What is a duress alarm? Personal duress alarms and panic buttons explained

The short answer

A duress alarm is a device a person uses to call for help when they are threatened, injured or facing an emergency. Pressing it sends an alert to someone who can respond, such as a supervisor, a control room or a security team. A personal duress alarm is worn or carried by the worker; a fixed duress alarm is mounted in one place, such as under a counter. "Panic button" and "panic alarm" usually mean the same thing.

Duress alarm, panic button or personal alarm?

The terms overlap, and suppliers use them differently. In practice:

• Duress alarm traditionally means an alarm raised when someone is under threat from another person, often without the other person noticing. Today it is used for any work alarm that calls for help in an emergency.
• Panic button or panic alarm is the everyday name for the same idea: one button that raises the alarm. A panic button alarm can be fixed to a wall or desk, or worn by the person.
• Personal alarm often means a small siren that makes a loud noise to draw attention nearby. A siren does not tell anyone further away that help is needed, so it does a different job from a duress alarm that sends an alert.

What matters is not the name but where the alert goes and who acts on it.

Types of duress alarm

Some duress alarms add features such as two-way voice, fall or non-movement detection, or GPS location. Each feature changes what the device does, what it costs to run and what needs testing, so decide which ones your risk assessment actually calls for.

How a duress alarm system works

A duress alarm on its own is just a button. A duress alarm system is the whole chain around it: the way the alarm is raised, the network that carries it, the people who receive it, and the response they start. If any link is missing, the alarm does not lead to help. An alarm that reaches an unattended inbox, or a device that cannot get a signal where the person works, gives a false sense of safety.

When you compare duress alarm systems, compare the whole chain, not just the device.

What Australian WHS guidance says about duress alarms

Australian work health and safety law does not require one particular device. Under the model Work Health and Safety Regulations (regulation 48), a business must manage the risks of remote or isolated work and provide a system of work that includes effective communication with the worker. Regulators name duress alarms as one way to do that:

• Safe Work Australia says businesses must ensure workers have ways to access emergency assistance and must prepare an emergency plan, giving as an example providing duress alarms or alert systems so workers can call for emergency assistance if they are working alone or need to discreetly raise an alarm.
• SafeWork NSW lists personal duress alarms among the control measures for remote or isolated work, alongside communication devices, check-in and sign-off arrangements, and emergency plans.
• WorkSafe Victoria, in a safety alert on duress alarms in healthcare, recommends testing duress alarms at the start of each shift, regular training on how and when to use them including simulated drills, and consulting employees and health and safety representatives when choosing alarm types and locations.

Requirements differ between states and territories, and Victoria has its own occupational health and safety laws. Check the guidance from the regulator where your people work. Our guide to lone worker safety in Australia covers the law on working alone in more detail.

What to check before choosing a duress alarm

• Coverage where people actually work. Test the alarm at the real work locations, not in the office. A device that depends on mobile signal will not raise the alarm from a place with no coverage.
• One press, under stress. A person who is hurt, frightened or wearing gloves needs a simple, quick way to raise the alarm.
• Worn, not stored. An alarm left in a vehicle or a bag cannot be pressed. Choose something people will keep on them.
• Who receives the alarm. Decide who receives alarms, at what hours, and what they do next. An alarm nobody is watching is not a system of work.
• What the receiver sees. Responders need to know who raised the alarm and roughly where, so they can send the right help to the right place.
• Testing, charging and training. Devices need regular testing and charging, and people need practice using them.
• Records and review. A log of each alarm and the response helps you review what worked and improve your arrangements.
• Worker input. Consult the people who will carry the alarm. They know where it will and will not work.

Duress alarms beyond mobile coverage

Much of regional and remote Australia has no reliable mobile signal, and that is where a lone worker is furthest from help. Many personal duress alarms and phone apps send their alert over the mobile network, so they cannot raise the alarm from those places. For people who work on mine sites, farms, rail corridors, utility assets and in national parks, the question to ask any supplier is simple: how does the alarm get out from where this person works?

Where Lone Worker SOS fits

Lone Worker SOS is TOM SHAW's lone worker alarm for places beyond mobile coverage. The worker wears a rugged panic button that does one thing: pressed, it sends the alarm. A long-range radio gateway in the work vehicle hears the button across the site and sends the alarm out over mobile where there is signal, or by satellite where there isn't. If every link drops, the alarm is held and forwarded the moment one returns. The control centre console shows who pressed, which button and where the alarm was received, and the operator dispatches the best-placed responder.

The button is deliberately simple. It is not a two-way voice or fall-detection device, so if your risk assessment calls for those, plan for them separately. If you are weighing a phone-based option, see lone worker app or SOS button: how to choose.

Sources

• Safe Work Australia, Remote and isolated work: managing risks (emergency assistance and duress alarms).
• Safe Work Australia, Model Work Health and Safety Regulations (consolidated 1 July 2024): regulation 48.
• SafeWork NSW, Remote or isolated work.
• WorkSafe Victoria, Duress alarms in healthcare (safety alert).