Tone unlike the fire alarm
Multiple secure points
1–3 days
Annual, with drills
Mon–Fri 8am–5pm. 24/7 emergency line out of hours.
A fire alarm tells everyone to leave the building. A lockdown tells everyone to stay inside, lock doors and move away from windows. Using the same sounder for both is dangerous, and using a shouted message or a WhatsApp group is not a system.
A lockdown alarm gives you a distinct, instantly recognisable signal — a different tone, a spoken message, or both — that can be triggered from several secure points and heard everywhere it needs to be, including outside.
Design starts with the scenarios your safeguarding lead is actually planning for: an intruder on site, a dangerous incident nearby, a chemical release, or a serious safeguarding event. Those determine whether lockdown needs to be site-wide or zoned by building.
The activation points matter as much as the sounders. Reception is the obvious one, but an incident at the far end of a site needs an option that does not require crossing it — so we typically provide additional points in the office, hall and sometimes outbuildings, plus a radio or app trigger where appropriate.
Systems can be standalone or integrated with an existing PA or fire alarm platform, using a separate tone and separate activation. Where we integrate, we prove by test that a lockdown activation cannot release fire alarm door holders or unlock escape doors — and that a fire activation always overrides lockdown.
Worked through with your safeguarding lead so the system matches the plan, not a catalogue.
A tone or voice message that cannot be confused with the fire alarm, verified by test.
Reception, offices, halls and outbuildings, with optional radio or app triggers.
Whole-site activation or building-by-building zoning where that suits the plan.
Sounders reaching playgrounds, fields and car parks so outdoor groups hear it.
Proof that fire always takes precedence and escape routes are never compromised.
We meet the safeguarding lead and establish what the system needs to achieve.
Coverage plan, activation points and a demonstration of the proposed tone or message.
Typically delivered in a holiday window or over a weekend to avoid disruption.
Coverage tested inside and out; fire precedence proven and documented.
We attend the first drill and adjust levels or zoning based on what you learn.
Escape doors must remain openable from the inside during a lockdown — securing a building must never trap people inside it.
Only with a genuinely distinct tone or voice message on a separate activation path, and only where testing proves fire still takes precedence. Otherwise it is safer to install a separate system.
No. Escape doors remain openable from the inside. Lockdown secures against entry, not against exit.
Yes — useful on split sites or where a primary and secondary share a campus, so one building can lock down without alarming the other.
Yes. We attend the first drill and adjust coverage, volume or zoning based on how it actually went.
We will review the plan with your safeguarding lead and specify what it needs.
