The world can be a very dangerous place. Crime happens daily. Mass shootings and other large-scale violent acts are, unfortunately, becoming commonplace. And it’s not just crime and violence—accidents happen every day. People slip and fall. They get injured using heavy machinery. Some people have health issues that make them more susceptible to emergency situations. Life is inherently dangerous. Of course, this doesn’t mean everyone has to feel like they’re walking on thin ice every day. A little bit of sensible precaution can go a long way—especially if you are an employer.
Being a business owner can feel like being a parent. You are ultimately responsible for your employees’ growth, success and safety. Keeping your employees safe and your business running at full throttle are likely at the top of your mind every day, but are you taking the necessary precautions to ensure it is happening?
Emerging technology is making it a lot easier for employers to protect their employees—and their bottom line. The “employee panic button” is quickly becoming the go-to solution for business owners whose employees work in risky environments.
It’s a relatively simple concept, updated and improved using the latest technology. Medical alert devices have provided safety panic buttons for decades. And while the concept is essentially the same—a person in trouble simply presses a button to signal for help—today’s employee panic buttons do a lot more, a lot more easily. Think of a medical alert device as a pager, and modern employee panic buttons as a smartphone. That’s the new level of sophistication these products offer.
When an employee is in trouble, they simply press the panic button to call for help. However, not all employee panic buttons have the same features and benefits after that initial alert.
When choosing an employee panic button, look for one with features that will allow you to design the safest security system for your employees. One great feature to look for is a button that syncs through an app on your smartphone to route the alert to as many or as few people as you want. This allows you to design a security system that is likely to generate the fastest response.
You also want the option to send an alert simultaneously to a group of your own contacts for better coordination in the event of an emergency. The best systems immediately provide a GPS location to all contacts, making response easier and faster.
But what happens if the contacts don’t respond immediately? Your best option is to choose a solution that will make a backup call to 911, like SolusGuard. If after the button is pushed and no one answers the alert within two minutes, a call to 911 is automatically placed by the system. This way, you know you are giving employees the best safety options available.
The more advanced employee panic buttons, like SolusGuard, are fully customizable to fit you and your employees’ specific needs—and optimized to ensure faster and more coordinated response times. You can design the communication tree exactly how you see fit. You can coordinate with your company’s security team, employees’ families, or even utilize a third-party monitoring service. Every business has different needs. This technology is designed to meet them.
Communications and alerts aren’t the only things you can customize. With a simple mobile or desktop interface, you can view dashboards that display all of the pertinent information you need about the incident in real-time. Many modern employee panic buttons, like SolusGuard’s, also offer incident reporting features that keep logs and generate reports for compliance management and other situations where you need a full, detailed record.
Medical alert devices are typically big and gaudy. Good luck getting your employees to strap one of those on with that nice suit! Employee panic buttons like SolusGuard’s are lightweight and have a smaller profile than most key fobs. They can be worn as a pendant, on a belt loop clip or anywhere else that is both comfortable and accessible to each individual person.
Protecting your employees—and your business—has never been easier thanks to this new technology. You no longer have to choose between safety and the bottom line. With the modernized employee panic button, you can have both.