Safety assurance during work has never been more important than it is now. The diffusion of wireless technology globally has ensured that more tasks and jobs can now be done remotely.
Workers working in isolated and potentially dangerous environments have increased over time, and so is the number of violence, terrorism, and safety invulnerability cases involving them.
In response to these trends, duress alarm systems have been developed to help organizations track the location and well-being of their workers and allow workers to ask for help when they need it.
With the innovative solutions that duress alarms bring to the table, Workers now feel safe and confident at work more than ever.
What is a Duress Alarm?
A duress alarm is a portable type of mobile device that is primarily used to keep track of people.
These alarms are not like the normal alarm systems that we are familiar with( fire alarm systems, evacuation alarm systems, etc.). They are not building-oriented, instead, they target the safety of an individual.
These portable human wearable alarms link together wirelessly to form a network of mobile devices that keep people in touch with each other.
Personnel tracking via GPS, their well being, and an SoS button in case of emergency is featured on a duress alarm system.
How the Duress Alarm Works During an Emergency
In the event of an emergency, the duress alarm can be activated via a button. This button is wirelessly linked via a cell phone network to a monitoring center/control room.
Trained professionals in the situation room on seeing the alert will activate pre-programmed contingencies for the emergency situation. These panic buttons vary for each device.
You can activate the alarm manually, automatically (man down alert), silently, or audibly. Once the button is activated, it pings a signal to the control room. The signal is then interpreted to location specific data, describing the nature of the emergency on the other end.
Duress alarms can be used just about anywhere. They are commonly used in hospitals, nursing homes, and other large medical facilities. Schools, government buildings, universities and courthouses have needs for the duress ala system.
Case Use of Duress Alarms for Evacuation
Duress alarms feature highly versatile utility. The alarm system can be customized to facilitate evacuation in case of emergencies such as fire outbreak, school violence, terrorism etc.
After the 1958 Chicago’s Our Lady of Angels School fire disaster that led to the loss of over 92 students’ lives, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes were comprehensively revised with buildings to prevent such disaster from ever happening again.
Now however, we face a new crisis in the form of school violence, with the number of school shooting events on the rise. The duress alarm system comes into play here.
When precoded with a series of instructions, teachers in the school can use the duress alarm to communicate with other teachers and members of staff to coordinate an evacuation, either a lockdown or a lockout in the event of a perceived emergency.
While many schools perform dummy drills for shootout scenarios, this rarely happens. Violence in the school is not streamlined to only shootings, it can be anything that requires the help of law enforcement.
The utility of duress alarm in this case doubles as an alert system and an evacuation coordinator.
