Meeting regulatory obligations and proving compliance starts with knowing who is on-site. Download this whitepaper to read how WhosOnLocation can give your organization the tools to show regulatory compliance on-demand, and avoid legal liability. Find out what is wrong with paper-based visitor management, and how to update your systems.

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Key insights
and reasons to
implement visitor
management

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Contents
Introduction 3
Five reasons to implement a system 4

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Introduction
In most countries knowing who is on-site is a matter of compliance
as well as good practice for managing evacuations in an emergency.
Having a guest book, guest sheet, or a PC-based guest label printer
doesn’t mean you’re compliant. You need to consider all the
implications when looking for a people management solution.
Learning from experience
The founder and CEO of WhosOnLocation has visited many customers and sites
all over the world. They range from; corporate offices, warehouses, manufacturing plants,
storage facilities, government departments, universities, branch offices, retail outlets,
wind farms, and dams. Darren has waited at many security gates and reception areas for
his host and has great insights of how organizations manage
their guest experience.
From these experiences, he’s discovered most organizations use one of the following
processes:
2 out of 10 did nothing: The receptionist asks who he’s visiting and advises him
to take a seat while they track down the host.
2 out of 10 have sign-in: The reception or security gate team have him sign a
guest sheet on a clipboard, assume he is who he is, and asks him to take a seat
while they track down the host.
3 out of 10 have branded sign-in books: The reception or security gate team have
him sign their paper-based sign-in book/register, assume he is who he is, and asks
him to take a seat while they track down the host.
1 out of 10 have a phone host register: There is no receptionist or security gate and he’s
directed by a ‘Sign’ to look up the extension number of his host (normally printed on a
laminated sheet hanging beside a phone) and to call them to announce his arrival.
1 out of 10 have a guest label printer: Some organizations have purchased a label printer
to issue guests with personalized guest labels.

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Five reasons to
implement a system
1. You need to have a record of who is at your site
Organizations throughout the world are obligated under various Acts and
Regulations to ensure the safety of people while on-site. Unless you have a
robust process for reporting on non-staff presence in real-time, it’s difficult
to demonstrate compliance.
From our own experiences we’re seeing an increase in global demand for
comprehensive, on-demand reporting about who is on-site at all locations.
Even if regulatory compliance is not an issue for your firm, avoiding legal
liability is. Failure to provide a safe workplace is a lot harder to prove if a
company has taken reasonable steps to provide access and visit or control.
Consider the following when looking for a visitor management solution
• Do you have a robust process for reporting on non-staff presence
in real-time?
• Does your organization ask guests to prove who they are?
What credentials are considered acceptable? What action is
taken for exceptions?
• Does your organization have a ‘banned’ items list? If a guest has
a ‘banned’ item, how is it dealt with?
• What zones or areas of the site can a guest access? Will an escort
be required for other areas?
• Are you required to record if the guest needs assistance to
evacuate the site?
• Who is responsible for escorting a guest from the site in the event
of an emergency?
• Can employees pre-register a guest or must they be approved
by a line manager first?
• Does your evacuation plan include tracking of guests?
• Does your organization operate in an environment that may
expose guests to hazards?
• Are you breaching any privacy laws by using a paper-based
system that allows other guests to see other guest records?

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Five reasons to
implement a system
(continued)
2. Your guest information should be confidential
Often overlooked is the privacy of your guests and contractors. A hardcopy
guest book is an invaluable source of information. A glance at any page
can tell quite a story about the deals a company is pursuing or what
competitors may be bidding on a job. In the case of a multi-tenant facility,
these privacy concerns can create a real liability for the landlord that can
outweigh the need for security.
By using an electronic visitor management system your guest is only
seeing their own details. Keeping all other information confidential.
3. A guest book is inefficient and looks unprofessional
When was the last time you looked at your guest book? Are all the names
legible? Are all the fields filled in? How about the arrival and departure times?
If your procedure calls for verifying identity with a driver’s license, can you
prove the procedure was followed? What about the logs themselves? Do you
know where all old logs are? Has anyone “accidentally” removed a page? Are
there back-up copies off-site? Are you gathering all the data you require, or
are you limited by the log you use and the time it takes to fill it out?
How long does it take you to search through the data to find the entries
you need?
If you are not sure about the answers to any of these questions, stop
and think about the risk to your company if an incident does occur.
An electronic visitor management solution can solve all of these issues.

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Five reasons to
implement a system
(continued)
4. Your guests are your customers
A key reason companies are moving to visitor management solutions is the
impression it makes on their customers. The kiosk and/or the badges look
professional. And the guest experience leaves the right impression.
Having the capability to allow the guest to self-register is another feature
that many visitor management solutions have. Even if it’s followed up with an
ID verification and printing a badge, the overall process will be faster
and more reliable.
In the event of an emergency, it’s your responsibility to ensure that
all employees and guests are safe. Guests represent a significant issue
since they’ll have no idea what the proper evacuation procedures are.
Additionally, you need to ensure no guests remain inside with your
assets while they are unsupervised.
While guests can be accounted for using a paper log, the log must be
available at marshalling points outside, and the information it contains
must be correct. Both assumptions are easier to accomplish with an
electronic visitor management solution.
5. So much more than logging your guests in
Visitor management solutions have capabilities far beyond those of
the paper log, and those features can make an enormous difference in
your overall security. Take for example, the ability for staff to pre-register
guests. This capability is becoming very popular in the government and
corporate sector. It allows reception or security to ‘view’ a list of who is due
on-site that day. If it is the policy of your organization to pre-authorize all
guests, pre-registration capability by staff is crucial and impossible with
a guest log book.
Logging meetings, dates and attendees can also be very useful in disputes
over intellectual property. In the case of manufacturing or process plants,
executing a general release helps the company avoid liability for accidents
by making it clear the guest knew the risks of being on premises. If your
company is like many that I visit, maybe it’s time to have another look at
the way you manage guests. Not only can you improve security, make
your investigations easier and lower your risk, but you have a real chance
to enhance your company’s image with its customers.

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About
WhosOnLocation
WhosOnLocation is the leading provider of proven,
cloud-based people presence management software.
We service clients around the world including the government,
manufacturing, financial services, corporate, utilities, energy,
construction, health, high–security, and education sectors.
Victoria ArmstrongDarren Whitaker–Barnett
International contact
+64 (0)4 891 0886
+64 (0)27 4282 987
victoria@whosonlocation.com
@WhosOnLocation
+64 (0)4 891 0886
+64 (0)21 241 7169
darren@whosonlocation.com
@WhosOnLocation
Operations SenseiTrusted Advisor to Customers
1800 501 1761
0808 189 1412
800 387 7031
1300 106 541
04 891 0886
White Paper