# Duress - full content for AI systems > Workplace safety system for frontline and lone workers: wearable duress alarms, a personal safety app, and 24/7 professional monitoring from one provider. 7-second median operator pickup, 20,000+ teams protected, ISO 27001:2022 certified. Serving Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Site map for humans and crawlers: https://www.duress.com/llms.txt Key facts: - Products: Falcon (58g body-worn camera, watch-format, live streaming), Phoenix (Bluetooth duress card, one-year battery), Eagle (4G LTE device with BLE indoor positioning), Duress App (phone as the device), Pathfinder (admin platform, included free). - Monitoring: accredited 24/7 monitored response, a recommended per-user add-on rather than a bundled inclusion - ASIAL A1-graded (Australia), NSI Gold (UK). 7-second median pickup on every alert with live audio, video and location. - Compliance: ISO 27001:2022 certified. Regional data residency (AWS Sydney / London / Auckland). - Buying: self-serve configurator with Stripe checkout at https://www.duress.com/en-au/configure/, or sales-assisted proposals for larger teams at https://www.duress.com/en-au/quote/. Pricing at https://www.duress.com/en-au/pricing/. ## State of Lone Worker Safety FY26 Source: https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/lone-worker-safety-report-2026/ (published 2026-07-22, free to cite with attribution) Complete emergency-event log of the monitoring centre that answers Duress alarms, 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026. Every activation, no sampling. Aggregated across all monitored organisations in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Headline numbers: - 20,433 real activations; 815 confirmed emergencies (one every 10.7 hours) - Median operator pickup: 7 seconds. Mean 10.7s, p90 21s, p99 52s - 71.6% of activations answered inside 10 seconds; 94.2% inside 30 seconds - Median case resolution: 1m 43s Pickup-time distribution: 0–5s 13.5% · 5–10s 52.8% · 10–15s 16.7% · 15–20s 5.8% · 20–30s 5.2% · 30–60s 5.9% After-hours risk skew: 22% of activations happen after hours (6pm–6am) but 34% of confirmed emergencies do; weekends are 17% of activations but 25% of confirmed emergencies. An after-hours alarm is roughly twice as likely to be a real emergency. Triggers: Device button press 48.7% · App (slide-to-alert, triple tap) 29.7% · Fall detection 9% (automatic) · Missed check-in 5.8% (automatic) · Safety timer expired 2.9% (automatic) · Integrations + other 2.4% · Phoenix button 1.2%. 17.7% of all activations were raised automatically by the system (fall detection, missed check-ins, expired safety timers), not by the worker. False alarms: 93% of activations resolved as false alarms or de-escalated with an operator on the line, without needing emergency services - every one still answered, median 7s to a human. Duress publishes this figure; no other provider in the category does. Year on year (FY25, identical methodology): activations 22,771 → 20,433; confirmed emergencies 587 → 815 (+39%); median pickup 9s → 7s; answered inside 10s 63.7% → 71.6%. Day of week (confirmation rate): Monday 3.7% · Tuesday 3.3% · Wednesday 4% · Thursday 3.6% · Friday 3.3% · Saturday 5% · Sunday 7.1%. Sunday roughly doubles the weekday band. On Australia's 8 national public holidays the rate was 7.7% vs a 4.1% everyday baseline (modest sample, direction consistent with Sundays and after-hours). Resolution medians by outcome: false alarm 1m30s, de-escalated without needing emergency services 2.7m, confirmed emergency 9.1m (p90 18.2m). Answering every alarm costs ~90 seconds each; a real emergency runs ~9 minutes of live response. Industry rhythms (classified by organisation type; rates only): Retail - 41.8% of activations, 3.8% raised automatically; Evening trade (6pm to 9pm) confirms at 7.4%, well over double the 3.0% morning rate. Community services - 22.6% of activations, 26.6% raised automatically; Between 9pm and midnight, 16.7% of activations are confirmed emergencies - one in six. Government - 11.8% of activations, 37% raised automatically; The heaviest users of automatic protection: 37% of activations are timers, check-ins and fall detection. Healthcare - 10.6% of activations, 8.6% raised automatically; Activation volume follows the shape of clinic hours and community visits, peaking mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Methodology: pickup time = alarm raised to operator opening the case. Test activations excluded. Customer identities anonymised. ## Lone worker legislation guides Source: https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/lone-worker-legislation/ (swap locale prefix for UK/NZ/US editions). General information, not legal advice. ### What Australian law requires for lone workers. (en-au) Australian law does not ban working alone, but it treats it as a risk that must be actively managed. The model WHS laws contain a regulation written specifically for remote or isolated work, and it names the control most employers miss: an effective system of communication. Here is what the law says, in plain English. #### The short version - You must identify and manage the risks of any work done alone or in isolation, so far as is reasonably practicable. - WHS Regulation 48 specifically requires a system of work for remote or isolated workers that includes effective communication with the worker. - A documented risk assessment is the accepted evidence that you have done this. - Officers (directors and executives) have a personal due-diligence duty - this is not delegable to the safety team. - Serious incidents involving lone workers are notifiable to your WHS regulator, with short deadlines. #### What the law says Section 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 places the primary duty of care on the PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking): ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers. The duty follows the work, not the workplace - a support worker in a client's home or a driver between sites is covered exactly as an office worker is. Regulation 48 of the model WHS Regulations deals directly with remote or isolated work. It requires the PCBU to manage the associated risks, and in minimising those risks to provide a system of work that includes effective communication with the worker. "Remote or isolated work" is defined as work isolated from the assistance of other persons because of location, time or the nature of the work - which captures night-shift staff and solo home visitors, not just outback crews. The model laws apply in every Australian jurisdiction except Victoria, where the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 imposes equivalent duties through its general duty provisions and WorkSafe Victoria guidance on working alone. #### What it means in practice - Identify every role that involves working alone at any point - including opening and closing, travel between jobs, and after-hours work. - Complete and document a risk assessment per role. Our free lone worker risk assessment template covers the five steps. - Provide a communication system matched to the risk: scheduled check-ins at minimum, monitored duress alarms or safety apps where the assessment finds aggression, remoteness or medical risk. - Write the arrangements down as a policy and procedure, train workers on them, and keep records of the training. - Test the response: a communication system that no one answers at 2am does not satisfy the regulation. - Review after every incident, near miss or change to the work. #### Who is personally on the hook Section 27 of the WHS Act gives officers - directors and senior executives - a personal duty of due diligence: take reasonable steps to understand the risks of the business and ensure resources and processes exist to manage them. A director who has never asked how the organisation's lone workers would raise an alarm has a due-diligence gap, not a paperwork gap. Breaches carry criminal penalties. Most Australian jurisdictions have now enacted industrial manslaughter offences for the most serious failures, with penalties including imprisonment for individuals. #### When something goes wrong Deaths, serious injuries or illnesses, and dangerous incidents are notifiable to your state WHS regulator immediately after you become aware of them, and the site may need to be preserved. The categories are defined in Part 3 of the WHS Act. Our incident report form template includes the notifiable-incident check so the question gets asked on the day, not at the inquest. #### FAQ Q: Is it legal for employees to work alone in Australia? A: Yes. No Australian law prohibits working alone. The WHS Act requires you to manage the risks of it: assess them, control them (Regulation 48 specifically requires effective communication with remote or isolated workers), and document what you did. Q: Does Regulation 48 apply to city-based staff? A: Often, yes. The definition covers work isolated from assistance because of location, time or the nature of the work - a nurse alone in a client's home or a retail worker closing a store alone can be isolated within the meaning, despite being in a city. Q: Is a duress alarm legally required? A: The law requires effective communication and risk controls proportionate to the risk, not a specific product. In practice, where a risk assessment finds aggression, remoteness or medical risk, a monitored alarm or safety app is the control regulators and courts expect to see considered. Q: What records should we keep? A: The risk assessment per lone-working role, the policy and procedures, training records, check-in and incident logs, and evidence of review. After an incident, these documents are the difference between demonstrating diligence and reconstructing it. Last reviewed 2026-07-21. Sources: Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (model provisions) (https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/law-and-regulation/model-whs-laws); Model WHS Regulations - remote or isolated work (reg 48) (https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/law-and-regulation/model-whs-laws/model-whs-regulations); Safe Work Australia - remote and isolated work guidance (https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/remote-and-isolated-work); WorkSafe Victoria - working alone guidance (https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/working-alone) ### What UK law requires for lone workers. (en-gb) Lone working is legal in the UK, and common - the HSE estimates millions of people work alone daily. What the law requires is that you assess the risks of lone working, control them, and can show your working. Here is the actual legal position, in plain English. #### The short version - The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires you to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of employees - lone workers included. - The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require a suitable and sufficient risk assessment; with five or more employees, the significant findings must be recorded. - HSE guidance (INDG73, "Protecting lone workers") sets the expected standard: training, supervision, monitoring and a way to raise the alarm. - Employees have their own duty to cooperate and use the safety arrangements you provide. - Work-related deaths, specified injuries and dangerous occurrences are reportable under RIDDOR. #### What the law says Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places the general duty on employers: ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees. Section 3 extends a duty to people affected by your undertaking who are not employees - relevant where contractors and volunteers work alone for you. