Desktop panic alarms piloted at BWFH

At Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, staff safety is always a top priority. In fact, it’s part of the hospital’s 2018 Strategic Goals. The Workplace Safety Committee, together with the Police, Security, Safety and Parking Department, continually works on new initiatives such as the purple flag program, to ensure staff safety. Recently, a new safety initiative has been piloted—desktop panic alarms.

At BWFH, there are 140 panic alarms hardwired throughout the hospital. When a staff member presses the button, the Police, Security, Safety and Parking Department is notified of their location and can respond immediately. While the panic alarms are extremely helpful, they are not available in every location. Staff who wear a Vocera can also double tap their device to alert Security, but not every staff members wears a Vocera. Now, a new product makes it possible to turn any non-mobile workstation into a panic alarm, meaning nearly all BWFH employees can have ready access to a panic alarm.

“It’s really simple,” says Terrance Lassiter, Director of Police, Security, Safety and Parking. “The web-based program can be deployed to any computer with a hard drive and keyboard connected to a wall. The computer just needs to be turned on, you don’t even need to be logged in. In an emergency, you simply hit F9 and F11 at the same time and Security is alerted to your exact location.”

During the 60-day pilot program, 21 workstations in the ED, on 2 South and in other areas had the program deployed with great results. “Eventually, my goal is to deploy it to every workstation in the hospital,” says Lassiter.

In addition to testing the desktop panic alarms, Lassiter is working on other ways to enhance staff safety throughout the hospital. “You can’t run Security from the Security Office,” he says. “We have been conducting Unit-Specific Safety Talks, which are a pro-active tool where I go to the different units to talk about their unique safety issues. Staff have some great ideas that we hadn’t thought of yet, which really helps to empower employees to be a partner in their own safety.”