How False Alarms Can Lead to Alarm Fatigue & Increased Costs
Becklar Monitoring’s video solutions end the cycle of false alarms while keeping every vital aspect of your organization truly protected.
The security industry faces a troubling reality: Up to 99% of security or alarm calls to police are completely unnecessary.
Law enforcement responds to at least 38 million calls per year, yet most security alarms that trigger a response are false alarms. These calls cost businesses, law enforcement, and communities billions of dollars each year.
Constant false alarms create a serious phenomenon called alarm fatigue (or alert fatigue) that puts communities at risk. Learn what’s driving the issue and proven strategies to eliminate the risk.
The False Alarm Crisis by the Numbers
The scope of this problem spans the entire security industry:
- Over 62% of system owners say they had at least one false alarm in the past year.
- False alarms have cost law enforcement agencies an estimated $1.8 billion annually.
- About 90% of false alarms could be assessed and resolved without police involve
What’s Causing All These False Alarms?
Most false alarms can be traced to common culprits: human error in disarming the system, equipment malfunctions, weather, pets, and other environmental factors.
These seemingly minor operational challenges contribute to a much larger underlying problem.
What Is Alarm Fatigue and Why Does It Matter?
Alarm fatigue occurs when personnel—including emergency responders, safety managers, and healthcare providers—are exposed to so many false alarms that they become desensitized to all alarms, including legitimate ones. This creates a dangerous cycle where real emergencies receive slow responses or, even worse, go unaddressed:
- Critical alerts get lost in the noise of false alarms.
- Workplace accidents and injuries increase.
- Trust in security systems weakens across entire organizations.
- Business interruptions and wasted resources result in higher operational costs.
At best, alert fatigue presents operational inefficiency, but it’s a serious safety and security risk that endangers your people, property, and profits.
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Remote guarding can yield 4 times the RMR of traditional security solutions.
Alert Fatigue Across Critical Industries
Different industries face different challenges when it comes to alarm fatigue, but the consequences are universally hazardous.
Security Systems: When Protection Turns Into a Problem
Commercial security systems are designed to protect people and property, yet false alarms undermine their effectiveness. Businesses find themselves paying for protection that emergency services increasingly distrust—which means security professionals see their systems lose value as clients face skepticism, disruptions, and mounting fines.
The issue becomes clear: Traditional alarm systems alone are insufficient, and clients demand security integrator accountability. The industry must provide solutions that deliver verified protection, not just threat detection.
Healthcare: When Every Moment Matters
In healthcare facilities, seconds can mean the difference between favorable and fatal outcomes. Hospital workers hear an average of 1,000 alarms per shift, with data showing that 72% to 99% of these alarms are false. This creates an environment where critical alerts can get lost.
The consequences are dire. When healthcare staff become desensitized to alerts, patient safety suffers through preventable injuries or fatalities, regulatory compliance violations, and even staff burnout from constant alarm exposure. Healthcare facilities can’t afford to have teams ignoring alarms because they assume they’re false.
Workforce Safety: When Protection Is Critical in High-Stakes Settings
Safety Managers responsible for employee safety (i.e., employees who work alone, at height, or in other challenging environments—including those in industries related to construction, manufacturing, logistics, social work, and in-home care) need to be able to trust their daily alarms from warning systems, equipment alerts, missed-checkins, etc. to avoid alarm fatigue from false signals received. Research shows these alarms are often disabled by workers or habitually ignored.
When alert fatigue sets in, these industries face an increased probability of injuries, compromised equipment, OSHA compliance violations, and accidents. Many of these facilities operate 24/7 with expensive equipment and teams working in challenging conditions. Alarm fatigue can jeopardize production continuity, valuable assets, supply chains, and worker safety all at once.
The stakes are too high to let alarm fatigue put people and assets at risk. Managers must ensure workers remain responsive to verified dangers—it can mean the difference between timely aid and tragic outcomes.
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The Hidden Costs of False Alarms
When it comes to false alarm costs, many business owners only see the tip of the iceberg. The real impact goes much deeper.
- Direct Financial Costs: These can reach $1,000 per incident in many jurisdictions, with emergency response fees, insurance premium increases, and lost productivity every time an alarm goes off.
- Indirect Operational Costs: Emergency response becomes less effective, work environments become too stressful, local authorities lose trust in your business, and security teams waste valuable time.
- The Ultimate Cost: Lives and safety are put in real danger as genuine threats go undetected, dangers go unaddressed, and gaps from alert to response get wider.
The question is not whether you can afford to solve the false alarm problem. It’s whether you can afford to leave it unresolved.
Real-World Solutions for Alert Fatigue
Traditional approaches to reducing false alarms focus on equipment maintenance and staff training:
- Regular maintenance and calibration to minimize equipment breakdowns
- Better sensor placement to reduce environmental triggers
- Staff training programs to cut down on human errors
- Scheduled system testing and ongoing updates
- Standard escalation procedures based on severity
While these approaches help, they aren’t enough on their own. The fundamental problem remains: Even well-maintained systems can generate false alarms, and human error, unfortunately, remains inevitable.
Becklar Video Remote Guarding: An Advanced Solution for Alarm Fatigue
Becklar Video Remote Guarding surpasses basic security monitoring measures by adding visual confirmation and real-time verbal engagement with intruders before any emergency services are dispatched. Rather than automatically dispatching authorities when a signal is sent, remote guards review live video feeds to verify whether there’s a legitimate threat. If so, they can proactively engage directly with the intruders using audio to extend a warning. This often eliminates the threat. They are also able to immediately dispatch emergency services when needed.
Video remote guarding eliminates unnecessary false alarm triggers with:
- Real-time visual confirmation to distinguish real triggers from false alarms
- Professional threat assessment 24/7 by operators trained in risk evaluation
- Immediate resolution of minor issues without involving emergency personnel
With Becklar’s advanced remote guarding solutions, threat assessment is performed immediately. Only verified threats where verbal talk down is ignored are escalated to authorities, while most issues are resolved instantly without unnecessary emergency dispatch. The foundation of your entire security protocol moves from reactive to proactive in a matter of seconds with remote guarding.
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Becklar’s Video Verification: Another Solution for Alarm Fatigue
With Becklar’s video verification service, every signal is captured on video and validated by our trained monitoring specialists. We verify the threat quickly and escalate only genuine emergencies to local authorities.
Here’s what this means for your organization:
- Expert analysis by certified professionals
- Smart response protocols
- Reduced operational disruptions
- No false alarm fines or emergency service fees
- Continuous monitoring with the fastest assessment times in the industry
Most importantly, Becklar’s video alarm verification offers superior security coverage without leading to alert fatigue. Learn more about the difference between video remote guarding and video verification here.
Take Action: Eliminate Alert Fatigue Today
Every day you wait to address alarm fatigue is another day your organization and subscribers remain vulnerable to costly risks and real threats to safety and security. Becklar’s video verification monitoring service and video remote guarding solutions provide the reliability and accuracy you and your customers need to protect what matters most.
Don’t let false alarms compromise your security solutions any longer. Book a demo to discover how our video solutions end the cycle of false alarms while keeping every vital aspect of your organization truly protected.