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How to set up a reception lockdown and duress procedure.

The receptionist is the first person a hostile visitor meets, and often the only one with no way to ask for help without being seen to do it. A duress code gives them that way. It only works if everyone knows what happens next. This guide covers the code, who knows it, the response, the doors and the drills.

Quick answer. A duress code is a word or number that a member of staff types or says when they are being threatened. It raises a silent alarm while everything in front of them looks normal. A reception lockdown procedure then decides who receives that alarm, what they do in the first minutes, which doors lock, who may release the lockdown, and how often you practice. Write it on one page, give it to everyone who works the desk, and test it.

The terms

  • Duress code. A covert signal: the person under threat appears to go along with what is asked. It can be typed into a system, spoken as an agreed phrase on the phone or radio, or entered as a duress PIN on an alarm keypad.
  • Panic button. A physical button, usually under the desk, wired to an alarm panel or a monitoring company. It only works if the receptionist can reach it unseen.
  • Lockdown. The UK government defines it as "the process of securing the premises or event to prevent individuals entering or leaving". At reception it usually means stopping anyone else coming in while keeping people inside away from the threat.
  • Invacuation. Moving people to a safer place inside the building, such as a lockable room away from reception.

A duress code and a panic button do different jobs. Keep both.

Step 1: decide what a lockdown means at your site

Answer these in writing before you choose a code:

  • Which doors lock? The outer entrance only, the door from reception into the building, or every external door.
  • How do exit doors behave? Agree this with your door installer and your fire safety adviser. A lockdown that stops people leaving during a fire is a second emergency.
  • One building or every site? If your sites share one system, know whether a lockdown at one locks them all.
  • What happens to visitors already inside? Usually they stay with their hosts, away from reception, until the lockdown is released.
  • Who can start it, and who can end it? Anyone on the desk should be able to start it. Ending it should take a named role, such as the security lead or site manager, not whoever is nearest.

Step 2: choose the code and who knows it

  • Make it hard to enter by accident. Not 1234, not a visitor's surname, not anything staff type in the normal course of work. It should still be easy to recall under stress.
  • Tell the people who sit at the desk. Every receptionist, plus anyone who covers breaks and holidays, security officers, and temps before they sit the desk alone.
  • Tell the people who receive the alert. They need to recognize it for what it is. Most hosts and general staff don't need the code.
  • Don't write it at the desk. Change it when someone who knew it leaves on bad terms, and on a fixed schedule, for example every six months.

Step 3: what happens when the code is used

  1. Reception enters the code and carries on. Nothing changes on their screen and they don't react.
  2. The alert reaches the responders with who raised it, where and when.
  3. Nobody calls or messages the person who raised it. A ringing desk phone or a reply on screen tells whoever is standing over them that help is on the way.
  4. Someone confirms what is happening without going to the desk: a camera view, a colleague walking through reception with a normal reason to be there, or a line left open.
  5. The lead decides the response: call the police, lock the doors, move staff away from reception, or stand down if it was entered by mistake.
  6. The lockdown is released only when the police or the named lead says it is safe. Record who released it and when.
  7. Debrief soon after. Check on the receptionist first, then go through what happened against the procedure.

Treat every activation as real until someone has confirmed otherwise in person. A receptionist who enters the code by mistake should tell the security lead face to face, because "it was a mistake" is exactly what a coerced person would be told to send.

An example response card (adapt to your site):
1. Duress alert from reception: do not call or message reception.
2. Check the reception camera.
3. Security lead decides: police, lockdown, or stand down.
4. Keep staff and visitors away from reception.
5. Only the security lead or site manager releases the lockdown.
6. Log the time the alert arrived, each action, and the time of release.

Step 4: coordinate with door controllers and the security team

  • Map the signal. If software sends a lockdown message to your door system, your installer configures what the doors do with it. Write down which doors respond, and test both lock and release.
  • Plan for the signal not arriving. If the network is down, the message may not get through. The procedure needs a manual fallback: a key, a manual lock on the reception door, a guard who closes the gate.
  • Route alerts to someone on shift. An email nobody reads until morning is not a response. Send alerts to a control room, a guard's phone or a chat channel someone watches. If the person at the desk can see that channel on their own phone, the alert reaches them too.
  • Decide if the monitoring company hears about it. Your panic button likely goes to them already. Agree whether duress alerts should too.
  • Name the release. Releasing should be as deliberate as locking, done by the named role, and recorded.

Step 5: drills

  1. Start with a walkthrough of a scenario, with the responders and the response card.
  2. Then run a live test at a quiet time. Warn the alert recipients that a test is coming so nobody calls the police, then run it as if it were real: reception enters the code, responders follow the card, the doors lock, the named role releases.
  3. Measure it: time from code to first response, whether the right doors locked, and whether anyone phoned reception (that counts as a failure).
  4. Record each drill with the date, who took part, the times, what went wrong and what you changed.
  5. Repeat at least once a year, and after a change of reception staff, door hardware or alert routing.

If you run premises in the UK: Martyn's Law

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025. Premises in scope where 200 to 799 people may reasonably be expected at once (the standard tier) will need public protection procedures covering evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication. Premises expecting 800 or more (the enhanced tier) carry further duties. The requirements are not yet in force, and the government has said the implementation period will be at least 24 months from Royal Assent. The Act does not require physical alterations or specific equipment. The government's scope factsheets say which premises are covered.

How BeckonDesk supports it

An admin sets the workspace's duress code on the Security page. It is stored encrypted and must be at least four characters. At the front desk, reception enters the code at the kiosk or in the BeckonDesk admin app as if doing routine work. BeckonDesk responds as it would to any other entry, and nothing changes on that person's screen.

BeckonDesk then locks the workspace down. Kiosks stop accepting new sign-ins, while sign-out and evacuation roll call keep working. Every admin is emailed with who entered the code and when, and a warning not to contact that person. If a Microsoft Teams or Slack channel is connected, the alert is posted there too. If you have connected a door controller, BeckonDesk sends it a signed lockdown message. The alert appears on the Security page and the event is written to the audit log. A lockdown covers every site in the workspace.

Admins and receptionists can also start a lockdown by hand from the Security page, and release it there when it is safe. While it is active, the admin app shows a banner, except to the person whose duress code started it.

What it doesn't do: BeckonDesk is not a monitored alarm. It doesn't call the police or a monitoring company, and it doesn't send text messages. Alerts go by email and chat, so route them to people who watch them, and keep your panic button. What the doors do with the lockdown message is set up in your access control system. More on the lockdown and duress page and in integrations.

Frequently asked

What is a duress code?

A word or number that a member of staff types or says when they are being threatened. It raises a silent alarm while the screen or conversation in front of them looks normal, so the person threatening them doesn't know help has been called.

Should responders call the person who raised a duress alert?

No. A ringing phone or a reply on screen can tell whoever is with them that an alarm has gone off. Confirm what is happening another way, such as a camera or a colleague walking through, and treat the alert as real until someone has checked in person.

Related reading

Sources

A silent duress code at the front desk.

Reception types the code, kiosks stop new sign-ins, and your admins and door controller are told. Included at $79 per location per month.

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