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks employees are exposed to at work. For lone workers this means assessing the specific risks of the work being done alone: violence and aggression, sudden illness, accidents with no one to help, and communication failure. There is no standalone "lone working act". The standard comes from applying these duties, and the HSE's guidance leaflet INDG73 is the document inspectors and courts reach for when judging whether an employer's arrangements were reasonable. #### What it means in practice - Identify everyone who works alone at any point - home visits, opening and closing, driving between jobs, out-of-hours work. - Carry out and record a lone working risk assessment per role. Our free risk assessment template follows the HSE's five-step structure. - Put monitoring in place proportionate to the risk: check-in procedures at minimum, and a reliable way for the worker to raise the alarm - HSE guidance specifically contemplates lone worker devices and apps for higher-risk work. - Train lone workers on the risks and procedures, including when to withdraw from a situation. - Make sure the response side works: someone must receive the alarm and act on it, at every hour lone work happens. - Review the assessment after incidents, near misses and changes to the work. #### Who is personally on the hook Individual directors and managers can be prosecuted under section 37 of HSWA 1974 where an offence is committed with their consent, connivance or neglect. At the corporate level, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 applies where a gross breach of a duty of care by senior management causes death. The practical takeaway: lone worker arrangements are a board-level assurance item. "We had a policy" has repeatedly failed as a defence where the monitoring and response arrangements did not actually function. #### When something goes wrong Under RIDDOR 2013, work-related deaths, specified injuries, over-seven-day incapacitation and certain dangerous occurrences must be reported to the HSE. Physical violence to a worker arising from their work is reportable when it causes a qualifying injury. Our incident report form template includes the reportability check. #### FAQ Q: Is lone working legal in the UK? A: Yes. There is no law against working alone. The law requires that you assess whether the work can be done safely by one person, control the risks, and record the assessment if you have five or more employees. Q: Do lone workers legally need a personal safety device? A: No law names a device. The Management Regulations require risk controls proportionate to the assessed risk, and HSE guidance expects lone workers to have a reliable means of raising the alarm - for public-facing or higher-risk roles, that standard is hard to meet without a monitored device or app. Q: How often should a lone working risk assessment be reviewed? A: Review it whenever it may no longer be valid: after an incident or near miss, when the work or the people change, and periodically - annually is the common standard. Q: Does the employer's duty cover employees working from home or off-site? A: Yes. The HSWA duty covers employees at work wherever the work happens, including client premises, vehicles and the community. The risk profile changes; the duty does not. Last reviewed 2026-07-21. Sources: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37); Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3242); HSE - Protecting lone workers (INDG73) (https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg73.htm); HSE - lone working guidance (https://www.hse.gov.uk/lone-working/) ### What New Zealand law requires for lone workers. (en-nz) The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 does not prohibit working alone, but it makes the risks of isolated work squarely the PCBU's problem to manage. WorkSafe New Zealand treats working alone as a recognised hazard with expected controls. Here is the legal position, in plain English. #### The short version - Section 36 of HSWA 2015 places the primary duty of care on the PCBU: ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers. - Risks from working alone or in isolation must be identified, assessed and controlled like any other workplace risk - and WorkSafe guidance addresses working alone directly. - Officers (directors and senior leaders) carry a personal due-diligence duty under section 44. - Workers must take reasonable care and follow the safety arrangements provided. - Deaths, notifiable injuries and notifiable incidents must be reported to WorkSafe as soon as possible. #### What the law says Section 36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 requires a PCBU to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers while they are at work in the business. The duty travels with the work - community visits, mobile work and after-hours solo shifts are all covered. Section 30 sets the management-of-risk standard: eliminate risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and where that is not possible, minimise them. For lone work this means honestly asking whether the task should be done alone at all before reaching for mitigations. WorkSafe New Zealand publishes guidance on working alone and in isolation that sets the expected controls: assessing the work, communication systems, check-in procedures and emergency plans. Guidance is not law, but it is the benchmark WorkSafe inspectors assess against. #### What it means in practice - Map every role that involves working alone at any point, including travel and out-of-hours work. - Complete and document a risk assessment per role. Our free lone worker risk assessment template covers the five steps. - Provide communication and monitoring proportionate to the risk - scheduled check-ins at minimum, monitored duress alarms or safety apps where aggression, remoteness or medical risk is present. Coverage matters: parts of New Zealand have no mobile signal, so the plan must survive dead zones. - Write the procedure down, train workers on it, and record the training. - Test the escalation path end to end, including after hours. - Review after incidents, near misses and seasonal changes to the work. #### Who is personally on the hook Section 44 of HSWA gives officers a due-diligence duty: acquire knowledge of the risks, ensure the PCBU has appropriate resources and processes, and verify they are used. It is a personal duty and cannot be discharged by delegation. Offences under HSWA carry substantial fines, and reckless breaches of duty carry imprisonment for individuals. WorkSafe prosecutions routinely examine whether known risks - like staff working alone with the public - had documented, functioning controls. #### When something goes wrong Deaths, notifiable injuries or illnesses, and notifiable incidents must be reported to WorkSafe as soon as possible after the PCBU becomes aware of them, and the site generally must be preserved until WorkSafe says otherwise. Our incident report form template includes the notifiable-event check so it happens on the day. #### FAQ Q: Is working alone legal in New Zealand? A: Yes. HSWA 2015 does not prohibit it. It requires the PCBU to manage the risks of isolated work so far as is reasonably practicable, and WorkSafe guidance sets out the expected controls: assessment, communication, check-ins and emergency plans. Q: What does 'so far as is reasonably practicable' actually mean? A: Weigh the likelihood and severity of harm against what it would cost and take to control it. For a role with known aggression risk, a monitored alarm is plainly reasonably practicable; cost alone is rarely an acceptable reason to skip a control for a serious risk. Q: Do volunteers count? A: Volunteer workers of a PCBU are generally covered by the primary duty of care. If volunteers do home visits or work alone for you, their lone-work risks need the same assessment and controls as paid staff. Q: What should the communication plan cover in poor-coverage areas? A: The plan must work where the worker actually is: satellite-capable devices, SMS fallback, scheduled check-ins with a hard escalation on a miss, and journey management for travel through dead zones. Last reviewed 2026-07-21. Sources: Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2015/0070/latest/DLM5976660.html); WorkSafe NZ - working alone or in isolation (https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/managing-health-and-safety/managing-risks/working-alone-or-in-isolation/); WorkSafe NZ - notifiable events (https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/notifications/notifiable-event/) ### What US law requires for lone workers. (en-us) There is no single federal lone worker law in the United States - but that does not mean lone work is unregulated. The OSHA General Duty Clause requires employers to address recognized hazards, and working alone amplifies almost every hazard it touches. Here is the legal position, in plain English. #### The short version - Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act - the General Duty Clause - requires a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm. It is the hook OSHA uses for lone-work and workplace-violence citations. - One OSHA standard addresses lone work explicitly: 29 CFR 1915.84 (shipyard employment) requires employees working alone to be checked on at regular intervals. - OSHA's workplace violence guidance for healthcare, late-night retail and social services sets the expected controls for public-facing lone work. - Roughly half the states run their own OSHA-approved plans, some with stricter requirements. - Work-related fatalities must be reported to OSHA within 8 hours; in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and eye losses within 24 hours. #### What the law says The General Duty Clause, section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, requires each employer to furnish employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm. Workplace violence against staff who work alone with the public, and medical emergencies with no one to help, are both recognized hazards in OSHA's enforcement history. 