Free template
A visitor sign in sheet you can print today, with the privacy line already written
A paper sheet is lawful. Most of the ones in use are not, because nobody wrote the line at the top, nobody covers the previous entries, and nobody shreds the folder. This one fixes the first two and tells you how to do the third. It is free, there is no form to fill in to get it, and we would rather you used it than a book.
Prints as three A4 sheets: visitors, contractors, and a fire roll call register. Fill in the bracketed fields before you photocopy them.
How to use it
Five habits that keep a paper sheet on the right side of the law
The sheet is the easy part. What makes a paper register lawful or not is what happens to it during the day and at the end of the month.
- Reception fills it in, the visitor signs their own line. The point of the sheet is that the visitor never reads the page. Reception writes the details, turns the sheet to them for one signature, and turns it back. Nobody sees who came yesterday.
- One sheet per day, kept in a folder, not on the counter. A sheet under a cover is not an open book. At the end of the day it goes in the folder for that month, and the folder goes in a drawer that locks.
- Write the retention period on it, and keep to it. The line at the top says how long the sheet is kept. When that date comes, the folder is shredded. Eleven years of books in a cupboard is the failure, not the paper.
- Sign people out. The time out column is the one that gets left blank and the one that matters in a fire. Whoever takes the badge back writes the time.
- Contractors get the second sheet. A contractor is a visitor who is going to do work, and the questions are different: has their RAMS been received, is a permit needed, and have they had the induction. The second sheet asks them.
- The roll call register lives with the marshal, not at reception. The third sheet is for the assembly point. It only works if the marshal has it and a copy of today’s sign in sheets in their hand when the alarm goes, which means somebody carries them out. That is the weakness of paper here, and the roll call page is honest about it.
Visitor sign in sheet
Privacy notice. [Company name] records your name, company, host, vehicle and times of arrival and departure for the security of this site and the safety of the people on it, in our legitimate interests. This sheet is kept for [retention period] and then destroyed. Reception holds our full privacy notice; ask to see it. By signing you confirm you have read the site rules and know where the fire assembly point is.
| Name | Company | Visiting | Vehicle | Time in | Time out | Rules read (sign) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reception completes the details. The visitor signs the last column only. Keep this sheet under its cover. Template from noonelite.com.
Contractor sign in sheet
Privacy notice. [Company name] records your name, company, the work you are here to do, your times of arrival and departure and the documents you have provided, for the security of this site and the safety of the people on it, in our legitimate interests. This sheet is kept for [retention period] and then destroyed. Reception holds our full privacy notice; ask to see it. By signing you confirm you have received the site induction and know where the fire assembly point is.
| Name | Company | Work and location | RAMS received | Permit no. | Induction by (initials) | Time in | Time out | Sign |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N | ||||||||
| Y / N |
Nobody starts work until RAMS is marked Y and, where the job needs one, a permit number is written. Keep this sheet under its cover. Template from noonelite.com.
Fire roll call register
Assembly point: [assembly point] Marshal: ______________________ Signed in at time of alarm: ______ Accounted for: ______ Unaccounted for: ______
Check every name on today’s visitor and contractor sheets against the people at the assembly point. Anyone not ticked is reported to the fire and rescue service on arrival, with their last known location. Nobody re-enters the building for this register or for the sheets.
| Name | Visiting / working for | Visitor / contractor / driver | Accounted for | Time | If not: last known location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
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| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ | |||||
| ☐ |
This register only works if the marshal has it, and today’s sheets, in hand outside the building. If that is the weak point at your site, read about the roll call that does not need carrying out. Template from noonelite.com.
The columns
What each column is for, and which ones you can leave out
Collect what you need and nothing else. That is the data minimisation principle, and on a sheet it means fewer columns rather than more.
- Name and companyThe minimum. A first name alone is not a record and a full address is more than you need.
- VisitingThe member of staff responsible for them while they are here. In a fire this is who knows where they went.
- VehicleOptional. Sites with a yard want it so a badly parked van can be matched to a person. If you do not need it, leave the column blank rather than collect it.
- Time in and time outBoth. The out column is the roll call.
- Rules readInitials against a statement that they have read your site rules and know the assembly point. This is the column an inspector is interested in.
- RAMS, permit, inductionContractor sheet only. Yes or no, a permit number, and the initials of whoever gave the induction. These are the three things the HSE guidance on contractors asks a host to be able to show.
- Accounted for, last seenRoll call register only. A tick when the person is at the assembly point, and where they were last known to be if they are not. The second column is what the fire and rescue service asks for on arrival.
