A duress alarm for employment services offices, silent help when a payment-suspension conversation escalates.
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 mutual-obligation failure, a suspended payment, and a participant who has nothing left to lose telling your consultant about it across a desk. Sector data has said it for years: this is where frontline aggression lives. Seat the consultant where the screen is, and the screen is the alarm.
What an employment services site deals with
Payments are the flashpoint
A missed appointment reported, an obligation not met, a payment suspended. Consultants are required to report things that cost their clients money, and the client finds out about it in the room with the consultant.
Attendance is compulsory, not chosen
People at the counter are there because they have to be. That is a different relationship from a customer who wants the service, and it removes the pressure valve of simply leaving.
The floor is open plan
Interview desks in an open room mean an argument at one desk is heard at every other one. Staff need a way to summon a colleague that does not add to what everyone in the room is already watching.
Where employment services usually put it
- Every interview desk on the floor, not just the ones near the entrance.
- Reception and the sign-in kiosk position, where the appointment dispute starts.
- Private meeting rooms, used for the harder compliance conversations.
- The site manager’s office, so the responder is someone with authority to change the tone.
- The training or activity room, where a group session leaves one staff member with many participants.
The appointments where a suspension is going to be discussed are known in advance. Cover the desks and rooms where those conversations happen first, and the rest of the site second.
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.
Workforce Australia and DES providers carry explicit WHS expectations from the department, and psychosocial hazard codes make occupational violence a duty, not a suggestion. Duress Alert’s log is the evidence your contract manager and your regulator both accept. 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.
That is the usual configuration. A keyboard shortcut works while they are still typing notes, and nothing on their screen changes in a way the client would notice.
Most sites set the site manager and the team leaders as the people expected to move, with everyone else receiving so they are aware. Deciding this in advance is what stops five people standing up at once.
It records when an alert was raised, from which desk, and who acknowledged it. That gives your report a factual spine. What happened and how it was handled is still your write-up.
Yes, and small sites are usually where it matters most. Each site alerts on its own network, so the response is people in that building, and where sites are cloud connected the region can see incidents in one place.
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.
Cover every interview room in the network.
Questions? +61 1300 366 911 (Australia).
