The International Organization for Standardization explains that ISO 45001 is designed to help organisations create safer working environments and reduce workplace risks. ISO notes that ISO 27001 provides globally recognised best practice for managing sensitive information and ensuring robust access control.
Modern organisations face a landscape in which safety, security and data protection are tightly connected to reputation and operational continuity. International standards such as ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety and ISO 27001 for information security provide frameworks that guide organisations toward best practice, but those frameworks require practical, repeatable processes on the ground. One of the most overlooked but critically important processes is visitor management: the way people arrive, are checked in, move through premises and are recorded. Paper logbooks and ad-hoc spreadsheets are increasingly incompatible with today’s expectations for risk control, auditability and privacy. A properly implemented digital visitor management system gives organisations the tools they need to demonstrate control, record keeping and process integrity — all of which map directly to the intent behind ISO 45001 and ISO 27001.
ISO 45001 is fundamentally about identifying and controlling risks to people, whether they are employees, contractors, visitors or members of the public. One of the first questions that standard asks an organisation is: do you know who is on site, and can you reliably account for them in the event of an incident? Paper sign-in sheets fail that test because they depend on human behaviour, are prone to omissions, and are not accessible in real time from remote locations. Digital visitor logs, by contrast, produce time-stamped, auditable records that update immediately when someone signs in or out. That immediate visibility matters during evacuations, lockdowns or medical responses because it gives safety managers an accurate, current roll-call without having to gather physical paperwork from reception desks. In other words, the system provides situational awareness that helps reduce risk and supports the core occupational safety outcomes ISO 45001 aims to secure.
ISO 27001 is about protecting information assets and ensuring appropriate access control and data handling. While many teams think of this as a purely IT issue, physical access control and visitor records are part of the physical security layer that ISO 27001 requires organisations to manage. A paper visitor book exposes names and contact details to anyone standing at reception and provides no access controls or encryption, creating an information security gap. Digital visitor management systems like Digigreet store personal information securely, restrict viewing rights to authorised staff only and keep full audit trails showing who accessed which records and when. That capability aligns directly with ISO 27001’s emphasis on access control, data integrity and traceability. Organisations preparing for ISO 27001 audits can therefore use digital visitor records as part of their evidence package to demonstrate that they have effective controls for managing personal data and controlling physical entry. According to guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office, organisations must protect personal data through controlled access, secure storage, and clear retention policies.
Beyond the basic record keeping, modern digital systems enable practical controls that ISO auditors expect to see. For example, many organisations have contractors on site who need to be authorised, escorted or verified before they begin work. ISO 45001 requires that third-party activities that introduce risks be managed and controlled. A digital visitor system like Digigreet can integrate permit-to-work checks, pre-registration workflows and mandatory safety briefings into the sign-in process so that contractors cannot bypass safety requirements. They will only be given access once the admin has approved these important documents. These tools generate proof that the organisation required the necessary documentation, presented safety instructions and recorded the contractor’s acknowledgement, creating the kind of documentary trail auditors look for when assessing compliance with occupational safety requirements.
Another important contribution of a digital visitor system is the capacity to implement and evidence consistent data retention policies. Both ISO 27001 and data protection law expect organisations to avoid retaining personal data for longer than necessary. Paper records are difficult to purge reliably: they accumulate, become archived in boxes or are simply left in binders. A configurable digital system like Digigreet enforces retention rules automatically, deleting or anonymising visitor records after a defined period and providing logs that show when deletion occurred. That solves two problems at once; it reduces the risk of unnecessary data exposure and it supplies auditors with precise records of how the organisation manages data lifecycle — a clear alignment with ISO expectations for documented process and risk mitigation.
Emergency preparedness is another area where visitor management systems demonstrate direct value against ISO requirements. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and many guidance notes emphasise the need to account for all persons on site during an evacuation. ISO 45001 likewise expects organisations to have effective procedures for emergency response. The UK Health and Safety Executive emphasises the legal duty to protect everyone on site, including contractors and visitors, through effective risk management. Digigreet keeps a live, accessible list of everyone who is currently signed in and can show the locations or zones they are authorised to access. During drills or real events, authorised staff can use a mobile device to retrieve the latest roll-call, compare it to expected attendees and identify anyone missing. This real-time capability shortens the time needed for head counts and reduces reliance on memory or manual searching through paper books that may be scattered around reception points.
Controlled physical access also plays into information security responsibilities under ISO 27001. Server rooms, secure offices and areas that host confidential meetings must be restricted to authorised personnel only. Traditional visitor management often relies on human intervention to enforce these restrictions, but human processes are fallible. Digigreet allows organisations to define zones, issue temporary passes, and control movement through gates and doors either directly or via integrations with access control hardware. This systematic control reduces the chances of unauthorised access and provides the evidence trail that security auditors require. The combination of precise records and enforceable zone restrictions supports the layered security approach recommended by ISO 27001 for protecting information assets.
Operationally, digital visitor logs also improve the way organisations run day-to-day business. Reception teams save time because the system handles check-in, badge printing, host notification and sign-out reminders, allowing staff to focus on higher-value tasks such as welcoming guests or managing incidents. From an ISO perspective, reducing the number of manual interventions lowers the likelihood of human error — an important factor in risk reduction. Automations like pre-registration or QR-based check-in make it simpler to handle large groups arriving at once for interviews, training sessions or events, and they help avoid bottlenecks that might otherwise compromise safety or data accuracy.
