Advice on the use of Mobile Panic Alarms

10 Dec 2019

Mobile panic alarms (PAs) are useful, but there will inevitably be times when staff on the shop floor cannot use a mobile PA or get to a fixed one. Lee Wallace, security lead at TH March and chair of the Association of Insurance Surveyors (AIS) discusses this.

Many shops will have CCTV covering the showroom with a monitor in a rear office, workshop or upstairs, where it is hoped that someone will spot what is going on and press a personal attack button.

However, how many businesses have staff with time on their hands to sit staring at a monitor all day?

To overcome this potential gap in coverage, it is a good idea to have audio monitoring of the shop from offices or workshops so your staff there will hear the commotion going on. It also gives them time to lock safes in their areas and perhaps get out via a back door.

Try not to drop staff numbers in the showroom too much. It is noticeable many hold ups take place at times when staff are depleted by holidays or at lunch time, or when staff have gone to the bank or post office. Try to top up staff numbers from your back office, so that numbers remain fairly constant. Preferably, mobile PAs should be carried on the person by each member of staff. PAs should be deployed at the start of or during a robbery but NOT after.

If a robbery has already taken place and the thieves have left the premises, DO NOT activate your PA. Instead dial 999 at once and give the police information on the direction in which the thieves have made their escape.

(If you were to activate a PA at this point, the police would come to where the thieves have been – your premises).

Lee Wallace is TH March’s Security Lead. He is a Senior Account Manager and Chairman of the Association of Insurance Surveyors