Emergency Panic Buttons Now Officially Mandatory In New Jersey

Have you ever seen the movie "Panic Room" starring Jodie Foster and a young Kristen Stewart?

Long story short, it's about a woman and her daughter who are forced into their panic, or safe room, to protect themselves from three intruders that have entered their home. Most people don't have panic rooms within their homes. In fact, the average cost of the home with a safe room in the United States is valued at over a million dollars.

Surely, you can see the appeal. The rooms are usually equipped with a phone line separate from the home's landline. That particular aspect doesn't matter too much these days since everyone has a cell phone, but being trapped behind a steel door that can't be opened by intruders is obviously one comfort that allows the rich and famous to sleep better at night should anything go wrong.

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Most of us, obviously, don't have that luxury. The workers within the hospitality industry don't even necessarily have that luxury should someone or something target a hotel. What hotels do have now, though, and have since 2019, are panic buttons.

Unfortunately, hospitality staff, particularly housekeeping, deal with their fair share of harassments. What's a housekeeper to do if they encounter a disgruntled guest and the situation escalates? Thanks to a new law put in place in the Garden State back in 2019, it's now required that all hotels supply their housekeeping staff with panic button devices should any dangerous situation arise while doing their job.

The law was enacted in June of 2019 and requires staff to be equipped with panic devices while working in a guest room solo.

If a hotel or motel owner does not comply with this law, they could face some hefty fines up to $5,000 for the first violation. Each subsequent violation is double that.

So, you can rest assured that if anything crazy goes down in your hotel room while you're not there, there's something in place to at least assure safety for those that are the most vulnerable in that situation.

Source: NJ.gov