0:00 / 0:00
By Katie Johnson | May 14, 2026
Protecting Healthcare Workers from Violence with Panic Alerts and Better Emergency Response
Increasingly, healthcare workers are facing the threat of workplace violence. In fact, studies have shown that healthcare workers are five times more likely to be assaulted than any other profession. And recent incidents have turned deadly, with some healthcare workers losing their lives while trying to care for the rest of us and our families.
In response, the Joint Commission, some U.S. states, and many health systems have enacted new policies, new procedures, and new laws to help protect our crucial frontline healthcare workers.
To explore these developments and how to help protect healthcare workers from workplace violence, I recently sat down with Daniel Hunnisett, Regional Sales and Partnership Director at 911Cellular, a certified healthcare protection administrator through the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS), and chair of the Upper Midwest Chapter of the IAHSS.
Addressing the Challenge of Healthcare Workplace Violence
Two of the biggest keys to addressing the prevalence of healthcare workplace violence are:
1. Conducting healthcare workplace assessments and analyzing the data on workplace violence
2. Enacting improved rules, procedures, panic alerts, and locating tools for rapid and effective emergency response.
Specifically, some states have enacted new policies and legislation that require healthcare safety and security programs to conduct workplace assessments and analyze the resulting data on workplace violence. They want organizations to use this assessment data to make better and more meaningful decisions related to workplace violence prevention.
The Joint Commission, which accredits over 30,000 healthcare organizations and programs, has also enacted standards, including the requirement of yearly assessments, data tracking, training, and post-incident response.
Ultimately, all healthcare organizations should be putting these practices in place, to form the basis for better strategic decisions and a more concerted effort to improve safety and security for healthcare workers.
Analyzing workplace assessment data helps guide improvements to workplace rules and emergency response systems and procedures, equipping our healthcare and security teams with tools they need to keep staff and patients safe.
How Panic Buttons and Safety Solutions Improve Emergency Response
Daniel’s team at 911Cellular has played an essential role in turning workplace violence assessments and data into meaningful action. 911Cellular has led the way in helping many hospitals and healthcare facilities develop and implement better emergency response procedures, including an essential tool to help the cause.
The company’s platform lets healthcare workers instantly alert security during incidents, automatically sharing crucial location and situational data to help ensure a faster, more effective response. This includes a location signal from a healthcare worker’s mobile device and video from the nearest security cameras, to help teams respond as quickly and effectively as possible.
This solution runs on Zebra healthcare mobile devices and automatically gathers and sends information on who the staff member is, their exact location, how to reach them, and ongoing tracking of the staff member’s location.
It immediately and intelligently routes that information to the right personnel based on the incident type, to help security teams give healthcare workers the help they need most.
It all happens with the press of an emergency duress button on the Zebra device. And, compared to a traditional call to security or 911, which can take minutes, it saves precious time that can literally be the difference between life and death when every second counts.
Why Mobile is the Key to Improved Healthcare Workplace Safety
To tackle the challenge of healthcare workplace violence, Daniel says that today’s safety solutions need to be mobile, intuitive, and integrated into the devices that clinicians already use. Otherwise, usage and adoption can suffer, especially in fast-paced clinical environments.
This is why 911Cellular partners with Zebra to provide its safety solution on purpose-built Zebra healthcare mobile devices. These devices include a built-in duress button and can send alerts, location data, and run 911Cellular’s safety platform on the same device that clinicians use for clinical apps, communication, and other essential tools.
Since healthcare workers can send an alert using the same mobile device that they normally use for the rest of their patient care workflows, the alert is discreet and less noticeable. This helps ensure that the act of sending a signal for help doesn’t escalate that situation or cause a risky delay due to having to use another device.
To hear the full conversation and learn more about protecting healthcare workers with improved safety strategies and security response, watch the podcast below, or listen to the episode wherever you get your podcast content.
0:00 / 0:00
