What is a staff duress system?
Staff duress systems are common across many types of industries where employers need to keep their employees safe from threats. Many healthcare organizations utilize staff duress systems to ensure the safety of nurses, doctors, cna’s, medical assistants and more.
From an unruly patient to an aggravated customer, staff duress systems focus on individual safety. Employees can call for help whenever and potentially wherever they need it. This one-button security solution allows your staff to activate an emergency response, immediately.
An optimized and customized staff duress system should be layered into your building’s emergency mass notification system.
Where and when is a staff duress system needed?
Staff duress systems are needed across many industries where workers might encounter upset patrons and need easy, quick access to help. Many healthcare organizations utilize staff duress systems to ensure the safety of nurses, doctors, cna’s, medical assistants and more. Personal duress alarms for hospitality workers like the front desk clerk at a hotel are becoming required in some states.
The most common industries that utilize staff duress systems include
- Healthcare facilities
- Factories
- Corporate offices
- Municipal buildings
- Government buildings
- Hospitality Industry
Staff duress systems can be found in many different work environments including:
- Hospitals
- Long Term Care Facilities
- Factories
- Corporate offices
- Municipal buildings
- Government buildings
- Hotels
Healthcare facilities are one of the most common types of workplaces to develop staff duress systems. Even in healthcare, each segment from hospitals to surgery centers to long term-care facilities have different needs that arise.
To ensure their safety, medical professionals have long been using panic buttons to get help quickly in the event of
- Hostile patients
- Life threatening events
- Building emergencies
- Medical emergencies
- Lone-worker situations
Types of Panic Buttons
1. Wearable Duress Alarm
Just as it sounds, a wearable duress alarm is a device that an employee physically wears. When activated the button triggers the event listed in your security protocol. The panic button can come in many forms including but not limited to:
- An arm band
- A badge
- Button on a necklace
- An app on a cell phone
- Smartwatch
Wearable duress technology can have one button or multiple depending on the type of situation your employees may face. The buttons can trigger different responses.
Regardless of the type of wearable duress alarm, it’s designed to get help and get it fast to keep your employees and staff safe in a stressful or emergency situations.
2. Stationary Panic Button
Just like the movies, you might imagine the teller at a bank discreetly pushing the button under the desk. A stationary panic button can be placed in many places including under a desk or on a wall. It can be hardwired or wireless giving it the ability to be relocated.
A panic button can be discreet or displayed in plain sight with boldly labeled with ALARM or PANIC for all to see. The best type of panic alarm is the one that works best for the situations that arise in your workplace. And it might include both a wearable panic buttons and stationary alarms.
What happens when a panic button is pushed?
Panic buttons can be configured to work into your security protocol. Layered Solutions looks at your security goals and tries to reduce as much complexity from the scenario, so that you get help where it’s needed and fast.
After a panic button is pushed it can trigger various responses from subtle to high alert including but not limited to:
- Email notifications
- Text notifications
- Mobile app notifications
- A PC-alert
- Overhead paging
- Overhead alerts
- Two way radio alerts
- Strobe and or flashing lighting
Layered Solutions integrates panic buttons to trigger responses in our emergency mass notification software, Visual Campus {insert link to visual campus page- currently just a blog) so you can see exactly where the event is happening to get help there fast.
How much does a staff duress system cost?
The answer – it depends.
Factors influencing the cost of staff duress system include:
- How big is your facility? A larger facility might require more hardware such as repeaters etc.
- How many employees do you have?
- Do you need to purchase or build an entire new system including hardware and software or do you have current hardware that can be reconfigured to achieve the level of safety you need?
Layered Solutions’ team of engineers and mass notification experts work with you to develop a system that achieves your goals. Ultimately our goal is to develop a system that reduces complexity thereby enabling a fast and easy response.
Recently, we worked with a hospital in a small market. A competitor had quoted them upwards of $25,000 for just the personal duress system service agreement – that didn’t include the initial hardware installation investment. By utilizing some of their existing hardware and our mass notification software solutions, we were able to develop and implement a staff duress system for a fraction of the original quote.
A safe workplace is paramount in attracting and retaining employees.
Ensure the safety of your most valuable asset – your people – with appropriate staff duress systems. Contact us to learn more about how our staff duress systems can be customized to fit the needs of your organization.
