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Glossary

Duress alarm

A duress alarm is a device or app that lets a person under threat summon help without alerting the person threatening them.

The defining feature of a duress alarm is silence. A fire alarm is designed to be heard; a duress alarm is designed not to be. When a worker facing aggression presses one, nothing visible or audible happens on the device - but their location, identity, and often live audio or video reach someone equipped to respond.

Duress alarms come in three broad forms. Fixed alarms are wired buttons under counters and desks - common in banks, pharmacies and reception areas, but useless the moment a worker steps away. Wearable alarms travel with the person: a card on a lanyard, a button, a watch-format device or a ring. App-based alarms turn the worker's phone into the alarm, using gestures like slide-to-alert.

What separates a good duress system from a bad one is not the button but the response. An alarm that emails a manager who is in a meeting has failed. Purpose-built systems route activations to a staffed monitoring centre; in the Duress monitoring centre, the median time from activation to a trained operator on the case is 7 seconds, around the clock.

Common questions

Is a duress alarm the same as a panic button?
The terms overlap. 'Panic button' usually refers to the physical trigger; 'duress alarm' refers to the whole system - trigger, communication, and response. A button with nobody answering is not much of an alarm.
Do duress alarms require a phone?
Not always. Some wearables, like the Duress Falcon and Eagle, carry their own 4G connection and work without a phone. Bluetooth devices like the Duress Phoenix pair with a phone app. Fixed alarms are wired or Wi-Fi.
Who answers a duress alarm?
It depends on the system. Some route to on-site security or a nominated manager; professionally monitored systems route to an accredited monitoring centre staffed 24/7. Ask any vendor for their median answer time - it is the single most revealing number.

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