No New Zealand law sets a retention period for a visitor book or a site sign in record. The periods come from the other records a sign in can form part of. The Privacy Act runs the other way and limits how long you may hold it.
Search the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 for a rule about sign in sheets and there is nothing there. The Act sets duties about managing risk and leaves the paperwork to the site. Retention turns up in four other places, and a sign in record can be caught by any of them depending on what the record is used for. Principle 9 of the Privacy Act 2020 sets a ceiling on top of those.
| Record | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Record of a notifiable event | At least 5 years from the date notice is given to the regulator | Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, s 57 |
| Holiday and leave record | Not less than 6 years from the date the information is entered | Holidays Act 2003, s 81(4) |
| Health monitoring report | 30 years, or 40 years where the monitoring is to detect asbestos related disease | General Risk and Workplace Management Regulations 2016, reg 42 |
| Exposure to a money claim | 6 years from the act or omission, 3 years from a late knowledge date, 15 year longstop | Limitation Act 2010, s 11 |
| Personal information generally | No longer than is required for the purposes for which it may lawfully be used | Privacy Act 2020, principle 9 |
This page is general information about New Zealand law and is not legal advice. Links to the legislation are at the bottom of the page.
Section 57 requires the record of each notifiable event to be kept for at least 5 years from the date notice is given to the regulator. Who was on site, when they arrived and when they left sits behind the names in that record.
If staff sign in and out and those times are used for pay or leave, the entries can form part of the holiday and leave record. That record has to be kept for not less than 6 years.
A money claim can be filed up to 6 years after the act or omission it is based on, with 3 years from a late knowledge date and a 15 year longstop. A record deleted at 2 years is not available for any of that.
Principle 9 of the Privacy Act 2020 reads: an agency that holds personal information must not keep that information for longer than is required for the purposes for which the information may lawfully be used.
A site sign in record holds names, usually a phone number, often a company and sometimes a vehicle registration. Principle 9 is aimed at holding personal information with no end date because storage is cheap. Decide the period, state it in your privacy statement, and delete on that schedule.
Regulation 14 of the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 requires a PCBU to prepare, maintain and implement an emergency plan. The plan has to provide for an effective response to an emergency, evacuation procedures, notifying emergency services at the earliest opportunity, medical treatment and assistance, and effective communication between the person the PCBU authorises to coordinate the emergency response and all other persons at the workplace.
No part of that names a register, a sign in sheet or a headcount. A site that cannot say who is inside the fence has a harder time showing it can communicate with all other persons at the workplace. How each site closes that gap is left to the site. Buildings that require an approved evacuation scheme under the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017 carry their own scheme obligations on top.
The record duty sits in section 57. It requires the record of a notifiable event to exist for at least five years from notification, and who was on site that day is part of what gets asked.
No New Zealand law sets a retention period for a visitor book or a site sign in record on its own. The periods come from the other records a sign in can form part of. A record of a notifiable event must be kept for at least 5 years under section 57 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. A holiday and leave record must be kept for not less than 6 years under section 81(4) of the Holidays Act 2003. A money claim can be filed up to 6 years after the act or omission it is based on under section 11 of the Limitation Act 2010. Running the other way, principle 9 of the Privacy Act 2020 says personal information must not be kept for longer than is required for the purposes for which it may lawfully be used.
No regulation requires a visitor register. Regulation 14 of the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 requires an emergency plan that provides for evacuation procedures and for effective communication between the person the PCBU authorises to coordinate the emergency response and all other persons at the workplace. How a site meets that is left to the site. A register is one way of knowing who is there.
At least 5 years from the date on which notice of the event is given to the regulator. That is section 57 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and it covers the record of each notifiable event including the prescribed particulars.
Principle 9 of the Privacy Act 2020 says an agency that holds personal information must not keep it for longer than is required for the purposes for which the information may lawfully be used. A sign in record holds names and often phone numbers, so keeping it with no end date and no stated purpose does not sit well with principle 9. Set a period, put it in the privacy statement, and delete on that schedule.
Only where they are used as employment records. If staff or workers sign in and out and those times feed pay or leave, the entries can form part of the holiday and leave record under section 81 of the Holidays Act 2003, which must be kept for not less than 6 years. Section 81(5) allows that record to be kept as part of the wages and time record under section 130 of the Employment Relations Act 2000. A contractor sign in that is never used for pay does not become an employment record.
Read on 18 September 2026.
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