Afternoon all, I am quite interested in installing an in / out board in our office to keep track of our consultants as they come and leave. I cannot just rely on my fire marshals (who are office based) making note of when they come and leave when it comes to performing a roll call in the event of a fire; similarly we have trailed an paper based fire register where the consultants would physically have to sign to say they were in and sign out when they leave (like a visitor book) but it just never got completed and was an absolute nightmare to try and police. One of my colleagues has suggested an in/out board. Does anyone have any experience of these and could you let me know how effective they are? Also, I can only find one on the www with space for 40 names. We have 82 employees, so without the need to buy 2, I wondered if anyone could perhaps let me know where I could get my hands on a larger version? Many thanks in advance.

Don't do a roll call at all. Get your fire marshals to sweep the building and make sure it is clear. If no-one is left inside then you know everyone is out. Whatever method of recording you use for a roll call there will always be someone who forgets to sign in / clock in / swipe in and you will never be quite certain you took account of the person who may or may not have popped down the road for a sandwich.

I agree with Heather. Tried similar thing but never worked as people were off sick, holiday or at lunch and would forget to update the Board. Best to use the sweep/all clear method in my experience.

Few years ago, a new MD insisted on having an in/out board for the office staff, approx 20 who did not have to clock in/out like those working shifts in production. It was located next to the main entrance door and hung so that it could be removed and carried outside for a roll call. All his idea, which he was very proud of. However the first time it was used in a fire drill, when the in/out board was checked, it showed everyone to be out ! The slides that move to show in/out had all slid to show everyone as being out while being carried to the assembly point.

jfw's tale above struck me as very amusing when I first read it - perhaps I was feeling more risible than usual at the time. Also, I wondered if anyone also had to unplug/lift out the clocking in/out machine used by the production employees! :-) Also this thread might be considered quite unusual on this forum because of the unanimity of responses so far. I'll extend the unanimity with my opinion that in/out boards are ineffective because they depend on people bothering/remembering to use them. It's far better to have a system of persons trained to 'sweep and report'. 'Sweep and report' applies equally at schools, especially secondary schools. Though schools complete attendance registers at the start of each school day, the registers are not wholly reliable for roll call purposes after fire evacuations because some pupils - and employees - will leave school sites for various valid reasons during the school day. Also, for most schools, there's no signing out/de-registration system at the end of each formal teaching day: Employees and also numerous pupils can remain on site for all sorts of reasons related to after-school clubs, sports fixtures, etc.

Graham, nobody had to unplug the clocking in/out machine. Its a 30 year old mechanical one that prints the time on card. The system is simple, the cards in the racks to the left of the machine are for people who are out and the cards in the rack to the right of the machine are in. The "in" rack was simply lifted off and taken to the assembly point. This system worked very well and was 100% accurate, simply because if they did not use it they did not get paid.