What this is
What counts as a separate entry versus a sub-level of an existing one?
What counts as a separate entry versus a sub-level of an existing one?
The Level field forces a choice between Site, Building, Area and Zone, and Parent Site links a lower level back to the one above it. A distribution centre is a Site; the cold store inside it is an Area under that Site. If two entries describe the same physical footprint at the same level, one of them is a duplicate and should be closed, not left running in parallel.
Why does Status control what other templates can even see?
Every Pick List that references this register filters on Status is Active, so a location left in Active status after it has closed keeps appearing as a selectable option in incident reports, task registers and risk assessments long after it stopped being current. Status is not a label here, it is the gate that determines visibility.
What is Parent Site actually protecting against?
It stops the hierarchy being rebuilt independently in every workspace that needs it. Without it, one team files a report by building and another by site, and the two counts never reconcile. Parent Site keeps the hierarchy in one place so every downstream filter walks the same tree.
Scope
When is a site and location register required?
This register is one step in a larger programme, and it only holds physical locations. Using it to record equipment, people or work activities produces records that other templates cannot filter on correctly.
Use this template when
- A new site, building, area or zone is coming online, or an existing one is closing
- An existing entry's manager, contact number, or address has changed and needs correcting at source
- You are standing up the workspace for the first time and need the location tree in place before anything else
- A downstream template's Pick List needs a site to already exist here — it will not create one on the fly
- You are auditing why a site-filtered report is returning the wrong set of locations
Do not use it for
- Asset Register, which holds every piece of equipment, machine, vehicle and tool you track — a location is not an asset even when it is small enough to feel like one.
- Worker Profile, which holds a record for each worker, including role, department, site and start date — do not record people here, only where they work.
- Job and Task Register, which lists the jobs and tasks people perform at a site — a task is not a location, even a fixed one.
- Anything outside General, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process
- A new intake or assessment form that needs a site, where the field should be a Pick List reference back here, not a retyped free-text address
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 45001 cl.4.3 requirements does this satisfy?
ISO 45001 cl.4.3 requires the organisation to determine the scope of its OH&S management system, and this register is the concrete artefact that scope points back to. The clauses below map onto the sections a builder actually sees.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 45001 cl.4.3 | Determine and document the boundaries and applicability of the OH&S management system | Identification |
| ISO 45001 cl.4.1 | Determine external and internal issues relevant to the organisation's context, including where it operates | Location |
| ISO 45001 cl.4.4 | Establish the processes needed for the management system and their interactions | Identification |
| ISO 45001 cl.5.3 | Assign and communicate responsibilities and authorities for relevant roles | Responsibility |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Plan, implement and control the processes needed to meet requirements, including operating conditions such as shift patterns | Operating detail |
| ISO 45001 cl.7.5 | Control documented information, including drawings and records that support operations | Operating detail |
What it does not cover
- A site left in Active status after closure, which keeps it selectable in Pick Lists across every other workspace and skews site-filtered counts.
- A Zone or Area with no Parent Site set, which breaks the hierarchy and makes roll-up reporting by building or site undercount.
- A missing or unreachable Emergency Contact Number, which defeats the purpose of the field during an actual emergency response.
- Two entries describing the same physical footprint at the same Level, which splits historical data across duplicates and makes trend reporting unreliable.
- A Site Manager left blank on an Active site, which leaves the location without an accountable person for anything raised against it.
Global
Site and Location Register requirements by country
The register itself is jurisdiction-agnostic, but the Country field it collects determines which regulatory basis downstream templates apply, and the three placements below carry the most consequence.
OSHA recordkeeping, 29 CFR 1904.46
OSHA defines a covered location as an "establishment", a single physical location where business is conducted
A Site entry here should generally align with an OSHA establishment boundary, not a smaller internal Area, or injury and illness recordkeeping will not reconcile with the register.
Canada Labour Code Part II, and provincial OHS statutes
Occupational health and safety jurisdiction in Canada splits between federal and provincial regulators depending on the sector the site operates in
The Region or Province field is not cosmetic — it is what determines which regulator's rules apply to that specific entry, and a wrong or blank entry misroutes compliance obligations.