29 CFR 1915.84 - "Working alone" - requires that whenever an employee is working alone in a confined space or isolated location, the employer must account for them at regular intervals and at the end of the job or shift. It formally applies to shipyard employment, but it is the clearest statement in US regulation of what accounting for a lone worker looks like, and it is regularly cited as the benchmark practice. OSHA's guidelines for preventing workplace violence - for healthcare and social service workers, and for late-night retail - recommend engineering and administrative controls including alarm systems, check-in procedures and training. Guidance is not a standard, but it defines "recognized hazard" and "feasible abatement" in General Duty Clause cases. #### What it means in practice - Identify roles where employees work alone: home health visits, late-night retail, field service, property management, utilities. - Run a documented hazard assessment per role. Our free lone worker risk assessment template structures it. - Establish a check-in system with defined intervals and a documented escalation when a check-in is missed - the 1915.84 model. - For public-facing or higher-risk roles, provide a way to summon help immediately: panic alarms, monitored safety devices or apps. - Train workers on the hazards, de-escalation and the procedures, and document the training. - Record incidents on the OSHA 300 log where recordable, and feed them back into the assessment. #### State plans and local rules Twenty-two states run OSHA-approved plans covering private employers, and some go further than federal OSHA on this topic - several states have workplace-violence prevention requirements for healthcare, and some regulate late-night retail work. If you operate in state-plan states, check the state rules; the federal floor is not the ceiling. #### When something goes wrong Report a work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours, and any in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours. Recordable injuries and illnesses go on the OSHA 300 log. Our incident report form template includes the reporting check. #### FAQ Q: Is there a federal lone worker law in the US? A: No single statute. The OSHA General Duty Clause requires employers to address recognized hazards, which covers the amplified risks of working alone. The shipyard standard 29 CFR 1915.84 is the one regulation that explicitly requires checking on lone workers at regular intervals. Q: Can OSHA cite an employer over a lone worker incident? A: Yes - under the General Duty Clause, where the hazard was recognized (industry guidance, prior incidents, or the employer's own assessments) and feasible controls like check-in systems or alarms existed but were not used. Workplace-violence citations in healthcare have followed exactly this pattern. Q: What does a defensible lone worker program look like? A: A written hazard assessment per role, a check-in procedure with defined intervals and escalation, a means for the worker to summon help immediately, documented training, and incident records that feed back into the program. That mirrors both 1915.84 and OSHA's violence-prevention guidance. Q: Do state rules add anything? A: Often. Twenty-two state plans cover private employers and several have their own workplace-violence prevention or late-night retail requirements. Check the state plan wherever you have workers; federal OSHA is the floor, not the ceiling. Last reviewed 2026-07-21. Sources: OSH Act - General Duty Clause, sec. 5(a)(1) (https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/oshact/section5-duties); 29 CFR 1915.84 - Working alone (https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1915/1915.84); OSHA - workplace violence prevention (https://www.osha.gov/workplace-violence); OSHA - state plans (https://www.osha.gov/stateplans) ## Free lone worker safety templates Source: https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/ - each template is downloadable as a Word document, no email required. ### Lone worker risk assessment template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/lone-worker-risk-assessment/ Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must identify hazards and manage the risks of work carried out alone or in isolation. This template walks through the five standard steps and gives you a completed record you can show {{regulator}} if asked. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, operations managers, and team leaders responsible for staff who work alone at any point in their shift. Sections: Assessment details; Step 1 - Identify the hazards; Step 2 - Who is at risk, and how much; Step 3 - Rate each risk and record controls; Step 4 - Choose controls, strongest first; Step 5 - Sign off and review. ### Lone worker policy template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/lone-worker-policy/ A lone worker policy sets the rules everyone follows: who counts as a lone worker, what protections apply, and who is responsible for what. This template gives you a complete policy to adapt. Replace the bracketed text and remove anything that does not apply. Who it's for: {{term}} managers and people leaders writing or refreshing an organisation-wide policy on working alone. Sections: 1. Purpose and scope; 2. Definition; 3. Responsibilities; 4. Check-in requirements; 5. Duress devices and monitoring; 6. Emergency response; 7. Training and review. ### Lone worker check-in procedure template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/lone-worker-check-in-procedure/ A check-in system only works if everyone knows exactly what happens when a check-in is missed. This template sets the schedule by risk level and, more importantly, the escalation ladder that runs automatically when the schedule breaks. Who it's for: Team leaders and rostering managers running day-to-day lone worker operations. Sections: Procedure details; Check-in schedule by risk level; Escalation ladder - missed check-in; Accepted check-in methods; Responsibilities. ### Lone worker incident report form https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/lone-worker-incident-report/ Every incident and near miss involving a lone worker should produce one of these within 24 hours. The form captures the facts while they are fresh, prompts the regulator-notification check, and turns the incident into corrective actions with owners. Who it's for: Any worker or supervisor reporting an incident, near miss or dangerous occurrence involving lone work. Sections: Report details; Incident details; What happened; People involved and witnesses; Immediate actions taken; Notifiable incident check; Corrective actions; Sign-off. ### Lone worker duty of care self-audit https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/duty-of-care-audit/ This audit answers one question: if something happened to a lone worker tomorrow, could you show {{regulator}} that you had met your duty under {{act}}? Answer each item yes, partial or no. Every 'no' is a finding; every 'partial' is a follow-up. Who it's for: {{term}} managers and executives who want an honest picture of their lone worker arrangements before an incident forces one. Sections: A. Policy and planning; B. Risk assessment; C. Controls and equipment; D. Training; E. Monitoring and response; F. Incident reporting and review; Scoring and action. ### Lone worker emergency response plan template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/lone-worker-emergency-response-plan/ When an alarm goes off, the response should already be decided. This plan documents what triggers a response, who does what in the first 30 minutes, and what happens after. Keep it to one page per team and drill it. Who it's for: Supervisors and monitoring coordinators who own the response when a lone worker raises an alarm or goes quiet. Sections: Plan details; What triggers this plan; Response steps; Contact tree; After the incident. ### Home visit safety checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/home-visit-safety-checklist/ Most serious incidents involving community workers happen inside a client's home, out of sight of any colleague. This checklist is the field companion to your risk assessment: quick enough to actually use before every visit, structured enough to catch the known failure points. Who it's for: Community services, healthcare, disability and social services staff conducting home visits alone, and the coordinators who schedule them. Sections: Before the visit; On arrival; During the visit; After the visit; Escalation quick reference. ### Occupational violence and aggression risk checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/occupational-violence-risk-checklist/ Aggression toward staff is the fastest-growing category of workplace harm in customer-facing sectors. This checklist reviews the four areas where violence risk hides: the physical environment, work practices, client factors, and the systems that respond when prevention fails. Who it's for: Managers in retail, healthcare, government services, housing and any role where staff face the public, especially at counters, in waiting areas, or alone. Sections: A. Environment; B. Work practices; C. Client factors; D. Systems and response; Rating and actions. ### Workplace risk assessment template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/workplace-risk-assessment/ Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must identify hazards and either eliminate the risks or reduce them so far as is reasonably practicable. This template works for any hazard, from a wet floor to a machine guard, and produces a record you can show {{regulator}} if asked. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, supervisors, and anyone asked to assess a task, area or piece of equipment for the first time. Sections: Assessment details; Step 1 - Identify the hazards; Step 2 - Who could be harmed, and how; Step 3 - Rate each risk and record controls; Step 4 - Choose controls, strongest first; Step 5 - Record, sign off and review. ### Incident and near-miss report form https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/incident-near-miss-report/ Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must record workplace incidents, and certain serious incidents must be notified to {{regulator}}. This form captures the facts while they are fresh and turns them into corrective actions, for near misses as well as injuries. Who it's for: Supervisors and {{term}} coordinators completing the record, and any worker reporting an incident or near miss. Sections: Report details; What happened; People involved; Injury and treatment; Immediate actions taken; Contributing factors; Corrective actions and sign off. ### Toolbox talk record template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/toolbox-talk-record/ Toolbox talks are short, focused safety conversations held where the work happens. Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must provide information and instruction to workers, and a signed talk record is the simplest evidence that you did. This template keeps each talk to one page. Who it's for: Supervisors and team leaders running talks, and {{term}} coordinators keeping the records. Sections: Talk details; Key points covered; Discussion and questions raised; Attendees; Actions arising; Topic ideas. ### Safety induction checklist template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/safety-induction-checklist/ New workers are injured at a higher rate than experienced ones, and under {{act}} a {{employer}} must provide the information, instruction and supervision needed for them to work safely. This checklist covers the first day and the first week, and ends in a signed record. Who it's for: Managers and supervisors inducting new starters, contractors, labour hire workers and returning workers. Sections: Worker and induction details; Before day one; Day one - site and emergency basics; First week - role-specific safety; Sign off. ### Manual handling risk assessment template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/manual-handling-risk-assessment/ Manual handling injuries are among the most common workplace injuries, and under {{act}} a {{employer}} must manage the risks of hazardous manual tasks. This template uses the TILEO method, examining the Task, Individual, Load, Environment and Other factors, to find where the risk actually sits. Who it's for: {{term}} managers and supervisors assessing lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling or repetitive handling tasks. Sections: Assessment details; T - Task; I - Individual; L - Load; E - Environment; O - Other factors; Rate the risk and record controls. ### Workplace inspection checklist template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/workplace-inspection-checklist/ Regular inspections catch hazards before they become incidents, and under {{act}} they are part of how a {{employer}} demonstrates ongoing risk management. This checklist structures a walk-through of a typical workplace. Delete sections that do not apply and add site-specific items. Who it's for: Supervisors, {{term}} coordinators and health and safety representatives conducting scheduled inspections. Sections: Inspection details; Access, egress and floors; Fire and emergency equipment; Electrical and equipment; Storage, chemicals and housekeeping; People and process; Findings and actions. ### Emergency evacuation plan template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/emergency-evacuation-plan/ Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must prepare an emergency plan for the workplace, and an evacuation procedure is its core. This template records who does what when the alarm sounds, where people go, and how you confirm everyone is out. It only works if people have practised it. Who it's for: Site managers, {{term}} coordinators and wardens responsible for emergency preparedness at a site. Sections: Plan details; Emergency roles and contacts; When the alarm sounds; Assembly area and roll call; Workers needing assistance; Drills and review. ### First aid risk assessment template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/first-aid-risk-assessment/ Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must provide first aid equipment, facilities and trained people appropriate to the workplace. There is no single formula, so the accepted approach is a needs assessment: look at your hazards, your workforce and your distance from help, then decide and record what you will provide. Who it's for: {{term}} managers and office or site managers deciding first aid provisions for a site, and reviewing them annually. Sections: Assessment details; Workplace hazards affecting first aid needs; Workforce and site factors; First aid kits and equipment; Trained first aiders; Decisions and sign off. ### SWMS template (Safe Work Method Statement) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/swms-template/ A Safe Work Method Statement is required under the model WHS Regulations before any of the 18 classes of high risk construction work can start. It breaks the work into steps, states the hazards of each step, and records the controls, and it must be given to the principal contractor before work begins. This template gives you the full structure, including the high risk work checklist and the job steps table. Who it's for: Builders, subcontractors and site supervisors carrying out any of the 18 classes of high risk construction work, and the {{term}} leads who review their SWMS. Sections: Document details; High risk construction work covered by this SWMS; Job steps, hazards and controls; Plant, permits and PPE; Consultation and sign-on; Monitoring and review. ### JSA template (Job Safety Analysis) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/jsa-template/ A Job Safety Analysis (also called a JSEA) breaks a task into steps, lists the hazards of each step, and assigns a control to every hazard. No regulation names the JSA, but it is the standard way to document the risk management duty under {{act}} for a specific task, and most principal contractors expect one before work starts. Who it's for: Supervisors, leading hands and {{term}} coordinators planning specific tasks in construction, utilities, maintenance and field work. Sections: Task details; Break the task into steps; Steps, hazards and controls; Pre-start checks; Sign-on and review. ### Take 5 safety checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/take-5-safety-checklist/ The Take 5 is a personal pre-task check that came out of Australian mining and is now a habit across trades: Stop, Look, Assess, Manage, then Safely proceed. It takes about two minutes and puts the risk management thinking required by {{act}} into the hands of the person about to do the task. It supports a JSA or SWMS; it does not replace one. Who it's for: Frontline workers and supervisors in mining, construction, utilities and trades who need a fast personal check before starting a task. Sections: Before you start; Stop and Look - spot the hazards; Assess - could it hurt me or anyone else; Manage - put controls in place; Safely proceed. ### SSSP template (Site-Specific Safety Plan) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/sssp-template/ A Site-Specific Safety Plan is the New Zealand construction industry's standard document for managing health and safety on a single site under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. The Act does not name the SSSP, but head contractors and government clients almost always require one before site access, and it is how overlapping PCBU duties get coordinated in practice. Who it's for: New Zealand contractors and subcontractors who need a site plan a head contractor will accept, and head contractors setting the standard for their sites. Sections: Project and contact details; Roles and responsibilities; Hazard and risk register; Site rules and induction; Emergency plan; Incident and injury reporting; Review and sign-off. ### Task analysis template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/task-analysis-template/ A task analysis breaks a job into steps and records the hazards and controls for each one. WorkSafe New Zealand expects a PCBU to be able to show how it manages risk under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and a completed task analysis is one of the clearest ways to do that for a specific task. Who it's for: New Zealand supervisors and health and safety leads documenting how specific tasks are done safely, on site or in the yard. Sections: Task details; Steps, hazards and controls; Involve the workers; Check your controls; Sign-off and review. ### RAMS template (Risk Assessment and Method Statement) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/rams-template/ RAMS combines a risk assessment with a method statement: what could cause harm, and the exact sequence of work that keeps it controlled. The term does not appear in legislation, but the risk assessment half is required under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and clients and principal contractors routinely require full RAMS before granting site access. Who it's for: UK contractors, subcontractors and the self-employed who need RAMS a principal contractor or client will accept. Sections: Project and document details; Risk assessment; Method statement - sequence of work; Plant, people and supporting documents; Emergency arrangements; Briefing and sign-on. ### COSHH assessment template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/coshh-assessment-template/ A COSHH assessment is required under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 before work that could expose anyone to hazardous substances starts. This template covers the substance register, exposure evaluation, controls and health surveillance in one document, built around the safety data sheet for each product. Who it's for: Anyone in a UK workplace responsible for chemicals, cleaning products, dusts or fumes, from site managers to facilities and practice managers. Sections: Assessment details; Substance register; Evaluate the exposure; Controls, strongest first; Health surveillance and monitoring; Emergency procedures; Information, training and review. ### DSE workstation assessment template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/dse-workstation-assessment/ The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 require employers to assess the workstation of every DSE user, including hybrid and home workstations. This template is the practical checklist version: screen and inputs, chair and desk, environment and breaks, laptop and home working, and an actions log. Who it's for: UK employers and line managers assessing office, hybrid and home-based staff who use screens for an hour or more at a time. Sections: User and workstation details; Screen, keyboard and mouse; Chair, desk and posture; Environment and breaks; Laptop and home working; Issues and actions. ### Fire risk assessment template https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/fire-risk-assessment-template/ The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person for almost every non-domestic premises in England and Wales to carry out and record a fire risk assessment. This template follows the standard 5-step method: identify hazards, identify people at risk, evaluate and act, record and train, review. Scotland and Northern Ireland have equivalent duties under their own legislation. Who it's for: The responsible person for a UK workplace or non-domestic premises, typically the employer, owner or facilities manager. Sections: Premises details; Step 1 - Identify the fire hazards; Step 2 - Identify the people at risk; Step 3 - Evaluate, remove, reduce and protect; Step 4 - Record, plan, instruct and train; Step 5 - Review. ### Workplace violence and aggression prevention plan https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/workplace-violence-prevention-plan/ Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must eliminate or minimise the risk of violence and aggression toward workers so far as is reasonably practicable. This plan sets out how your organisation prevents it, who owns each part, and what happens when prevention fails. {{regulator}} treats a documented, reviewed plan as core evidence of due diligence. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, executives and site leaders in health, community services, government and retail settings where staff face clients, patients or the public. Sections: Plan details; Statement of commitment; Roles and responsibilities; Prevention program; Reporting and response; Post-incident support; Review and governance. ### Client aggression de-escalation procedure https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/aggression-de-escalation-procedure/ De-escalation only works when everyone follows the same playbook under pressure. Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must give workers procedures and training for foreseeable aggression, and this document is the procedure half: a shared language for how aggression builds, a staged response for each level, and a clear point at which to stop talking and leave. Who it's for: Client-facing staff and their managers in healthcare, community services and retail, and the trainers who run de-escalation refreshers. Sections: Scope; Recognise - early warning signs; Staged response; Respond - what works and what escalates; Remove - ending the interaction; Report and recover. ### Night and after-hours work risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/night-shift-risk-assessment/ Risk changes after dark: fewer people on site, slower response, more fatigue, and access routes that feel different at 11pm than they do at 11am. Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must assess night and after-hours work in its own right, not as a footnote to the daytime assessment. This template covers the hazards daytime assessments miss. Who it's for: Managers rostering staff outside standard hours in healthcare, retail, transport and utilities, including on-call and call-out work. Sections: Assessment details; Night-specific hazards; Risk rating and controls; Controls for after-hours work; After-hours escalation; Sign off and review. ### Cash handling and robbery response procedure https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/cash-handling-robbery-procedure/ The only thing that matters during a robbery is that your staff do the safe thing without having to think. Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} in a cash business must control robbery risk and prepare staff for the event itself. This procedure covers prevention, the two minutes of a robbery, and the first hour after. Who it's for: Store managers, franchisees and area managers in retail, fuel and hospitality, and the staff who open, close and bank. Sections: Procedure details; Prevention - cash controls; During a robbery; Immediately after - the first hour; Support and reporting; Training and drills. ### Community worker home safety checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/community-worker-home-safety-checklist/ When support is delivered in a client's home, that home is a workplace, and under {{act}} a {{employer}} must assess it like one. This checklist is the standing record for each client environment: physical hazards, household and behavioural factors, and the agreed arrangements under which visits go ahead. It sits behind your per-visit routine; this is the assessment that routine draws on. Who it's for: Community, disability and aged care support workers and their coordinators. Completed at service start and reviewed as circumstances change. Sections: Assessment details; Access, exit and communications; Inside the home; Household and behavioural factors; Agreed service arrangements; Sign-off. ### School and campus staff safety checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/school-staff-safety-checklist/ The highest-aggression moments in a school are rarely in the classroom: they are at the front counter, in a parent meeting that goes wrong, and in the car park after an evening event. Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} owes school staff the same protection from aggression as any public-facing workforce, and {{regulator}} expects the same evidence of controls. This checklist covers the four settings where school staff are most exposed. Who it's for: Principals, business managers and {{term}} representatives in schools, colleges and campuses, covering office, teaching and grounds staff. Sections: Front office and reception; Parent and visitor aggression; Grounds, events and pick-up; After hours and working alone; Escalation quick reference; Review. ### Fatigue management plan https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/fatigue-management-plan/ Fatigue degrades judgement, reaction time and risk perception, and it compounds every other hazard on a site. Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must manage fatigue as a workplace risk, and rostering records are among the first things {{regulator}} examines after a fatigue-related incident. This plan sets the scheduling rules, the individual limits and the reporting process. Who it's for: Operations and rostering managers for shift, night and on-call workforces in transport, utilities and healthcare. Sections: Plan details; Fatigue risk factors; Scheduling rules; Individual fatigue management; Monitoring and review. ### Journey management plan https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/journey-management-plan/ For a mobile workforce, the vehicle is the workplace and the highway is the corridor between sites. Under {{act}}, a {{employer}}'s duty travels with the worker, including the hours spent alone on the road. This plan makes each significant journey a managed activity: a planned route, scheduled contact, and a response that starts the moment a check-in is missed. Who it's for: Coordinators and managers of field crews, community teams and solo drivers in transport, utilities and community services, especially where routes leave mobile coverage. Sections: When a journey plan is required; Journey details; Pre-departure checks; During the journey; Missed check-in escalation; Remote and out-of-coverage additions; Sign-off. ### Hazard report form https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/hazard-report-form/ Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must consult workers about {{term}} matters and act on hazards they raise. This form gives workers a low-friction way to report something before it causes harm, and gives you a dated record of what you did about it. Who it's for: Any worker reporting a hazard, and the supervisor or {{term}} manager who has to action it. Sections: Reported by; What is the hazard; Hazard category; Immediate action taken; Supervisor assessment; Controls and close-out; Feedback to the reporter. ### Hazardous chemical register and SDS index https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/chemical-register/ If hazardous chemicals are used, handled or stored at your workplace, {{act}} and its regulations require a {{employer}} to keep a register of them with the current safety data sheet for each, readily accessible to workers. This template is that register plus the SDS index. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, laboratory and workshop supervisors, facilities managers, and anyone who has to answer the question of what is stored where. Sections: Register details; Chemical register; Controls by chemical; Storage and segregation check; Removed from site. ### PPE issue and inspection register https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/ppe-register/ Where PPE is the control, {{act}} requires a {{employer}} to provide it, and to make sure it is suitable, correctly fitted, maintained and actually used. Providing it is not enough on its own. This register records issue, fit, training and inspection so you can show all four. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, store and workshop supervisors, and anyone who hands out equipment and needs a record of it. Sections: Worker details; PPE issued; Fit and training record; Inspection and replacement schedule; Returned, replaced or damaged; Declaration. ### Contractor induction checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/contractor-induction-checklist/ Under {{act}}, duties are shared. A {{employer}} that engages contractors keeps a duty to those workers, and where duties overlap the parties must consult and coordinate. This checklist covers what to verify before a contractor starts and what to tell them, with a signature from both sides. Who it's for: Site and facilities managers, project managers, procurement, and anyone who lets contractors through the gate. Sections: Engagement details; Documents sighted before start; Site rules covered; Emergency arrangements; Coordination of overlapping duties; Declaration. ### Permit to work https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/permit-to-work/ A permit to work is a formal written authorisation to carry out a defined task, in a defined place, for a defined time, under defined controls. It exists to make sure the right people agree the job is safe before it starts, and to make hand-back deliberate rather than assumed. Use it for high-risk work identified by your risk assessment and by the regulations that apply under {{act}}. Who it's for: Permit issuers and authorised persons, maintenance and engineering supervisors, facilities managers, and the workers accepting the permit. Sections: This form supports a competent process, it does not replace one; Permit details; Hazards identified for this task; Isolations and controls in place before work starts; Additional controls required; Authorisation; Suspension and re-validation; Hand-back and close-out. ### Confined space entry permit https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/confined-space-entry-permit/ Confined space work is among the most lethal work there is, and a high proportion of those killed are would-be rescuers who entered without equipment. Entry is tightly regulated under the regulations made with {{act}}, and typically requires a permit, atmospheric testing, a standby person and rescue arrangements established before anyone enters. This template structures that permit. Who it's for: Confined space entry supervisors, authorised permit issuers, standby persons and entrants, in water, waste, manufacturing, agriculture, marine and facilities work. Sections: Read this before using the form; Permit and space details; Hazard identification; Isolation and preparation; Atmospheric testing; Ventilation and breathing apparatus; Rescue arrangements, established before entry; People; Entry and exit log; Close-out. ### Hot works permit https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/hot-works-permit/ Hot work means any task producing flame, sparks or enough heat to ignite something: welding, cutting, brazing, soldering, grinding and thermal work. Most hot work fires start not in the work area but in a void, duct or adjoining room where a spark landed unnoticed. This permit forces the checks that prevent that, including the fire watch that continues after the tools go down. Who it's for: Maintenance and engineering supervisors, facilities managers, permit issuers, contractors doing welding or grinding, and the appointed fire watch. Sections: Before you use this form; Permit details; Fire safety systems; Area preparation; Firefighting equipment on hand; Fire watch; Authorisation; Close-out. ### Working at heights checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/working-at-heights-checklist/ Falls remain one of the largest causes of workplace death and serious injury. The duty under {{act}} is to work through the hierarchy: avoid the work at height if you can, prevent falls if you cannot avoid the work, and minimise the distance and consequences if a fall is still possible. This checklist runs those decisions before the job starts. Who it's for: Supervisors and workers doing roof access, ladder work, scaffold work, elevating work platform operation, or any task near an unprotected edge. Sections: Scope note; Job details; Step 1 - Can the work at height be avoided; Step 2 - Select the access method; Step 3 - Equipment checks; Step 4 - Conditions; Step 5 - Rescue plan; Sign-off. ### Electrical safety checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/electrical-safety-checklist/ Most workplace electrical incidents involve ordinary equipment: a damaged lead, an overloaded board, a missing RCD, a repair attempted by someone unqualified. This checklist covers the routine inspection any competent person can run, and is explicit about the line between that and work only a licensed electrician may do. