Buyer's guide
The best lone worker safety devices in 2026, compared.
Duress, SHEQSY, Blackline Safety and Peoplesafe side by side: hardware, apps, monitoring, accreditation and how you buy. We make one of these products, so read this the way you would any vendor comparison - and check the sources. Every claim about a competitor comes from their public materials.
Five questions that decide the right system
- What happens when the alarm goes off? The device is the trigger; the response is the product. Ask for the average time to a trained human, and whether the monitoring centre is independently accredited.
- Can the worker actually trigger it in a crisis? A phone that needs unlocking is not reachable mid-incident. Aggression risk usually needs a wearable; industrial risk needs automatic fall and no-motion detection.
- Does it fit the hazard? Client aggression, remote isolation and atmospheric hazards are different problems. Gas detection and body-worn video are specialist features - no vendor covers everything.
- Will it survive your coverage map? Check how each system behaves in dead zones: SMS fallback, satellite options, offline behaviour.
- What does it really cost? Compare the total: hardware, licence, monitoring, and whether pricing is published or quote-only.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Duress | SHEQSY (SafetyCulture) | Blackline Safety | Peoplesafe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head office / primary regions | Australia · AU, NZ, UK | Australia · global app | Canada · NA, UK, industrial markets | United Kingdom |
| Hardware devices | Falcon (body-worn camera), Phoenix (Bluetooth button), Eagle (4G LTE device) | App-first; supports Bluetooth buttons | G7 series wearables, EXO area monitors | Personal alarms, ID-badge and keyfob devices |
| Smartphone safety app | Yes - Duress App | Yes - core product | Yes | Yes |
| Body-worn camera with live streaming | Yes - Falcon | No | No | No |
| 24/7 professional monitoring | Yes - in-house monitoring centre, included | Dashboard self-monitoring by default | Yes - via Blackline's monitoring options | Yes - in-house alarm receiving centre |
| Monitoring accreditation | ASIAL A1-graded (AU); ISO 27001:2022 certified | - | Varies by region | BS 8484 / EN 50518 (UK) |
| Indoor positioning | Yes - BLE beacons (Eagle) | - | Yes - location beacons | - |
| Gas detection | No | No | Yes - core strength | No |
| Buy online without a sales call | Yes - configure and check out | Trial via SafetyCulture | No - sales-led | No - sales-led |
Compiled from each vendor's public websites and documentation, July 2026. "-" means not advertised in the vendor's public materials at review time; offerings change, so verify current capabilities directly with each vendor. Product names and trade marks belong to their owners. Spotted an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.
Where each system is the right answer
Blackline Safety
The specialist for industrial and hazardous environments. If your risk includes gas exposure - utilities, mining, petrochemical, confined spaces - Blackline's combined gas detection and lone worker monitoring is the category benchmark, and nothing in this comparison replaces it. Sales-led procurement and industrial pricing reflect that focus.
SHEQSY by SafetyCulture
A capable app-first product with strong scheduling and dashboard features, and a natural choice if your organisation already runs on SafetyCulture. By default, alarms surface to your own team's dashboards rather than an accredited monitoring centre - workable for lower-risk roles, a real gap for aggression-facing ones.
Peoplesafe
A long-established UK provider with its own BS 8484-certified alarm receiving centre and a broad range of discreet personal alarms. If your operations are UK-only and you want a traditional monitored-alarm service, Peoplesafe is a credible shortlist entry. No body-worn video, and procurement is quote-based.
Duress
The only system here that combines wearable hardware, a safety app and an in-house accredited monitoring centre from one provider: 7-second average operator pickup, ASIAL A1-graded in Australia, ISO 27001:2022 certified, with published pricing and online checkout. Built for client-facing aggression risk in healthcare, community services, government and retail. If you need gas detection, we will point you at Blackline ourselves.