It is always a mystery to see people following standard operating procedures without any thought behind it. Isn’t it obvious that any procedure that we follow is meant to yield results and not supposed to be followed because it is a usual practice. But we cannot deny that many offices follow these procedures without any reasoning and just going by whatever is written in their destiny.
Similarly, we see these logbooks kept at the reception of many offices to register visitor entry and exit. This logbook contains fields like the name of the visitor, address, Phone number, the name of the host, the time in and the time out. Everyone has to go through this procedure no matter how frequently you had entered the gates. You will not be an exception even if the guard knows you very well and has seen you a thousand times.
There is no doubt that the purpose of conducting visitor management procedure through logbook registration is ensuring the safety and security of the premises by tracking down the movement of people inside the premises.
1. With all the scribbles in it, is it even legible to read?
2. How will they search for a person who had visited the premises 6 months back?
3. What is the probability of the accuracy of the information?
4. How do they track when people give fake numbers and addresses?
This system is just a myth when it cannot answer any of these above questions. The sense of security the log book provides can only be a myth and not a reality. In this age of computers and technology, why keep your reception alone in the stone age? It’s time to dump the torn log book and move on!
Let us come to terms with the fact that the Standard Operating Procedures like these are nothing but Standard Omission Procedures.