Evacuation, HSE and NDA at Check-In: Digital Control in Reception

The fire alarm goes off. You have 90 seconds to evacuate the building. The question people ask outside: is everyone out? For many businesses, the answer is no. A digital visitor system doesn't just give you the evacuation list you need – it also lets you document that every visitor has read and accepted your HSE rules and any non-disclosure agreement (NDA) already at check-in.

What does HSE regulation require?

The Norwegian Internal Control Regulations (Internkontrollforskriften) require all Norwegian businesses to have systems in place to safeguard health, safety and the environment (HSE). Part of this is emergency preparedness – including evacuation, and similar duties apply across the EU/EEA under national health and safety legislation. There's no explicit requirement to use a digital system, but the requirement to have an overview of who is in the building is clear.

Section 4-4 of the Norwegian Working Environment Act (arbeidsmiljøloven) requires employers to ensure that employees can leave the workplace in the event of danger, and that the necessary personnel are available. In practice, this means you need a reliable list of who is in the building – including visitors – so that whoever is responsible for HSE can confirm that everyone has been evacuated.

The problem with paper-based overview during an evacuation

Consider the typical scenario: the alarm goes off. Whoever is responsible for HSE runs to reception, tears out the last page of the visitor book, and rushes outside. Out there, they try to read faint handwriting in the rain, while evacuated people gather at different exits. It's impossible to know whether every visitor who signed in is actually still in the building – or whether some never registered at all.

This isn't a hypothetical scenario. It's the reality for most Norwegian businesses that still use paper-based visitor registration.

How digital evacuation overview works

A digital visitor system like Gjestin solves this systematically. Everyone who checks in – visitors and, if you choose, employees – is registered in the system in real time. When they leave the building, they check out and disappear from the list. What remains on the list is exactly who is inside right now.

Gjestin Advanced has a dedicated evacuation feature that makes this even easier:

• Opens directly in the mobile browser – no app required
• Shows a complete list of everyone checked in, with name and time
• Works offline (cached locally) so it doesn't depend on the internet connection indoors
• Whoever is responsible for HSE can tick off who has been evacuated directly on the screen

Who is responsible for visitors' safety?

It's a question many ask themselves: are we actually responsible for visitors during an evacuation? The answer is yes. Employers have a general duty to safeguard the safety of everyone on the business's premises – including visitors, suppliers and repair technicians. This follows from ordinary negligence liability and fire safety legislation.

Insurance companies take this into account too. If you can document a solid system for visitor registration and evacuation, it helps lower your risk profile and can have a positive effect on your insurance premium.

Integration with employee lists via Microsoft 365

For a full evacuation overview, you should have visibility into both visitors and employees. Gjestin Advanced integrates with Microsoft 365 and syncs the employee list automatically. You can configure the system so employees also check in on arrival – particularly useful in open-plan offices or coworking spaces where not everyone is on-site every day.

With both lists integrated, you have one simple place to check during an evacuation: who is in, and who is out.

Documentation after an incident

A digital system automatically gives you documentation that can be important after an emergency. You can pull up a complete log of who was inside at a given time, which can be decisive for:

• Investigations of workplace accidents
• Insurance claims
• Inspections by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority (Arbeidstilsynet) or the fire authorities
• Internal reviews of emergency procedures

Digital HSE and NDA signing at check-in

A natural extension of HSE work is making sure visitors have actually read and accepted your safety information before they move into the building. Many businesses hand out paper forms, or assume it's enough to put up a poster. Neither approach gives you documentation.

With Gjestin Advanced, you can add your own HSE rules and/or a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) directly in the kiosk. The flow is simple:

• The visitor registers as usual via the iPad kiosk
• The HSE text is shown in a scrollable view – the visitor must read through the entire text
• The visitor can then tick a box and confirm they accept the content
• Only then is check-in completed

A copy of the text as it was at the time of acceptance is stored together with the signature. That means the declaration remains legally valid even if you update the content later. In the admin panel, you get a full overview of who has signed, when, and which version they accepted.

Evacuation and HSE – one unified platform

The evacuation feature is available in Gjestin Advanced for NOK 1,390 per month. It also includes digital HSE and NDA signing, Microsoft 365 integration, Power Automate, email notifications and a customisable theme. See the full overview of what's included in each plan, or get in touch for a demo.