Safety timer
A safety timer is a countdown a worker starts before a specific task or visit; if the timer expires before they clear it, the system raises an alert automatically.
Safety timers fit the shape of real frontline work. A support worker heading into a home visit sets 30 minutes. If the visit is fine, they clear the timer on the way out and nobody is bothered. If the situation turns and they can't reach their device, the timer expires and the alarm goes out with their location - no button press required.
The mechanism protects against precisely the situations where pressing a button is impossible or unsafe: an escalating confrontation, a medical event, a phone left in the car. In the FY26 Duress data, expired safety timers accounted for 2.9% of all activations.
The best implementations make extension effortless (visits run long more often than they go wrong) and the alarm path identical to a manual duress press: same monitoring centre, same response.