Digigreet provides functionality that supports consistent and demonstrable compliance in multi-site or multi-tenant settings where local variations in policy might otherwise create gaps. Organisations operating across multiple buildings or countries can standardise visitor processes centrally and still allow site-level adjustments where required. This capability is important for ISO audits because auditors expect evidence that an organisation has a consistent approach where appropriate and documented exceptions where necessary. The centralised control of configurations, retention policies and access rules available in contemporary visitor management platforms helps fulfil this requirement by enabling a consistent governance model across the organisation.
Health and safety culture benefits from visible, enforced processes, and Digigreet contributes to that culture. When visitors and contractors are required to confirm that they have read site safety notes or acknowledged PPE requirements during sign-in, the organisation creates measurable compliance at the point of entry. Those acknowledgements are recorded, time-stamped and retrievable on demand. This helps show consistent enforcement of safety standards and can be crucial in post-incident investigations where the presence or absence of safety briefings could materially impact findings. Recording such confirmations in a single, secure system also avoids disputes about what was communicated and when.
Another dimension that links visitor management to ISO standards is audit readiness. ISO audits are document-heavy and rely on evidence that procedures are not only designed but are actually followed. Digital visitor logs remove ambiguity from that process. Instead of piecing together evidence from disparate sources or relying on recollection, auditors can be shown detailed logs that demonstrate consistent, repeatable processes: who signed in, who approved a contractor, who reviewed safety documents and when data was purged according to retention policy. For organisations seeking to become certified, or simply to operate in line with ISO principles, this level of evidence significantly reduces the time and effort needed to prepare for assessments.
Data security is increasingly about processes as much as technology. ISO 27001 requires a systematic approach to information risk that addresses people, processes and IT. Visitor management systems bridge these domains because they manage the human element of physical access while providing IT-centric controls for data protection. Encryption of stored records, secure transmission channels, role-based access to reports and an immutable audit trail are technical measures that support the organisational controls required by ISO 27001. At the same time, mapping visitor processes back to documented policies and training sessions ensures that the human and procedural elements of the standard are covered.
When considering implementation, it is also important to think about integration. ISO auditors often look favourably on organisations that demonstrate coherent toolchains rather than isolated point solutions. A visitor management system that integrates with access control hardware, HR systems, facilities management tools and emergency notification platforms creates a connected environment where records and events are correlated. This integration supports the continuous improvement ethos of ISO: data from visitor flows can be used to identify bottlenecks, to refine emergency plans and to inform risk assessments. A connected system therefore not only helps you meet the standards today but gives you the data to make evidence-based improvements over time.
While digital solutions bring many benefits, it is also essential to emphasise proper configuration and governance. An organisation must define its retention periods, role permissions and zone policies and then document these choices as part of its ISO evidence pack. It should also maintain records of administrative access and change control so auditors can see that the security of the system itself is actively managed. Those governance activities are as important as the technical solution, because ISO compliance evaluates how well the organisation governs the tools it uses.
Schools and educational settings deserve special attention because they combine high footfall, vulnerable populations and regulatory scrutiny. For schools, the ability to pre-register visitors, verify DBS or contractor documentation, and deliver safeguarding notices during check-in is more than convenient; it is a critical component of statutory obligations. Digigreet provides a secure, auditable way to demonstrate that only authorised adults are admitted, that they have been made aware of site rules and that evacuation procedures can account for visitors and staff reliably. This level of control aligns with both safeguarding guidance and the safety-focused aspects of ISO 45001, even when schools are not pursuing formal ISO certification.
Conclusion
Bringing all these elements together, it becomes clear that Digigreet is no longer a convenience — it is a structural requirement for any organisation seeking to operate safely, transparently and in line with recognised international standards. ISO 45001 demands strong control of occupational health and safety risks, and ISO 27001 requires rigorous protection of sensitive information and strict management of physical access. Throughout this article, we’ve seen how visitor logs, automated compliance checks, evacuation-ready reporting, access restrictions, data retention rules and auditable records all map directly onto those obligations. Digital systems solve practical problems that paper logbooks and manual processes simply cannot address, such as real-time visibility, multi-site policy consistency, secure data handling and verifiable evidence trails. Ultimately, strong visitor management becomes a backbone for both safety and information security — two areas that define operational credibility in modern workplaces.
This is exactly why DigiGreet is such a strong fit for organisations aiming to follow ISO 45001 and ISO 27001 frameworks. Rather than offering a rigid, one-size-fits-all solution, DigiGreet provides a configurable platform that can adapt to the specific needs of any environment — from corporate headquarters to schools, manufacturing sites, multi-tenant offices and high-security facilities. Features such as custom zones, contractor document verification, automated fire roll calls, safety briefing pop-ups, controlled access, data retention automation and encrypted visitor records allow organisations to build a system that mirrors their real-life processes. DigiGreet reduces manual workload, removes inconsistencies, and ensures that every visitor, contractor or temporary worker goes through the same structured, compliant flow. For ISO readiness, that kind of consistency and auditability is invaluable: DigiGreet gives organisations the ability to demonstrate not only that procedures exist, but that they are followed every single day.
Most importantly, DigiGreet is designed to support both universal and site-specific requirements — a balance ISO frameworks strongly encourage. Every organisation benefits from GDPR-compliant data handling, secure record storage, safety note acknowledgements and emergency roll-call capabilities. But DigiGreet also allows additional layers to be added only where needed, such as contractor permit checks, custom induction questions, unmanned reception capability, multi-building visibility or zone-restricted access. This flexibility ensures that each workplace can achieve the right balance of control, efficiency and user experience without compromising security or safety. Whether an organisation is actively pursuing ISO certification or simply wants to align with best practice, DigiGreet becomes a direct enabler of those goals by providing clear evidence, structured processes and reliable controls. In every sense, it helps organisations work smarter, safer and more professionally — making it the ideal partner for any business committed to high standards. Why not book a free demo with Digigreet today?