Australian work health and safety law places a duty on the person conducting a business or undertaking, and that duty extends to people who are not your employees. Visitors and contractors are in scope. This guide sets out what that means for the records you keep at the front desk, without pretending to be legal advice.
What the guide covers
1Who the duty covers
- Workers, including contractors and their employees
- Visitors and other people at the workplace
- Shared duties where more than one business controls the same site
- Officers, who have a separate due diligence duty
2What that means at the front desk
- Know who is on site, including people who are not your employees
- Provide site-specific safety information on arrival, and record that you did
- Record inductions for contractors against the version they were shown
- Be able to account for everyone in an emergency, from outside the building
3Where multi-site Australian organisations struggle
- Different processes at each site, so evidence is inconsistent across the portfolio
- Contractors tracked in a separate book from visitors, or not at all
- No central view when the question is asked at head office
- Records held on a device at reception with no retention rule
4Privacy sits alongside safety
- Visitor records are personal information and fall under Australian privacy obligations
- Collect what you need for the safety purpose, and be able to say why
- Set a retention period rather than keeping records indefinitely
- Know where the data is stored, and be able to answer that question
Frequently asked questions
Do Australian WHS duties apply to visitors?
Yes. The primary duty of care under the model work health and safety laws is owed to workers and to other people at the workplace, which includes visitors and contractors. The duty is to ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable, and knowing who is on site is a practical part of meeting it. This is general information rather than legal advice, so confirm what applies to your jurisdiction and sector.
Are visitor records personal information in Australia?
Yes. Names, contact details, vehicle details and photographs collected at reception are personal information and attract privacy obligations alongside the safety obligations. In practice that means collecting only what the safety purpose requires, setting a retention period, and being able to say where the data is held.
Does every Australian state use the same WHS laws?
Most jurisdictions have adopted the model WHS laws, but not identically, and Victoria operates under its own occupational health and safety framework. If you run sites in more than one state, confirm the requirements for each rather than assuming a single national standard.
What visitor records should an Australian site keep?
A practical baseline is who arrived, which company they represent, when they arrived and left, who hosted them, and confirmation that they received site safety information. For contractors, add the induction record and the version they were shown.
Visitor management
The records in this pack, captured automatically
Everything above is easier to evidence when sign-in, induction and departure land in one system rather than a book at reception.
- Contractors signed in against their company, not just a name
- Inductions recorded against the version the person saw
- A live on-site list that works on a phone at the muster point
- Searchable records with a retention period you set
See visitor managementSee it working on your own sites
HybridHero runs desks, meeting rooms, visitors, contractors and parking on one platform, with 24/7 real human support.
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