SOS button
An SOS button is the physical or on-screen trigger a worker presses to summon emergency help, sending their identity and live location to a response.
Every duress device has one, but SOS buttons differ in ways that matter under stress. Press-and-hold designs (hold for two to three seconds) prevent pocket activations; single-press designs are faster but need recessed or shielded buttons to avoid false alarms. On-screen versions use deliberate gestures like slide-to-alert for the same reason.
The press is the smallest part of the system. What follows determines the outcome: the alarm should open a case with a staffed response, carrying live location and, on capable devices, two-way audio and video. In the Duress system the median time from activation to a trained operator is a published seven seconds.
Placement is a design decision too. A button on a lanyard card can be pressed unseen in a confrontation; a watch-format button is reachable when a phone is not; a fixed button under a counter covers one position and nothing else. The best choice follows the work, not the office.