Safety terms, in plain English.
What the jargon actually means - written for the people buying, deploying and wearing this equipment, not for other vendors.
Duress alarm
A duress alarm is a device or app that lets a person under threat summon help without alerting the person threatening them.
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Lone worker
A lone worker is anyone who performs their job without close or direct supervision, or out of sight and earshot of colleagues who could help in an emergency.
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Man-down alarm (fall detection)
A man-down alarm, also called fall detection, automatically raises an alert when a device detects a fall, sudden impact, or prolonged lack of movement - without the worker pressing anything.
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Duty of care (workplace safety)
Duty of care is the legal obligation on an employer to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect workers from foreseeable harm arising from their work.
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Welfare check (worker check-in)
A welfare check is a scheduled confirmation that a worker is safe, with escalation that triggers automatically if the worker fails to check in.
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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.
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Monitored alarm response
Monitored alarm response means duress activations route to a staffed, professionally run monitoring centre 24/7, rather than to a dashboard, an email inbox, or an on-call manager.
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ASIAL monitoring centre grading
ASIAL grading is the Australian Security Industry Association Limited's independent audit and certification of alarm monitoring centres, with A1 the highest grade a centre can hold.
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BLE beacon indoor positioning
BLE beacon indoor positioning uses small Bluetooth Low Energy transmitters placed through a building so a safety device can report which floor, wing or room a worker is in - where GPS cannot reach.
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Body-worn camera (workplace safety)
A body-worn camera for workplace safety is a wearable camera that deters aggression, streams live video to a monitoring centre during an incident, and captures evidence of what actually happened.
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Panic button
A panic button is a dedicated trigger - fixed, wearable, or on a phone screen - that a person presses to summon urgent help.
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Personal safety app
A personal safety app turns a smartphone into a safety device: an SOS trigger, safety timers, check-ins, and live location shared with responders.
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Occupational violence and aggression (OVA)
Occupational violence and aggression (OVA) is any incident in which a person is abused, threatened, or assaulted in circumstances arising out of their work.
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Psychosocial hazards
Psychosocial hazards are aspects of work design or conditions that can cause psychological harm - including exposure to violence and aggression, traumatic events, and remote or isolated work.
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Code black
Code black is the standard Australian hospital emergency code for a personal threat: an incident of violence or aggression requiring an immediate response.
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Journey management
Journey management is the planned control of work-related travel: knowing who is travelling where, confirming safe arrival, and escalating automatically when a traveller cannot be contacted.
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Buddy system
A buddy system pairs workers so that each person has a nominated colleague who knows where they are, checks on them, and raises the alarm if something seems wrong.
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Duress response plan
A duress response plan defines exactly what happens after a duress alarm is raised: who is notified, in what order, how fast, with what information, and the criteria for escalating to emergency services.
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