- Promotes Workplace Safety
The recent domestic and international events have many people thinking about workplace safety and security. A key element of a panic button is to get responders notified and responding as soon as possible. This lowers the possibility of injury to you and your staff. It’s always recommended to call 911 as soon as possible; however, picking up the phone may not always be an option. A panic button is a simple and cost-effective solution that can greatly strengthen response to any threat.
- Cost Effective
Having 15 years of experience in the industry, I have witnessed where organizations spend outrageous amounts of money on ineffective tools to promote workplace security. Purchased with good intentions, the realization that threats can come from any direction greatly minimizes the effectiveness of the product. A good technology-driven panic button system usually comes at a fraction of the cost of other products and offers more versatility.
- Versatility
Threats can come from many different directions. Using buzz-in systems and high-tech camera systems are good; however, a threat can just as easily come from within. I have never heard of a time where a buzz-in system or high-tech camera has stopped a crime from being carried out. If you take a good and effective incident response plan and mix it with an innovating panic button system, you can have a formula to handle any threat that comes your way. The formula can potentially interrupt a threat at its inception.
- Technology
The opportunity to use technology to reinvent a product has a lot of benefits. While I’m not a fan of the hardwired panic button systems offered by alarm companies, I do support technology driven panic button systems. Panic button systems have been innovated to be more than just a panic button, they can be built to meet the needs of your organization. An innovative panic button system should be able to integrate internal and external notification to the push of a button. This means it will alert staff and responders at the same time.
- Personal vs. Workplace Panic Buttons
Having a multitude of personal and workplace safety experience. The option to have a personal panic button using a phone app is great. There are some very innovative and cost-effective apps that can be on a personal cell phone to alert responders in the event of an emergency. The option for a workplace panic button is significantly different from a phone app personal panic button. There are some innovative panic button systems that can involve phones and other notification channels. I would not recommend solely relying on a phone app for a workplace panic button system. Unfortunately, safety and security initiatives need to be taken given unfortunate circumstances happening around the world.