picking a vendor based on a feature list often leads to a system that fails during a crisis. In Australia, the WHS Act 2011 requires PCBUs to manage site safety, while OSHA in the United States mandates a safe workplace for all. If your system cannot provide a real-time occupancy report, you are guessing who is in danger during an evacuation.
A failure to track site occupancy is a breach of duty of care
Australian WHS legislation places a clear duty on PCBUs to know who is on site at all times. In the United States, OSHA requires employers to maintain a safe environment and ensure all personnel can be accounted for. In our work with Australian and US organisations, we have found that these legal obligations are not met by mere record-keeping, but by active, real-time visibility.
Paper logs provide a history of arrivals, not a list of survivors
Many organisations rely on paper visitor logs or disconnected spreadsheets that only track when someone arrived. This creates a critical liability gap because these records do not track when a person leaves. During an emergency, this leads to chaotic muster point verification and wasted rescue resources.
- Paper visitor logs cannot tell you who is still on site during an emergency—only who arrived.
- Manual records lack the ability to trigger immediate safety alerts based on specific visitor responses.
- Disconnected spreadsheets are often inaccessible to evacuation wardens during a live incident.
- Paper-based processes fail to verify that a contractor induction and check-in was completed before site access was granted.
Genuine protection requires technology connected to compliance
A functioning cloud-based visitor management system eliminates guesswork by syncing data in real time across authorised devices. It transforms the check-in process from a clerical task into a safety barrier that ensures every person is inducted and accounted for.
- Can the system trigger automated alerts to specific staff based on visitor answers, such as allergy warnings or site-specific risks?
- Does the platform enforce a contractor induction and check-in workflow that requires acknowledgement of site rules before access is granted?
- Can the system generate a real-time evacuation report accessible from any authorised device, rather than being locked to a single kiosk?
- Does the system include an offline / disconnected mode to maintain site occupancy records if the internet connection drops?
- Can the system collect custom data required by regulatory bodies, such as specific customs information for warehouse visitors?
Time and People: Visitor Management That Works When It Has To
For over 12 years, we have helped organisations across Australia and the United States convert compliance obligations into working infrastructure through cloud-connected visitor management and real-time evacuation reporting. We’ve found that the most effective systems, such as those we implemented for The Good Guys, use custom entry and exit questions to verify exactly what contractors achieved on site. We focus on the technology that ensures every person gets home safely.
Content prepared by Time and People — visitor and contractor management across Australia and the United States.