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Fire roll call sheet for construction sites
When the alarm goes, the only question that matters is whether everyone is at the assembly point. A roll call is how you answer it, and it is only as good as your list of who was on site. Here is a sheet you can print, what the regulations expect, and how firms keep the count honest on a busy site.
Updated
What the regulations expect
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 require suitable and sufficient arrangements for dealing with foreseeable emergencies, including evacuation and the means to account for people: regulation 30 on emergency procedures, with regulation 29 on fire detection and fire fighting and regulation 31 on emergency routes and exits. HSE's guidance for the industry, HSG168 Fire safety in construction, spells out what that means in practice: a fire plan, assembly points, trained fire marshals, and a way to know who is on site so a roll call can be taken.
For an occupied building being refurbished, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 also applies and puts the duty on the responsible person. Either way, the person running the site needs to be able to say, within minutes, who is missing.
What is on the sheet
One line per person: name, company or trade, time in, and a box to tick when they are seen at the assembly point, with the time. A header for the site, the assembly point, the date, the time the alarm was raised and the fire marshal's name. At the bottom, the numbers the fire service will ask for first: how many present, how many unaccounted for, and where each missing person was last seen.
Keep the sheet with the fire plan at the assembly point. A roll call sheet kept in the site cabin is no use when the cabin is what is on fire.
How to run the roll call
The roll call is a comparison between two lists: who signed in today and who is standing in front of you. The first list is the weak one on most sites. A sign-in book is only accurate if everyone also signs out, including the delivery driver and the client's architect. Appoint one fire marshal per area, have each report their count, and do the count twice before you tell the fire service anyone is missing.
Rehearse it. A drill once a quarter, with the real sheet, finds the gaps: the subcontractor who never signs in, the gate that stays open, the assembly point that is on the wrong side of the crane.
Where paper fails
On a site with eighty people from six companies, the sign-in book is usually wrong by lunchtime. People sign in and do not sign out, or sign in for a colleague. The roll call then starts from a list that overstates who is on site, and the fire marshal spends ten minutes looking for someone who went home at eleven.
The app alternative
Obrelier already knows who is on site, because everyone clocked in with the app and the clock-in was checked against the site boundary. Starting an evacuation from the site page sends the alert to every phone with the assembly point on screen; each worker confirms they are safe with one tap, and the foreman sees the list of who has not, with where each phone was last seen. The printed sheet stays in the fire plan as the backup for the day the signal is down.
Download
- Fire roll call sheet, A4 PDF
Print a few and keep them with the fire plan at the assembly point, not in the site cabin.
Sources
Know who is on site before the alarm
Thirty minutes on a real job: who is on site, what is running low, and what the office sees. Pick a slot that suits you.
FAQ
Is a roll call legally required on a construction site?
CDM 2015 requires emergency procedures that are suitable for the site, and HSE guidance expects those procedures to include a way of accounting for everyone. A roll call at the assembly point is the normal way of meeting that, so in practice yes.
Who counts visitors and delivery drivers?
Anyone on site is on the list. The gate or site office signs visitors in and out, and the fire marshal for that area includes them in the count. It is the group most often forgotten in drills.
How often should we drill?
HSG168 expects evacuation procedures to be tested; many principal contractors drill every quarter and after any major change to the site layout. Record the drill and what went wrong.
Is this legal advice?
No. This page summarises the regulations and HSE guidance as at 26 October 2026, with links to the sources. Your fire risk assessment and the principal contractor's fire plan govern your site.
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