A silent panic button for reception and interview rooms, because family-law tension doesn’t announce itself.
A silent trigger on every screen, answered by the colleagues nearby. No server hardware, it runs on a PC you already leave on. Works even when the internet is down. From A$299/year.
No credit card required for the trial. No additional hardware needed. No IT needed, as long as you have appropriate rights.
A property settlement, an intervention order, a service of process, legal work walks volatile people through your door on their worst day. In the interview room with the door closed, the receptionist can’t see you. Your screen can call her.
What a legal practice deals with
Two sides of a dispute, one waiting room
Family law, wills and estates, and tenancy work all create the possibility of the other party arriving unannounced. Reception is the person who has to manage that, and they are usually alone at the front.
The reception is the security
Most practices have a glass door, an intercom and a receptionist. There is no guard, no screen and no barrier, and the meeting rooms are usually within a few metres of the front door.
Client meetings run past everyone else’s hours
Signings, conferences and after-hours appointments regularly leave a solicitor and a client in a boardroom with an otherwise empty floor and the lights off in the rest of the suite.
Where legal offices usually put it
- Reception, which is the only position that sees who walks in.
- Every meeting and conference room with a computer, especially the one nearest the front door.
- Solicitors’ offices, so the people behind closed doors are reachable.
- The practice manager’s desk, usually the fastest and most willing responder.
- Any machine used for after-hours appointments, when the rest of the floor is empty.
The meeting room closest to reception is worth covering first. It is the room the receptionist will put an unexpected visitor in, and it is the one they cannot see into once the door closes.
Three colours. Everyone understands them in one demo.
Green means ready
A small dot sits quietly in the corner of every screen. Staff know at a glance the system is live.
Red means help now
One click, hotkey or desk button, and a pop-up appears over whatever colleagues are working on, showing exactly where help is needed. No sound in the room. Nothing the visitor can see.
Orange means responding
The first colleague to respond is recorded, and the person who raised the alert sees their button turn orange. They know help is on the way before it arrives.
- Help is acknowledged. The moment a colleague responds, the person who raised the alert sees their button turn orange, they know help is coming before it arrives.
- No server hardware. Duress Alert runs on a Windows PC you already leave on, and alerts travel over your own network, so they keep working even when the internet is down.
- Easy to roll out. You install it yourself in about five minutes per computer, with the silent-install packages and a rollout guide included. Already a Duress Alert customer upgrading? We help you do it over a secure screen share.
Prefer something you can press without looking?
Add a physical button where it helps, from A$25 plus delivery. Unlike a hardwired button, Duress Alert warns you on screen the moment a button is unplugged, and confirms when it’s back, so you never discover a dead button during an emergency. And if a button ever fails, staff can still raise the alert from the screen, tray icon or hotkey.
A control you can evidence.
Partners carry WHS duties like any employer, and law societies’ practice-management guidance expects documented safety procedures for client-facing staff. Duress Alert’s dated raise, respond, reset history is evidence you can table, not a policy on a shelf.
“Our receptionist hit the fixed button under the desk during a confrontation, and found out later it was broken. With Duress Alert she knows: if it’s green, we can see her.”
Sally Anderton, Legal Practice, VIC
Simple annual pricing
Team Safe
Group Safe
Corporate Safe
Multi Site Safe
Prices exclude GST. Local taxes are added where they apply.
Install and options
- One-off install A$99, includes training and 12 months of support.
- Optional physical desk button, from A$25 plus delivery. It warns you on screen the moment it is unplugged, so you never find a dead button in an emergency.
Start your free 21-day trial, covering up to 25 computers. Configure it and roll it out across your site, at no cost. The trial itself is free. If you go ahead afterwards, we can set it up with you for a one-off A$99. When you move from the trial to a full licence there is no extra effort, everything you have set up simply keeps running. No payment details to start, and you can cancel anytime.
Prices in AUD. In the UK, USA, Canada or Europe? See local pricing: UK, USA, Canada, Europe.
For your IT provider
Your IT person (or ours) can push Duress Alert to every computer automatically, silent-install MSIs generated by the server with your configuration baked in, central management of every setting, and support for shared/remote desktops (RDS) and Mac. Client-to-server traffic stays on your local network (default TCP 8001); only the server talks to the cloud, over HTTPS, for licensing and reporting. Have an IT team, multiple sites, or shared/remote desktops? See our IT deployment page, silent installs, central configuration and rollout at any scale.
Common questions.
Yes, where the room has a computer. Practices that use meeting rooms without a machine typically add a USB button on the boardroom table or place the room next to a covered office.
No. There is nothing audible and nothing visible from the client’s side of the table. What follows is a colleague putting their head in, which is the least confrontational way to change a room.
Everybody else on a covered machine, including solicitors behind closed doors who would otherwise hear nothing. That is the specific gap in a legal office: the help is present but sealed off.
No. The record is which machine raised the alert, when, and who acknowledged it. No names, no matter details, no audio.
Yes. Work health and safety law requires employers to manage the risk of occupational violence wherever staff deal with the public. A duress alarm on every screen is a practical, demonstrable control, and Duress Alert’s dated alert log is the evidence you can table.
No. Duress Alert runs on the Windows and Mac computers you already have. An optional physical desk button can be added from A$25 where a tactile trigger helps.
Annual licensing starts from A$299 for up to 10 users, with Group, Corporate and Multi Site plans above that, plus a one-off A$99 install. Every plan includes a free 21-day trial.
The trial licence expires and alerting stops until a licence is applied. Nothing is charged automatically, and we hold no payment details from the trial.
Buy the licence in the Duress Alert cloud portal. If your server is cloud connected, which is the default, the licence updates itself at the server’s next check-in, and it checks in daily. For an offline installation, our team coordinates with you to apply the licence.
Whichever you prefer. You can run the silent installer yourself in about five minutes per computer, your own IT provider can do it, or we can do it with you as a one-off install service that includes training and 12 months of support.
Tell us about your site.
Tell us your team size and setting, and we’ll show you how Duress Alert works on your own desks and what a rollout looks like. We get back to you quickly.
Protect the people who open your door.
Questions? +61 1300 366 911 (Australia).
