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About staff duress alerts

  • Updated

Staff duress alerts, activated from a Kontakt.io Smart Badge, are the heart of the Kio Staff Safe solution. When an alert is activated, designated responders are notified of the alerting incident. 

Things to know

At anytime, staff can discretely call for help by pressing a button on their Smart Badge that activates an alert and sends notifications to responders with the staff's real-time location and alert details. Be sure to educate staff on your organization's Alert Rule and Smart badge configuration, which is explained below.

  • Alert Rule configuration: . Specifies which button - blue, red, or any - triggers an alert.

  • Smart Badge configuration: By factory default, alerts are activated by pressing a badge button three times in quick succession . Optionally, a badge can be configured for single-press activation, though this is not recommended due to the increased likelihood of false alerts.

About the alert lifecyle

The alert lifecycle represents the various stages, workflow, and statuses that an alert goes through from activation to resolution.

Within Kio Staff Safe, the state of an alert is identified by its status — New, Acknowledged, and Resolved — providing users with an instant overview of each alert's current state and enabling data-driven metrics. This structured approach ensures a standard, predictable alert progression workflow, starting from the moment an alert is activated to its resolution.

alert-lifecycle-illustration.png

Alert Stage

Alert Workflow

Alert Status

Activate 

  1. Staff: When faced with a duress or emergency situation needing help, they press a button on their Smart Badge three consecutive times (factory default).

  2. Kio Staff Safe Alert Rule: Condition set in an alert rule is reached.

New

Notify 

  1. Kio Staff Safe: 

    • Triggers a new alert and sends alert notifications to responders.

      The alert notification method(s) are set in the rule; email, SMS text message, or to a third-party system via a Webhook.

      An alert notification includes: (1) identity of the staff that activated the alert (2) time of activation (3) name and type of alert (4) location of the alert (campus, building, floor, and room).

    • Alerts with a critical severity level: additional Kio Staff Safe in-app visual and audio alert is activated.

  2. Responders: Receive alert notifications.

New

Acknowledge 

  1. Responder: Sets the alert to "Acknowledge" to indicate they are taking action.

  2. Kio Staff Safe: When a responder, assigned to a Staff Group in the "Include Responder" setting of the Alert Rule that triggered the alert, enters the room where the alert was activated, the system automatically acknowledges the alert and logs the response time. This information is reflected in the "Average Time to Respond" metric, which can be viewed in both the Safety Summary Dashboard and at the individual alert level.

Acknowledged

Resolve 

  1. Responder: Sets the alert to "Resolve" to indicate the alerting incident is resolved, assigns a Resolution Code, and enters notes related to the incident.

  2. Kio Staff Safe: Permanently stores all alert details along with an activity timeline for historical reporting and metrics..

Resolved

Example: alert activation to resolution

Illustration of Kio Staff Safe alert from activation to resolution

Alert notifications

How responders receive alert notifications, either through email, SMS text, or a third-party system, is configured within Kio Staff Safe Alert Rules. Additionally, Kio Staff Safe provides in-app visual and audio notifications for alerts with a severity level of critical.

When a staff duress alert is activated, its notification provides the following details:

  • Who: staff that activated the alert.

  • Where: the real-time location where the alert was activated; campus, building, floor, and room.

  • What: the type of alert; Critical, High, Medium, Low, or Info.

  • When: date/time the alert was activated.

Related topics

Guide to activate a staff duress alert - for those wearing Smart Badges.

Staff Safe web: Respond to and manage alerts - for those responding to staff duress alerts.

Staff badge management - for those responsible for assigning and distributing Smart Badges to staff.

Alert Rule management - for those responsbile for creating and managing rules.

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