45% of EHS pros report a visitor or contractor safety incident in the past year

A new FacilityOS and EHSLeaders survey says visitor and contractor safety remains a gap for many workplaces, with 45% of EHS professionals reporting a non-employee safety incident in the past 12 months. The findings point to paper-based tracking, slow emergency roll calls and multi-day audit prep as signs that tools and authority have not kept pace with accountability.

Why it matters: - Visitor and contractor safety is becoming a core workplace risk, not a side task. - The survey suggests many EHS teams are being held responsible for non-employee safety without the systems needed to manage it. - That gap can affect incident response, audit readiness and compliance outcomes.

What happened: - FacilityOS and EHSLeaders surveyed 114 EHS professionals in March 2026 about how organizations manage visitors, contractors and other non-employees. - 45% said their organization had a safety incident or compliance issue involving a visitor, contractor or other non-employee in the past year. - 35% said their organization received a citation, warning or fine tied to non-employees in the past three years. - Respondents came from manufacturing, chemicals, construction, utilities, warehousing, transportation and health services.

The details: - 55% said they are held accountable for visitor-related safety or compliance issues at least monthly. - 26% said that accountability happens weekly. - 40% said their organizations still use paper logbooks or sign-in sheets to check in and track non-employees. - 22% said they have no consistent tracking process at all. - 25% said they use dedicated visitor management software. - 25% said they can complete an emergency roll call in under five minutes. - 13% were unsure how long an emergency roll call takes. - More than 40% said preparing audit documentation takes multiple days or longer. - Respondents said contractor safety training is the non-employee area most often examined during audits and inspections, at 34%. - Visitor emergency procedures followed at 24%. - The report is available as EHS at the Front Door: Closing the Gaps in Visitor Safety, Compliance, and Visibility.

Between the lines: - The results point to a mismatch between responsibility and control. - Manual check-in systems can make it harder to know who is on site during an emergency. - Slow audit prep suggests records may be assembled after the fact rather than captured in a searchable system. - FacilityOS Chairman and CEO Ariel Mashiyev said accountability alone does not create control and noted that in 40% of surveyed organizations, the record of who is on site is still a sheet of paper at the front desk. - EHSLeaders editor Joe Bebon said the benchmark shows visitor management is becoming a core workplace safety and compliance issue and helps identify where organizations need stronger ownership, visibility and documentation.

What's next: - The report aims to push EHS teams toward more structured visitor and contractor management. - Organizations that still rely on paper logs may face more pressure to improve tracking, emergency roll calls and audit documentation. - FacilityOS says its platform is deployed across more than 7,000 sites worldwide and is used in manufacturing, industrial, healthcare, higher education and other mission-critical environments. - FacilityOS has offices in the United States, Canada and Europe. - EHSLeaders says it serves safety professionals with regulatory coverage, original research, webinars, podcasts and practical resources.

The bottom line: - The survey suggests many workplaces still have basic blind spots at the front door, even as non-employee safety remains squarely on EHS teams.