An evacuation is the one moment where your attendance data has to be right, immediately, on a phone, outside the building. Most workplaces discover the gaps during the drill. This checklist is built around the question you have to answer at the muster point: is anyone still inside.
What is in the checklist
1Before you can run a roll call
- Know who is expected on site today, including hybrid staff who booked a desk
- Know who actually arrived, which is not the same list
- Include contractors and visitors, not just employees
- Make sure the list is reachable without the building network or a desktop
- Nominate who pulls the list, and who does it when that person is away
2At the muster point
- Work from a live list, not one exported that morning
- Account for people by area or floor, so you can direct a search
- Separate staff, contractors and visitors, because the follow-up differs
- Record who has been accounted for as you go, rather than from memory
- Have a way to mark someone as accounted for from a second muster point
3People who need extra planning
- Anyone with a personal emergency evacuation plan, and who is assigned to assist
- Lone workers and anyone in a plant room or restricted area
- Contractors mid-task who cannot stop immediately, and how you know they exist
- Visitors whose host has already left the building
4After the drill, which is where the value is
- Record how long the roll call took, and where the delay was
- Note anyone unaccounted for, and why the list was wrong
- Check whether the list included contractors, and fix it if not
- Repeat with the person who covers when the fire marshal is away
Frequently asked questions
What is a roll call in a fire evacuation?
A roll call is the process of accounting for everyone who was in the building once they reach the muster point. It answers one question: is anyone still inside. It only works if the list of who was in the building is accurate and reachable from outside the building.
How do you account for contractors during an evacuation?
Contractors must appear on the same live list as staff and visitors, ideally grouped by their company so you can contact a site supervisor. Sites that track contractors in a separate book, or not at all, usually discover the gap during a drill when nobody can say how many were on site.
How do you run a roll call for hybrid workers?
Desk bookings tell you who intended to be in, but attendance tells you who actually arrived. A roll call needs the second. In practice that means a sign-in signal, whether from a kiosk, a badge, or a check-in on arrival, rather than relying on the booking alone.
How often should evacuation drills be run?
Frequency is set by your local regulations and your fire risk assessment rather than by software, so check what applies to your building and sector. What matters operationally is that the drill tests the roll call itself, including on a day when the usual fire marshal is not there.
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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