Secret Emergency Codes
Zee Petty
During an emergency, accurate, fast and trustworthy communication is key to minimising disruption and organising an effective response. Implementing code words and dedicated technology enables staff and security teams to control an emerging situation and put emergency plans into action without causing mass panic.
Emergency codes are inconspicuous words and phrases that are often used in public areas to alert those in charge of possible danger. Situations requiring immediate staff response could include building fires, gas leaks, natural disasters, terror attacks, medical emergencies and helping people who feel unsafe or threatened.
As an employer, you have a duty of care to keep your employees safe, including during emergency situations. And while implementing a few key emergency codes is a great way to add another layer of security to your business, there might be instances where a worker is unable to make a tannoy announcement or respond to an emergency code. In these situations, the ability to instantly inform staff of a problem via SMS, email or phone notification can be lifesaving.
A critical aspect of keeping everyone safe during an emergency situation is maintaining communication. All employees need to have access to reliable and up to date information about the situation at hand in order to take appropriate action. Our emergency notification system is designed to deliver mass notifications in precisely this sort of situation.
Peoplesafe Alert is a secure, encrypted safety notification tool with the ability to send up to 2,000 messages per second. This allows organisations to send and track safety messages to thousands of employees simultaneously, without compromising security. Messages cannot be edited or forwarded which protects the credibility and accuracy of the information shared.
Inspector Sands or Mr Sands is one of the most commonly used emergency codes for indicating that there is a fire in the vicinity. If a fire has been reported, a tannoy announcement will ask for Inspector Sands to make their way to a specified area, which is where the suspected fire is. This phrase originates from theatres where in the past a bucket of sand would be kept for extinguishing fires. In more recent times it has been widely adopted by public entertainment venues, shopping centres and railway stations including on the London Underground.
Having a procedure in place to deal with a terror threat has become a necessary measure. Many public places, especially large department stores use a coded time check, announcing the current time to indicate to staff that there has been a bomb threat and they will need to follow the correct procedure for these circumstances. Often this will involve all members of staff stopping what they are doing immediately and searching for a suspect package, before preparing to evacuate.
Employers looking to safeguard their staff inside and outside of working hours should consider implementing a personal safety service, such as our SOS App. A personal safety service can offer 24/7 support to employees, wherever they are, allowing users to raise an alarm in any situation where they may feel at risk, without relying on external safety schemes. The introduction of these systems can improve peace of mind and feelings of safety while commuting, as well as making employees feel more valued and protected by their employer.
In 2021 the UK Government launched a scheme for domestic abuse victims to secretly signal that they need help inside a pharmacy. By asking for ANI, a trained pharmacy worker will know that help is needed and will offer the victim a private space, a phone and ask if the individual needs help accessing support services (such as domestic abuse helplines).
When setting up your Peoplesafe profile, you will be required to enter an escalation procedure to be followed in the event of an alarm. This information is then made available to our Alarm Controllers when an alarm is raised to our ARC. Adding duress codes as part of your escalation response will mean that if this phrase is heard during an alarm, our Controllers will know straight away that the user is in danger and can escalate the appropriate response.
There may be situations where your child, partner, or parent can't make a phone call. Or, worse, they could have someone looking over their shoulder when they text. That's when a secret emoji could save the day.
If you don't know where he is, look him up on the Find My app (Apple) or Family Link app (Android). Depending on the situation, you may want to consider contacting the authorities or reaching out to other trusted adults nearby.
What about your parents? They can text you an emoji if a caregiver is less than caring and can't talk around that person. Make it a point to revisit your plan every three months. Set up a family meeting once or twice a year to review so it becomes natural in a real emergency.
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In 2008, the Washington State Hospital Association and the Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems standardized color codes for emergencies in all of their hospitals. "Red" means there's a fire, and "black" indicates a bomb threat. "Code Silver" refers to weapons or hostage situations, and "Code Gray" means there are combative or violent persons on the premises.
The name is actually an acronym that stands for "Need Officer Right Away." While it's not always the standard, places like the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu and the Montgomery Mall in Alabama use the code to discreetly call law enforcement.
The phrase "Mr. Mob" refers to a man overboard. "Code blue," which was brought over from hospital codes, is used to refer to a medical emergency. "Bravo bravo bravo" can indicate that there's a fire on the boat, without causing panic among passengers.
The word "hobo" used to refer to a traveling worker rather than just a homeless person or panhandler. Starting around the early 1900s, these nomads used a system of etched codes to tell other hobos if there was danger nearby or if they could take shelter with a kindly host. That allowed them sneak into certain places without creating a scene or scaring strangers.
Nowadays, non-profit organizations and generous individuals are adopting the system and putting up similar symbols to help the homeless. Paris' Le Carillon project is placing pictographs on shop signs to let homeless people know what services are available to them, from free telephone calls to food and clean water.
Some announcements, in airports and on cruise ships, signal a serious emergency. Others simply inform staff that a queasy passenger has thrown up on the top deck. Here we reveal the meaning behind the codes.
Code Red: Outbreak of norovirus or other illness. It means the ship must undergo deep cleaning and sick passengers should stay in their rooms. Code Green and Code Yellow indicate less severe problems.
Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the world today. And, if you've been using an Android device for a while, you might already be aware of USSD codes. To run any Android security code, you must input it directly into the dialer. If entered correctly, the code will return a response automatically, or you might have to press Dial. So what are the most common Android security codes? And what do the "secret codes" actually do?
MMI or Man Machine Interface codes are configured by the phone producer and you can use these to access hidden settings on your phone. USSD, also known as Unstructured Supplementary Service Data are simply codes that are used to unlock hidden actions in your smartphone.
If you don't want to run a hard reset, this is the next best thing. Similar to a factory reset, this code will simply delete all application data from your device, as well as any applications. Then, it's going to return your device back to its factory state.
If you don't want to go the extra mile of resetting and reinstalling the firmware, and just want to remove any personal data, applications, and app data from your device, this is the best option. That makes it great for your privacy if you're selling your phone on.
This is another important code that you can use to check whether the device's IMEI is the same as the one mentioned in the box. Most modern smartphones have the IMEI printed on the back, but if you want to be sure, you can check it by using this code.
Simply open the dialer, add in the code, and it'll return the IMEI. If you do this on a Samsung Android device, it'll also show you the device's serial number. This is important for security purposes, especially if you are buying a pre-owned device.
Android phone not working properly? You'll understandably be suspicious of a third party affecting it. Enter this code on your Android device, and it'll show you a litany of different features, including:
The Media Access Control address, also known as the MAC address, is a unique address assigned to every device. It's important as it can be used to uniquely identify a computer while it's connected to a network.
This is a useful code that returns battery, WLAN, and additional information from your device. For instance, it can show you statistics about the most commonly used mobile apps, and you can also get detailed information about battery consumption and Wi-Fi usage. If you're buying a used phone, this could prove to be really helpful.
It gives you precise data such as battery temperature or voltage. This can be important for a security perspective, as an app that's consuming too much battery might be a sign of something malicious.
If you want to change the behavior of the power button, you can use this code. Instead of having to hold the power button, and then selecting from the Power Menu to shut your phone off, this code lets you turn off your phone without showing the Power Menu at all.
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