ISO 45001 cl.4.3
The standard leaves the definition of "scope" to the organisation, provided it is documented and defensible
An auditor will use this register as the primary evidence of what is, and is not, inside the certified scope, so an undocumented or unclosed site is a scope-boundary finding, not a minor data gap.
How to complete it
How to complete a site and location register, step by step
Filling in the fields is mechanical. The defensibility of the register rests on a handful of judgement calls that a builder makes once and that then apply to every entry after it.
Level only works if everyone applies the same threshold for what counts as an Area versus a Zone. Set the rule once — for example, an Area has its own supervisor and a Zone does not — and document it, or the hierarchy fragments as different people apply their own judgement.
Closing a site should remove it from active Pick Lists without deleting its history. Confirm the workspace treats Closed as a retained record, not a hard delete, before relying on it for historical incident or asset trails.
Some organisations want the hierarchy to match their corporate structure; others want it to match the physical building. Pick one and hold it consistently, because a hierarchy that mixes both breaks any report that rolls up by level.
Time Zone drives scheduling and shift reporting elsewhere in the platform. A site assigned the wrong zone will show shift changeovers and reporting windows at the wrong local time, which is a quiet source of misattributed overnight incidents.
What auditors find
Most common site and location register findings
The findings below are the ones that recur across sites-register audits, paired with the clause they undermine and the fix that actually closes them.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Site shows Active status six months after operations ceased | ISO 45001 cl.4.3 | Set Status to Closed as part of the site closure checklist, not as an afterthought once someone notices it in a report. |
| Area-level entries with no Parent Site recorded | ISO 45001 cl.4.4 | Make Parent Site a hard requirement for any Level other than Site, enforced at data entry rather than caught at audit. |
| Site Manager field blank on multiple Active sites | ISO 45001 cl.5.3 | Require Site Manager before a new entry can be set to Active; an unowned site should not exist in the live register. |
| Emergency Contact Number not reachable when tested | ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Add a periodic verification step — a quarterly test call — rather than trusting the number was correct when it was first entered. |
| Duplicate site entries for the same physical location | ISO 45001 cl.4.3 | Search existing Site Names before creating a new entry, and merge or close the duplicate with a note pointing to the surviving record. |
| Site Plan missing for sites with more than one building | ISO 45001 cl.7.5 | Treat Site Plan as required wherever Level is Site and Headcount exceeds a threshold, since that is where a plan actually matters in an emergency. |
Case in point
Case in point: the site that never closed
A distribution centre shut down in the spring, and the regional lead assumed marking the lease as ended in the property system was enough. The site register entry stayed Active, because closing it was nobody's named task and no downstream template flagged the gap.
Six months later, a quarterly incident report filtered by Active sites still counted the closed centre in its denominator, understating the incident rate at every site that was actually still running. The fix took two minutes once found — the finding, and the six months of skewed reporting behind it, took an external audit to surface.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
4 sections
- Reference
- FDN-001
- Archetype
- Register
- Record ID
- SITE-2026-000
- Scoring
- None
- Direction
- n/a
- Singleton
- Yes
- Basis
- ISO 45001 cl.4.3
- Links
- Referenced by all workspaces
- Tags
- Master data
- Sections
- 4
- Fields
- 22
- Follow up fields
- 0
- Repeating sections
- 0
- Links out
- 1
Identification
6 fieldsSite ID*
Format SITE-000. Assigned once and never changed.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Active sites appear in Pick Lists. Closed sites stay for history.
Site Name*
The name people actually use for this place.
Site Type*
Used to filter Pick Lists by type of location.
Parent Site
Leave blank for a top level site.
Level*
Site, building, area or zone.
Location
6 fieldsAddress*
Map Location
Drop a pin for emergency response and directions.
Time Zone*
Drives scheduling and shift reporting.
Country*
Sets which regulatory basis applies.
Region or Province*
Postal Code*
Responsibility
4 fieldsSite Manager*
The person accountable for this location.
Site Manager ID
Format PER-0000. Links this site to the worker record.
Links to FDN-003 Person ID
Safety Lead
Emergency Contact Number*
Reached 24 hours a day.
Operating detail
6 fieldsHeadcount
Approximate. Used for drill planning and rates.
