Panic Alarms & Duress Buttons

A panic button exists for the situation nobody rehearses: the moment when someone needs help and cannot pick up a phone to ask for it. Done right, it is one press, silent, and help is moving before the situation escalates. Done wrong, it is a dusty button under a desk that nobody remembers in the moment or, worse, one that triggers a loud siren when silence was the safe option.

Plan Panic Coverage

Silent or Audible Is the First Decision

An audible alarm ends shoplifting; a silent one protects a teller facing a robbery. Getting this wrong is dangerous, so it is the first design conversation: each button gets programmed for the scenario its location implies. Silent activations route straight to the central station, where an operator follows your response plan, police dispatch, a call cascade to managers, or both, without anything changing in the room where the button was pressed.

Audible has its place too: an occupied-building emergency where clearing people out is the goal, or a lone worker scenario where attention itself is protection. Either way, the choice gets made deliberately, per button and per scenario, and revisited when the building's use changes.

Fixed Buttons, Pendants, and Everything Between

Where people work determines what they press:

Fixed Desk & Wall Buttons: Reception desks, teller lines, cash offices, and nurse stations, mounted where a hand naturally rests, out of accidental reach.
Wearable Pendants: For staff who move: lone workers, night managers, home-visit personnel, and clinicians. Press from anywhere on the property.
Classroom & Lockdown Buttons: School duress buttons that alert the office and initiate lockdown procedures, increasingly expected in safety plans and state guidance.
Keypad Duress Codes: A second alarm code that disarms the system normally while silently signaling that the disarm happened under coercion.

The Button Is 10% of the System

The other 90% is what happens after the press. Who gets called, in what order, with what instructions; whether an operator pulls up cameras to give police real information instead of a blind dispatch; whether the front doors lock automatically on a lockdown activation. We build that response chain with you, write it down, and test it, including live tests with the monitoring center so staff have pressed the real button and seen what happens before the day it counts. Panic devices ride on the same panel as your burglar alarm, so there is one system to maintain, not two.

Talk Through a Response Plan

Where Panic Coverage Matters Most

The buildings where we install panic and duress systems most, and what drives it:

Schools: Classroom duress and campus lockdown, aligned with the school's existing emergency plan.
Churches: Greeter stations, offices, and childrens areas, protection that stays invisible during worship.
Gas Stations & Convenience Stores: Late-night registers, the classic silent-alarm scenario.
Medical & Front Desks: Reception staff who face the public alone, and clinicians flagged by workplace-violence programs.

Panic Alarm Questions

What happens when someone presses a panic button?

Whatever your response plan says, executed by a 24/7 operator: typically silent notification to the central station, immediate police dispatch with your site details, and a call cascade to designated staff. The plan is written per building and per button, then tested live so nothing about it is theoretical.

Do panic buttons cause false alarms?

Poorly placed ones do. Buttons get mounted where a deliberate press is easy and an accidental one is hard, recessed housings, lift-cover designs, and placement away from knees and cleaning rags. Duress systems also carry verification steps in the response plan where seconds allow it.

Can panic alarms work without a landline?

Yes, modern systems signal over cellular communicators, which is what we install by default. No phone line to cut, and the signal path is supervised, so the monitoring center knows if it ever goes quiet.

Are classroom panic buttons required in North Carolina?

Requirements vary by state and district, and the direction of travel is clearly toward them; several states now mandate silent panic alerting in schools. Whether or not your district requires it yet, the hardware is inexpensive against the stakes, and grants frequently cover school safety equipment. We can help a school scope it either way.

How much does a panic alarm system cost?

Added to an existing monitored alarm, fixed buttons often run a few hundred dollars each installed; standalone systems with cellular monitoring start around the cost of a basic burglar alarm. Wearable pendant systems price by coverage area. The response-plan work is included, because a button without a plan is theater.

Panic Alarms & Duress Buttons

Silent or Audible Is the First Decision

Fixed Buttons, Pendants, and Everything Between

The Button Is 10% of the System

Where Panic Coverage Matters Most

Panic Alarm Questions

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