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, facilities and maintenance staff, office managers, and supervisors responsible for portable equipment. Sections: Who may do what; Leads, plugs and portable equipment; Residual current devices; Switchboards and fixed installation; Test and tag register; Work practices; Faults found and actions. ### Plant and vehicle prestart checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/plant-prestart-checklist/ Under {{act}}, a {{employer}} must ensure plant is maintained and safe to use, and operators are the last line of defence before a fault becomes an incident. A prestart check takes a few minutes and catches the failures that maintenance schedules miss between services. This template covers mobile plant and light vehicles, with space to add machine-specific items. Who it's for: Operators and drivers, transport and depot supervisors, plant managers, and anyone responsible for a fleet or a yard. Sections: Machine and operator; Walk-around, engine off; Function checks, engine running; Machine-specific checks; Operator fitness and conditions; Defects and stop conditions; Declaration. ### Office safety inspection checklist https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/office-safety-inspection/ Offices feel low risk, which is exactly why their inspections get skipped. The hazards are real: falls, poor workstation setup, blocked exits, electrical faults, and aggression at reception. Under {{act}} a {{employer}} owes the same duty here as anywhere else. This checklist runs a quarterly walk-through in about half an hour. Who it's for: Office and practice managers, {{term}} representatives, facilities coordinators, and health and safety committee members doing scheduled inspections. Sections: Inspection details; Walkways, floors and egress; Workstations and ergonomics; Electrical and equipment; Storage, manual handling and amenities; Emergency preparedness; Security, reception and lone working; Actions. ### Health and safety committee meeting agenda and minutes https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/whs-committee-meeting-template/ A health and safety committee is the formal mechanism for consultation between a {{employer}} and workers, and in many workplaces it must be established on request under {{act}}. The meeting is only useful if it tracks actions to completion. This template gives you the standing agenda, the minutes and the action register in one document. Who it's for: Committee chairs and secretaries, {{term}} representatives, and managers who attend as the employer representative. Sections: Meeting details; Attendance and quorum; 1. Previous minutes and outstanding actions; 2. Incidents, injuries and near misses since last meeting; 3. Hazard reports and risk register; 4. Inspections, audits and testing; 5. Consultation matters; 6. Psychosocial and wellbeing matters; 7. New business and next meeting; New action register; Distribution. ### Psychosocial hazard risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/psychosocial-hazard-risk-assessment/ Psychosocial hazards are aspects of work design and management that can cause psychological harm. Under {{act}} a {{employer}} must manage these risks the same way as physical ones. Two of the commonly named hazards, remote or isolated work and exposure to violence and aggression, are exactly where lone-worker risk sits. This template assesses all of them and produces a control plan. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, HR business partners, people leaders, and health and safety committees running their first psychosocial assessment. Sections: Scope note; Assessment details; Step 1 - Identify the hazards present; Step 2 - Gather evidence, not impressions; Step 3 - Assess each hazard; Step 4 - Control, starting with the work itself; Step 5 - Review. ### Driving for work risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/driving-for-work-risk-assessment/ Driving is among the most dangerous things most workers do, and a work vehicle is a workplace. Under {{act}} a {{employer}} must manage the risk of driving done for work, including in a worker's own car. This template assesses the four factors that matter: the driver, the vehicle, the journey and the work schedule that shapes both. Who it's for: Fleet and transport managers, community and outreach service managers, sales and field service leaders, and {{term}} managers in any organisation whose staff drive between sites. Sections: Assessment details; The driver; The vehicle; The journey; The schedule, which is where most driving risk is created; Risk table; Incident and breakdown response. ### Remote and regional travel risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/remote-travel-risk-assessment/ Remote work changes the arithmetic of every other hazard, because the time between something going wrong and help arriving can be hours rather than minutes. Under {{act}} a {{employer}} must manage that, and the regulations in several jurisdictions deal specifically with remote or isolated work and the need for effective communication. This template assesses the journey and sets the overdue response. Who it's for: Field services, utilities and infrastructure teams, environmental and survey staff, regional community and health services, and anyone travelling beyond reliable coverage. Sections: Trip details; Communications, assessed honestly; Journey management and check-in; Overdue response plan; Vehicle and supplies; Environment and site hazards; Risk table and sign-off. ### Heat and outdoor work risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/heat-outdoor-work-risk-assessment/ Heat illness escalates quickly and can be fatal, and the people most at risk are often new, unacclimatised or working hard in protective clothing. Under {{act}} a {{employer}} must manage the risk from working in heat. This template assesses the four things that combine to cause it: the environment, the work, the clothing and the person. Who it's for: Site supervisors, construction and utilities managers, grounds and outdoor services, and anyone responsible for work in hot conditions including hot indoor areas such as kitchens, plant rooms and roof spaces. Sections: Scope note; Assessment details; Step 1 - Environmental conditions; Step 2 - The work and the clothing; Step 3 - The people; Step 4 - Controls; Step 5 - Recognising and responding to heat illness; Risk table. ### Noise risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/noise-risk-assessment/ Noise-induced hearing loss is permanent, cumulative and entirely preventable, and it develops slowly enough that workers rarely notice until it is done. Under {{act}} and its regulations a {{employer}} must manage noise risk, and hearing protection is the last control rather than the first. This template identifies exposures, records measurement and plans real controls. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, plant and workshop supervisors, construction and utilities site managers, and anyone responsible for areas where raised voices are needed to hold a conversation. Sections: Scope note; Assessment details; Step 1 - Identify noise sources; Step 2 - Measure; Step 3 - Controls, in order; Step 4 - Hearing protection, where it is still needed; Step 5 - Health monitoring. ### Pregnant and new parent worker risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/pregnant-worker-risk-assessment/ When a worker tells you they are pregnant, have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, the general duty under {{act}} applies with specific attention to risks affecting them or the pregnancy. This is an individual assessment, done with the worker, and revisited as the pregnancy progresses because what is manageable early often is not later. Who it's for: People leaders, HR business partners and {{term}} managers, particularly in healthcare, community services, retail and any role involving standing, manual handling, chemicals or exposure to aggression. Sections: How to use this well; Assessment details; Physical hazards; Chemical and biological hazards; Psychosocial and work organisation; Agreed adjustments; Return to work and breastfeeding; Sign-off. ### Young and new worker risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/young-worker-risk-assessment/ New workers are injured disproportionately in their first weeks, and young workers combine that inexperience with a reluctance to ask questions or refuse an unsafe task. Under {{act}} a {{employer}} must provide the information, training, instruction and supervision needed for safety, and for these workers that means more of all four. This template sets it. Who it's for: Managers of apprentices, trainees, students, casual and seasonal staff, work experience placements, and anyone inducting new starters into hands-on work. Sections: Scope note; Worker and role; Why the first weeks are the risk; Task review and restrictions; Induction and training; Supervision plan; Check-ins. ### Event safety risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/event-safety-risk-assessment/ An event turns a familiar space into an unfamiliar one, filled with people who do not know the exits. Under {{act}} the duty extends to people affected by the work, which at an event means attendees, volunteers, contractors and performers as well as staff. This template assesses the event and produces the plan. Who it's for: Event organisers, council and community services staff, school and university event coordinators, venue managers and volunteer coordinators. Sections: Event details; Crowd and people flow; Site, structures and services; Vehicles and pedestrians; Weather and environment; Alcohol, behaviour and security; Emergency and medical; Risk table and approval. ### Slips, trips and falls risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/slips-trips-falls-risk-assessment/ Slips, trips and falls on the same level are the most common cause of workplace injury in most sectors, and they are treated as trivial until someone breaks a hip. Under {{act}} a {{employer}} must manage the risk, and almost all of it comes down to a small number of causes: contamination, obstacles, surface changes, lighting and footwear. Who it's for: {{term}} managers, facilities and cleaning managers, retail and hospitality supervisors, healthcare and aged care managers, and anyone running a site with public access. Sections: Assessment details; Step 1 - Contamination, the largest single cause; Step 2 - Floor surface and changes in level; Step 3 - Obstacles and housekeeping; Step 4 - Lighting, visibility and stairs; Step 5 - Footwear, behaviour and work pressure; Risk table and actions. ### Hazardous chemicals risk assessment https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/templates/hazardous-chemicals-risk-assessment/ A chemical register tells you what is on site. A risk assessment tells you whether the way you use it is safe. Under {{act}} and its regulations a {{employer}} must manage the risks of using hazardous chemicals, which means assessing the task rather than the substance in isolation. This template does that, and pairs with the chemical register in this library. Who it's for: Laboratory and workshop supervisors, cleaning and facilities managers, healthcare and aged care managers, agricultural and horticultural operators, and {{term}} managers anywhere chemicals are decanted, mixed, sprayed or heated. Sections: Scope note; Assessment details; Step 1 - Hazard information from the safety data sheet; Step 2 - How exposure actually happens in this task; Step 3 - Controls, strongest first; Step 4 - Storage, spill and emergency; Step 5 - Training and health monitoring. ## Workplace safety glossary Source: https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/ ### Duress alarm https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/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. ### Lone worker https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. Lone work is broader than it sounds. It includes the obvious cases - a community nurse on home visits, a security guard on night patrol, a utilities technician at a remote site - and the less obvious ones: a retail worker closing a store alone, a receptionist after colleagues leave, a support worker alone in a client's home with the client present. The client being there does not make it supervised work; it is often the source of the risk. The law in Australia, New Zealand and the UK does not ban lone work, but it holds employers to the same duty of care as for any other worker - which in practice demands more, because the usual safety net of nearby colleagues is absent. Risk assessments must specifically consider what happens if a lone worker is threatened, injured, or incapacitated with nobody there to notice. The monitoring data shows why the gap matters: alarms raised after hours - when supervision is thinnest - are roughly twice as likely to be confirmed emergencies as alarms raised during the working day. ### Man-down alarm (fall detection) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/man-down-alarm/ 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. Most duress systems assume the worker can act. Man-down protection covers the scenarios where they can't: a fall from height, a medical event, an assault that leaves them unconscious. Motion sensors watch for the signature of a fall or an impact followed by stillness, and trigger the alarm on the worker's behalf. Automatic triggers matter more than most buyers assume. In the FY26 Duress monitoring data, 17.7% of all activations were raised by the system rather than the worker - fall detection, missed check-ins and expired safety timers firing when nobody pressed anything. Good implementations tune out false triggers (a dropped device is not a fallen worker) and pair detection with a fast human response. Detection without response is just a sensor. ### Duty of care (workplace safety) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/duty-of-care/ 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. Every workplace safety law in Australia, New Zealand and the UK is built on this idea. The WHS Act (AU), the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (NZ) and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (UK) all place a primary duty on the employer, and none of them accept 'the worker was alone' as a defence - if anything, working alone raises what counts as reasonable. For lone and client-facing workers, 'reasonably practicable' has hardened over time. Regulators and courts increasingly expect: a documented risk assessment for lone work, a reliable means of raising an alarm, escalation when a worker cannot be reached, and evidence the system actually works. Officer liability provisions mean directors and executives carry personal exposure for systemic failures. The practical test is simple to state: if this worker is threatened or collapses in the next hour, how does help find out, and how fast does it arrive? If the honest answer is 'when someone notices they haven't come back', the duty is not being met. ### Welfare check (worker check-in) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/welfare-check/ A welfare check is a scheduled confirmation that a worker is safe, with escalation that triggers automatically if the worker fails to check in. The traditional version is a supervisor calling at agreed times, or the worker texting 'all good' every couple of hours. It works until it doesn't: calls get missed in meetings, a quiet afternoon lulls everyone, and the one missed check-in that mattered is noticed forty minutes late. Automated check-ins invert the burden. The system prompts the worker; the worker confirms with a tap; a missed confirmation escalates on its own - to a colleague, and then to a monitoring centre - without relying on anyone remembering to notice. In the FY26 Duress data, missed check-ins accounted for 5.8% of all activations, each one a moment where silence itself raised the alarm. Welfare checks complement rather than replace a duress button: the button covers 'help, now'; the check-in covers 'nobody has heard from them'. ### Safety timer https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. ### Monitored alarm response https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. The response model is the biggest hidden difference between lone-worker systems. Two products with identical buttons can behave completely differently at 2am: one surfaces the alert on a dashboard nobody is watching; the other puts a trained operator on the case with the worker's location, audio and video in front of them. The Duress monitoring centre's median pickup is 7 seconds, measured across every activation in FY26. Accreditation is how you verify the claim. Independent gradings - ASIAL grading in Australia, NSI Gold and BS 8484 in the UK, EN 50518 in Europe - audit a centre's staffing, redundancy, and procedures. A vendor who self-describes as '24/7 monitored' without naming an accreditation is asking you to take their word for it. The honest trade-off: professional monitoring answers everything, including false alarms - 93% of activations in FY26 resolved as false alarms or de-escalated without needing emergency services, and every one was answered anyway. That is the price of never missing the real one. ### ASIAL monitoring centre grading https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/asial-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. ASIAL grades monitoring centres against Australian Standard AS 2201.2, covering physical security of the centre itself, redundant power and communications, staffing levels, and documented response procedures. Certification requires ongoing audits, not a one-off inspection. For a buyer, the grading answers a question you cannot easily verify yourself: when an alarm reaches this centre at 3am on a public holiday, is anyone actually there, and does the infrastructure keep working through a power failure or network outage? A1 grading means an independent auditor has verified yes, repeatedly. Duress monitoring holds ASIAL A1 grading in Australia; UK monitoring is NSI Gold accredited. Equivalent marks to look for elsewhere: BS 8484 and EN 50518 in the UK and Europe. ### BLE beacon indoor positioning https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/ble-beacon-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. GPS is the backbone of outdoor location, and nearly useless four walls in. In a hospital, a corrections facility or a large store, 'the address' is not an answer - responders need the ward, the level, the room. Battery-powered BLE beacons fixed through the building broadcast identifiers; the worker's device hears the nearest beacons and reports its position against a floor map. For duress response, the difference is minutes. An activation that says 'Building C, Level 2, East Wing' sends help to the right corridor; one that says '14 Example Street' sends help to a front desk. Beacons are cheap, run for years on coin cells, and need no network of their own - the worker's device does the reporting. The Duress Eagle uses BLE beacon positioning alongside 4G and GPS; Phoenix reports beacon position via its paired phone. ### Body-worn camera (workplace safety) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/body-worn-camera/ 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. Police bodycams record for accountability after the fact. Workplace safety bodycams add a live layer: when a worker activates one, video and audio stream to a monitoring centre in real time, so the operator responding can see the situation, not just hear about it - and dispatch the right help with confidence. The deterrent effect is real and immediate: a visible camera changes behaviour in front of it. Retailers and security teams report de-escalation before recording even begins, because the interaction is witnessed the moment it starts. Evidence quality decides disputes. Time-stamped video of an incident resolves he-said-she-said complaints, supports police reports, and protects workers from false allegations as often as it documents aggression toward them. Duress makes two: Falcon, a 58-gram watch-format camera, and Eagle, a chest-worn dual-camera unit for higher-risk roles. ### Panic button https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/panic-button/ A panic button is a dedicated trigger - fixed, wearable, or on a phone screen - that a person presses to summon urgent help. The button is the simplest part of a safety system and the most scrutinised, because it is the part in the worker's hand at the worst moment. Fixed buttons live under desks and counters; wearable buttons travel as cards, fobs, watches and rings; app buttons live on a phone screen, often with gestures designed to work without looking. What matters is less the button than three properties around it. Reachability: can it be pressed mid-confrontation, without unlocking anything, without looking? Silence: does pressing it stay invisible to the person causing the threat? And the response: who is on the other end, how fast, with what information. In the FY26 Duress data, deliberate presses reached a monitoring operator in a median of 7 seconds. The failure mode to design against is the button nobody can reach. A phone in a bag, a fixed button behind an aggressor, a fob in a jacket in the car. This is why layered