Shift Pattern
- Days only3 pts
- Two shift2 pts
- Three shift rotating1 pt
- Permanent nights0 pts
- Twelve hour1 pt
Opened Date
Site Photo
Helps people who have never been here.
Site Plan
Layout drawing showing exits, muster points and hazards.
Notes
FDN-001 · record IDs look like SITE-2026-000 · Referenced by all workspaces
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The register itself is simple to fill in once. Keeping every entry current, and stopping a stale one from quietly corrupting a dozen other workspaces' reports, is the part that needs a standing owner.
Pulls Site Manager and Emergency Contact Number straight into incident and evacuation workflows, so a closed or unowned site is flagged before it reaches a live emergency response.
Checks Asset Register entries against this register's Active sites, and surfaces assets still pointing at a site that has since closed.
Rolls up shift and headcount data by Site and Parent Site, and flags entries missing a Level or hierarchy link before they distort a rollup report.
Holds the register against every workspace that filters by it, catches a Status change before it silently drops a location out of active Pick Lists, and routes closure checklists to the outgoing Site Manager for sign-off.
This template lives in General — control tower. The orchestration layer. Registries and engines every other workspace reads from.
Meet General→Glossary
Site and Location Register definitions and key terms
- Singleton
- A record type set up once per workspace and maintained over time, rather than raised fresh for every event — one row per site, not one per incident at that site.
- Master data
- The reference records — sites, assets, people — that other templates read from via Pick Lists, rather than re-entering the same information each time.
- Pick List
- A field that selects an existing record from another register instead of accepting free text, keeping the two records linked and consistent.
- Level
- The position of an entry in the site hierarchy: Site, Building, Area or Zone, set relative to its Parent Site.
- Muster point
- The designated assembly location shown on a Site Plan, used during an evacuation to account for everyone on site.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about site and location register
What is the site and location register template based on?+
It is built against ISO 45001 cl.4.3, which requires the organisation to determine and document the scope of its OH&S management system. The register is the working artefact that scope statement points back to.
What sections does the site and location register contain?+
Four sections: Identification, Location, Responsibility and Operating detail, holding 22 fields in total, 12 of which are required.
How many site and location register records should we have?+
This is a singleton register: one entry per physical location, set up once and maintained as locations open, change or close, rather than one entry per event.
Why does the register ask for a Site Manager and an Emergency Contact Number?+
Because it doubles as the accountable-person record for the location, not just an address list. Every finding, asset or worker tied to that site inherits its manager as the default point of accountability.
Can the site and location register template be changed?+
Yes. Every field, option and link is editable, and the Pick List references to it come with it. Most teams install it as-is, run it for a cycle, then adjust the Site Type or Department options to match their own naming.
What happens to other templates when a site is closed here?+
Closed sites drop out of Pick Lists filtered on Status is Active, so they stop being selectable for new records, but historical records that already reference the site keep their link and are not affected.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Master Data and Foundations
Asset Register
Holds every piece of equipment, machine, vehicle and tool you track
Worker Profile
Holds a record for each worker, including role, department, site and start date
Job and Task Register
Lists the jobs and tasks people perform, so risk assessments and ergonomic assessments can be tied to real work rather than job titles
Vendor and Contractor Register
Holds every supplier, contractor and service provider you work with, including their status and approval level
Chemical and Substance Register
Lists every chemical and hazardous substance held on site, with quantity, location and hazard class
Course Catalog
Lists every training course available, with its length, validity period and who needs it
More in Registries
Asset Register
Holds every piece of equipment, machine, vehicle and tool you track
Worker Profile
Holds a record for each worker, including role, department, site and start date
Job and Task Register
Lists the jobs and tasks people perform, so risk assessments and ergonomic assessments can be tied to real work rather than job titles
Vendor and Contractor Register
Holds every supplier, contractor and service provider you work with, including their status and approval level
Chemical and Substance Register
Lists every chemical and hazardous substance held on site, with quantity, location and hazard class
Course Catalog
Lists every training course available, with its length, validity period and who needs it
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- ISO 45001:2018 — cl.4.3, Determining the scope of the OH&S management system
- ISO 45001:2018 — cl.5.3, Organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities
- ISO 45001:2018 — cl.7.5, Documented information
- OSHA — 29 CFR 1904.46, Definition of "establishment"
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.