How to run an evacuation roll-call for visitors and contractors

Published 29 September 2026 · Avantix Innovation

Why visitors and contractors are the hard part

Employees usually have a department head who knows who came to work. Visitors and contractors don't. They are in unfamiliar areas, they may not know the assembly point, and on paper nobody knows whether they have already left.

Before the alarm

• Keep the onsite list accurate. Check-out matters as much as check-in. Follow up on overstays.
• Record zones. Know which area each visitor or contractor was going to.
• Brief them at entry. The induction or house rules should say where the assembly point is.
• Name the marshals. Decide who takes the roll-call for which zone, and make sure they can reach the list from their phones.

During the evacuation

1. Start the roll-call from the list of everyone checked in at that moment.
2. Each marshal marks the people in their zone as safe or missing.
3. Call anyone missing using the phone number on their record.
4. Report the missing names to the emergency response team.

After the drill

• Keep a report of who was marked safe, by whom and when.
• Note how long it took to account for everyone, and what slowed it down.
• Fix the gaps: missing check-outs, wrong zones, marshals without access.

Paper list or digital roll-call?

Follow your own emergency response plan and the requirements of the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (Bomba) for your premises. In SitePass, the evacuation roll-call works the way described above; the list refreshes every 15 seconds.

Written by the SitePass team at Avantix Innovation Sdn. Bhd., Penang. SitePass is our product, so we mention it where it fits; the advice applies whatever system you use.