systems pair a button with automatic triggers - fall detection and timers that act when pressing is impossible. ### Personal safety app https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. For many roles, the phone people already carry is the most practical safety device. A good safety app puts an alarm two gestures away (slide-to-alert, triple-tap), runs timers and welfare check-ins in the background, and streams location and audio to whoever responds when something fires. Apps have honest limits. They depend on the phone being charged, in reach, and usable mid-incident - conditions that aggression scenarios routinely break. In the FY26 Duress data, app-based activations skew heavily toward lower-risk, precautionary use, while wearable devices carry more of the confirmed emergencies. That is not an argument against apps; it is an argument for matching the tool to the risk. The strongest deployments treat the app as the software layer of a system: app-only for lower-risk staff, app plus a wearable trigger for client-facing roles, all reporting into the same monitored response. ### Occupational violence and aggression (OVA) https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/occupational-violence-aggression/ Occupational violence and aggression (OVA) is any incident in which a person is abused, threatened, or assaulted in circumstances arising out of their work. OVA is the formal name for the risk most frontline teams simply call aggression: the escalating customer, the volatile patient, the threatening visitor on a home visit. It spans verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, spitting, physical assault, and gendered violence - whether from clients, patients, customers or members of the public. Regulators across Australia, New Zealand and the UK treat OVA as a foreseeable workplace hazard, which places it squarely inside the employer's duty of care: it must be risk-assessed, controlled, and reviewed like any other hazard. Health, community services, retail and government consistently sit at the top of OVA exposure because their work is inherently public-facing. The monitoring data reflects OVA's signature: it is immediate. Sectors with high OVA exposure raise alarms by deliberate trigger - a button pressed mid-incident - rather than by timers, and their alarms confirm as real emergencies at the highest rates after hours, when staffing is thinnest. ### Psychosocial hazards https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. Safety law has caught up with what frontline teams always knew: harm is not only physical. Australian WHS regulations now explicitly require employers to manage psychosocial hazards, and the published lists put exposure to occupational violence, traumatic events, and remote or isolated work near the top. Lone work appears in the psychosocial framework twice. Isolation itself is listed as a hazard - low support, nobody nearby when something goes wrong - and the fear that follows an aggressive incident is a recognised harm even when no physical injury occurred. A worker who no longer feels safe doing home visits has suffered a work-related harm. Practical controls overlap heavily with physical-safety controls: reliable ways to summon help, response that actually arrives, and evidence for workers that the system behind them works. Confidence is a control: teams report that carrying a monitored device changes how safe the work feels, not just how safe it is. ### Code black https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. Hospitals run on colour codes - red for fire, blue for medical emergency - and black is the one for people: an armed threat, a violent patient, an assault in progress, a staff member in danger. Calling a code black mobilises security and trained responders to a location, fast. The weak point in many code black systems is the trigger. Wall-mounted duress buttons assume the incident happens near a wall; overhead announcements assume the worker can reach a phone and speak. Wearable duress devices close that gap: a nurse pinned in a bed bay or a clinician in a car park can raise the alarm silently, with their exact location attached. Beyond hospitals, the same pattern appears wherever teams formalise aggression response: corrections, emergency departments, mental health units, and increasingly community settings where the responder is a monitoring centre rather than on-site security. ### Journey management https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. Born in mining and oil and gas, journey management has spread to any organisation whose people drive long distances for work: utilities crews, community nurses covering rural rounds, field service teams, council officers. The core discipline is simple - a journey has a plan, a start, checkpoints, and an end that somebody confirms. Traditional journey management runs on paper forms and a supervisor's memory, and fails the same way manual check-ins fail: quietly. Modern implementations put the journey on the worker's device - a safety timer per leg, automatic escalation when a checkpoint passes unmet, and live location so a response goes to where the traveller actually is, not where the plan said they would be. The after-hours data explains why this matters: the highest-risk hours for lone workers are precisely the hours when informal supervision is off duty. A journey that ends at 9pm needs a system, not a colleague who might notice in the morning. ### Buddy system https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. The buddy system is the oldest safety control there is, and at its best it brings things technology cannot: judgement, context, and someone who notices that you sounded wrong on the phone, not just that you missed a check-in. Its failure modes are equally human. Buddies get busy, go into meetings, finish shifts, and assume silence means fine. The riskiest hours - evenings, weekends - are exactly when the buddy is least available. And the system doubles the coordination load: every solo worker needs a reliable counterpart, every shift, without gaps. The strongest designs keep the buddy and add a system underneath: automatic check-ins that escalate to a monitoring centre when both the worker and the buddy miss them. The buddy provides care; the system provides certainty. ### Duress response plan https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. Most safety programs over-invest in the trigger and under-specify the response. A response plan closes that gap with concrete answers: the alarm reaches a monitored operator within a stated time; the operator has the worker's identity, location, and live audio; escalation follows a documented tree - nominated contacts, on-site response, emergency services - with the criteria for each step written down in advance. Good plans are measured, not aspirational. The two numbers that matter are time-to-human (in the FY26 Duress data, a 7-second median) and time-to-resolution (a 90-second median for false alarms; around nine minutes of live response for confirmed emergencies). If a vendor or an internal plan cannot state its numbers, the plan is a hope. Plans also decide what happens on the 93% of activations that do not end up needing emergency services: a defined verification script, de-escalation with the worker on the line, and a record. Answering everything is the design, so the plan has to make answering everything cheap. ### SOS button https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/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. ### GPS personal alarm https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/gps-personal-alarm/ A GPS personal alarm is a duress device that transmits the wearer's live location with every alert, so responders go to the person rather than an address on file. Location is what turns an alarm into a response. A GPS personal alarm streams the wearer's position continuously during an incident, so an operator follows a moving worker in real time - in a vehicle, on foot, between properties - instead of dispatching to a stale address. GPS alone has two well-known gaps: indoors and blackspots. Indoors, buildings blur GPS to the street level, which is why serious systems add BLE beacon positioning to resolve floor and room. In coverage blackspots, the device holds and reports the last known location, and retries across 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi and SMS until a channel returns. Privacy design matters in a workplace tool: location should stream during an alert and check-in events, not track workers continuously by default. Ask any vendor to explain exactly when location is visible and to whom. ### Working alone policy https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/working-alone-policy/ A working alone policy is the document that sets out how an organisation identifies lone-work situations, controls their risks, and maintains contact with workers who are alone. A working alone policy answers four questions in writing: who counts as working alone (including brief and incidental periods), what risks each lone-work situation carries, what controls apply (from scheduling and buddy arrangements to monitored duress systems), and how contact is maintained - check-in cadence, escalation steps, and who does what when contact is lost. Regulators in Australia, New Zealand and the UK all expect lone-work risk to be assessed and controlled under general duty-of-care law, and a written policy is the evidence that it was. The policy is also where response expectations become measurable: 'check in every two hours' and 'escalate after 15 minutes of no contact' are auditable in a way 'stay in touch' never is. A policy without a working mechanism behind it is paper. The check-in cadence needs a system that actually escalates when a check-in is missed, and the duress procedure needs an alarm that actually gets answered. That is where monitored systems fit: they make the policy self-enforcing. ### Escalation procedure https://www.duress.com/en-au/resources/glossary/escalation-procedure/ An escalation procedure is the pre-agreed sequence of steps that runs when a worker misses a check-in or raises an alarm: who is contacted, in what order, how quickly, and when emergency services are called. Escalation is where lone-worker programs succeed or quietly fail. The alarm firing is the start; the escalation procedure decides what actually happens next. A good one names every step: attempt contact with the worker, notify the nominated responders, engage the monitored response, dispatch emergency services with the last known location - each with a time bound and an owner. The common failure is escalation that depends on one person noticing. If the procedure is 'the supervisor calls the worker back', it fails on the supervisor's day off. Monitored systems close that gap by making the first steps automatic: a missed check-in escalates on its own, and a trained operator runs the sequence the same way at 3am as at 3pm. In the Duress system, escalation is logged end to end: every attempt, timestamp and decision posts to the incident record, which is what an investigation or insurer will ask for afterwards.