Being straight with you
When the sheet stops being enough
We sell the thing that replaces this sheet, so you should read the next list knowing that. It is still true.
- Somebody outside the business asks you to prove it: a customer audit, an ISO assessor, an inspector after an incident. Handwriting and a folder are a poor answer to a question about a specific date.
- You have more than one door, and the goods in gate has its own sheet that nobody collects.
- The alarm goes and the folder is on the reception desk, inside the building.
- You need to find one person across three months of sheets without reading everybody else’s details on the way.
- The person who was supposed to shred the folder in March has left.
The book and UK GDPR, in fullGo digital for nothing: a QR code and Microsoft FormsThe roll call that does not need carrying outWhat the kiosk does insteadWhat it costs
Sources
Check any of this yourself
- UK GDPR Article 5, principlesMinimisation, storage limitation and security: the three principles a sheet has to meet.
- ICO, visitors to the officeThe regulator’s own visitor privacy notice, and the model for the line at the top of the sheet.
- HSE, using contractors: a brief guide (INDG368)Where the contractor sheet’s three extra columns come from.
We are not data protection lawyers and this is not legal advice. The lawful basis, the retention period and the wording are yours to decide, ideally with someone qualified.
Before you ask
The questions people ask about paper sheets
Is a paper visitor sign in sheet GDPR compliant?
It can be. Nothing in the UK GDPR requires an electronic register. What the law requires is that you collect only what you need, tell people why you are collecting it, keep it secure, and do not keep it longer than necessary. A sheet filled in by reception, kept under a cover, with a privacy line at the top and a retention date that is actually kept to, meets all four. An open book on the counter that shows the last twenty visitors to the twenty-first, kept for ever, meets none of them.
What should the privacy notice on a visitor sheet say?
Who is collecting the details, why, on what basis, how long they are kept, and where to find the full notice. For most sites the basis is legitimate interests in site security and safety, which is the same basis the ICO gives for visitors to its own offices. The line at the top of the sheet on this page is written that way; fill in the three bracketed fields and it is done.
How long should visitor sign in sheets be kept?
There is no period set in law. You decide it, write it on the sheet, and keep to it. Sites commonly choose somewhere between three months and two years, depending on whether a customer or a standard asks for longer. The wrong answer is not any particular number; it is having no number and a cupboard of folders.
Should contractors sign the same sheet as visitors?
Better not. A contractor is on site to do work, and the questions a host is expected to be able to answer about them are different: was their risk assessment and method statement received, does the job need a permit, and were they inducted. The second sheet on this page asks those. Mixing the two on one sheet means the columns are wrong for half the people on it.
Can I download this as a PDF or Word document?
Print the page, and if you want a file, choose “Save as PDF” in the print dialog: everything except the three sheets is hidden when you do, and what you save is what is on this page today. We do not host a file for these sheets, deliberately. A PDF in a downloads folder cannot be corrected once it is out of date, and the privacy wording on a visitor sheet is the kind of thing that does get corrected. The one template on this site with files is the food site health questionnaire, because its hygiene rules have to be rewritten for each site, and its Word and PDF versions are generated from the page rather than kept beside it.
What should a fire roll call register include?
The date and the time of the alarm, the assembly point, the marshal taking the count, and one line per person on site: their name, who they were visiting or working for, a tick when they are at the assembly point, and where they were last known to be if they are not. That last column is the one the fire and rescue service asks about on arrival. The register is only as good as the sign in sheets it is checked against, so it should be printed with them and kept with the marshal.
When does a sheet stop being enough?
When somebody outside the business asks you to prove what it says. A customer audit, an ISO assessor or an inspector after an incident all want a specific date, a specific person and a legible record, and they want it faster than a folder allows. The list further up this page has the other signs. Until one of them happens, the sheet is a perfectly good answer.
Also asked of sites like yours
The other things somebody may ask you to evidence
Each of these is a page about one standard, one duty or one visitor, written the same way as this one: what it actually asks for, what an iPad at reception records towards it, and where it does not help.
- GDPR and the visitor book
- CMMC physical security
- ISO 27001 visitor access
- AEO visitor access control
- BRCGS visitor control
- Fire roll call
- Contractor management
- HSE inspection records
- ISO 45001 contractor control
- Visitor health questionnaire template
- Contractor induction template
- Permit to work template
- Hot work permit template
- Fire drill record template
When you are ready
If the sheet has stopped being enough
Fifteen minutes on the phone. Tell us who has started asking you to prove things and how many doors people come through, and we will tell you straight whether a kiosk is worth your time yet.
Book a 15 minute callIf the sheet is still doing the job, keep using it. We will say so on the call.
Would rather email? [email protected]