How to use a personal attack alarm effectively

How to use a personal safety alarm

Personal safety alarms are designed to stop attacks from other individuals and also used to alert others if you are in danger or in trouble - for example if you fall over and struggle to get back up - this is especially used with older people and social carers. 

Firstly, it's important to know that you should have the personal safety (or attack) alarm easily accessible to you. This means that if you are walking or running it is attached to you or your bag via the clip - this makes it harder to take off you and remains attached to you.

In the event that you have to use your personal safety alarm then here is our step by step guide:

• As we mentioned, the alarm needs to be easily accessible and ready BEFORE you encounter danger - this means keeping it to hand or in an accessible place, not at the bottom of a bag
• Attach it to you, via your bag or belt - this makes it hard for any potential attacker to take the whole device off you. It could also act as a visual deterrent 
• If you feel in danger, pull the bottom part of the device away from the pin - this will set of the 130dB alarm and flashing light
• Hold onto this part tightly
• If you are no longer in danger, simply put the pin back into the top of the personal safety alarm

Here at Ashley, we have made an alarm that makes it difficult to turn off unless you have both pieces and a steady hand - it's unlikely you would be able to piece the two parts back together in a struggle. So until you are safe, it's unlikely you (or someone else) would be able to piece them together and turn off the noise and lights.

How it works

Who uses a personal safety alarm?

It's designed for anyone but the most common user cases are:

- Women walking at night (or in an unsafe location)

- Safety when travelling abroad

- Old people to alert people of falls

- Runners

- Social carers and those they care for

These personal safety alarms are also known as "rape alarms" or "attack alarms" but we prefer not to use these terms as our goal is not to spread fear, but to empower our users to feel safer.