October 10, 2011

 

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Question

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Ken,

I recently installed a dialer unit that, when activated, will dial up to four telephone numbers and leave a customer recorded message asking the cell phone holder to respond to a senior apartment building because someone has pulled their call-for-aid switch.

Until now there was only local notification on the call-for-aid system. The main panel is located in an unmanned area, sounds a local panel buzzer, and a single bell on the floor where the activation was. The apartment staff wants to be notified when someone has activated their system.

The dialer I used will call all numbers programmed into it. It knows if it reached a no answer or a busy signal, and will dial each number up to 10 times until a connection is made. There is no daily, weekly, monthly test provision, and no phone line monitoring. In other words, there is no supervision of any sort.

My question is this; is this monitoring considered medical monitoring? How do I limit my liability on a system that isn't really for medical or monitoring purposes? Do you have a contract that would cover this?

Robert E. Klein

RK Electronic Services

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Answer

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You've got equipment that calls for help in an emergency situation - sounds like Personal Emergency Response - but you are not monitoring the system. It's certainly not a traditional PERS system which comes with monitoring. The pull switch does come within the PERS category. You should start with a PERS contract and then make it clear that there is no central station supervision or monitoring. This system is common place in hospital settings. It's a self monitored system.

If you are installing for each resident then they would sign the contract. It may be however that you are installing for the building owner or operator, and you have no relationship or contact with the residents. In that case your contract gets signed by the owner/operator and you have to make sure that the owner / operator's lease or contract with each resident addresses the pull station and the operator's self monitoring and response policy. Your contract would have an indemnification provision from the owner/operator.

Get the PERS contract here www.alarmcontracts.com

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more PERS comments

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Hi Ken:

The Copyright laws have gone amuck in some cases. Change it to "I have just fallen and I can't get up"; or, "I fell down and can't get up". I assume that Life Alert is talking about use in advertising only, not in common language use.

John W. Walter, CEO

NATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC

************* I'm not a trademark expert but you can't use a trademark to further your own business without a proper license

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Ken

you bring up a question about the PERS contract being signed by the resident. As you know many of them are not really able to understand or know what they are signing. Would your contract hold up under these circumstances?

Roger Bara

Electronic Security Systems, Inc.

Aurora, IL.

************** A contract will not be enforced against someone who didn't have the capacity to enter into the contract. Make sure you are contracting with someone who does have the capacity and authority to act on behalf of another

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Ken

With regard to recovering PERS Equipment after the death of the subscriber and thus termination of the contract, if the PERS signal is still getting into the Central Station that means that there is still a viable telephone, IP or GSM link into the unit. Most equipment allows the remote entry and shut down of the equipment upon termination of service.

Joel Kent

FBN Security Co LLC