Roughly two million Americans are victims of workplace violence every year. ¹ In the healthcare industry, the dangers are even more pronounced. As reported by the Center for Personal Protection & Safety, “healthcare professionals are 16 times more likely to be attacked on the job than any other service professionals.” ²
While it is impossible to eliminate the possibility of violence in the workplace, there are measures that can greatly reduce the risk. Of those measures, studies have found a wireless duress system to be the most effective. After surveying the complete range of security options available to emergency departments, the Institute for Emergency Nursing Research came to the following conclusion: “Only 1 [environmental control measure] was significantly associated with lower odds of physical violence – panic button/silent alarm.” ³
Unlike other types of security products, a duress button is used for the sole purpose of protecting people from personal harm. It does so by providing instant alerts to security personnel in case of an emergency event. When a mobile duress system is deployed, each staff member carries a duress button to be activated in case of an emergency event, providing them the ability to send a call for help immediately. This can be when an employee considers his or herself in imminent danger, needs immediate assistance, or even becomes aware of a broader emergency in need of reporting. A duress button provides protection not only for the staff member carrying it, but for the entire workforce and healthcare environment.
Location
Though security systems can easily associate a fixed pendant with a specific location upon installation, determining the indoor location of a mobile duress pendant is significantly more difficult, and usually cost prohibitive to deploy even when possible. But in the event of an emergency, no information is more important to responders than the location of the activation.
A mobile duress system that cannot demonstrate its ability to deliver precise room and floor level location accuracy is of little use in large commercial settings. Through rigorous and repeatable testing, Inovonics has proven the location precision of its mobile duress system. The Inovonics mobile duress system delivers an innovative location solution, built upon the reliability and cost effectiveness of EchoStream®. It delivers precise location accuracy — room, zone or floor, depending on what your specific location requires — using application programming interface (API) push notifications to integrate directly into a central station or other IP-based software application. Those in danger can easily and discreetly notify responders with the location of the incident, lowering response times when it matters most.
To learn more, click here to read white paper: “Mobile Duress in Healthcare”
1.US Department of Labor, accessed 2021. “DOL Workplace Violence Program.”
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/centers-offices/human-resources-center/policies/workplace-violence-program
2.Center for Personal Protection & Safety, 2010.
3. Institute for Emergency Nursing Research, 2011. “Emergency Department Violence Surveillance Study”
