Roll call
Send an emergency alert to everyone on site, from the Console or a phone, and account for every visitor, contractor and clocked-in employee, even in a blackout.
Agoo is in early access. This page describes the feature as it ships to early-access organisations; screens are illustrative.
When the alarm goes, an emergency alert starts a roll call at the site: one live list of everyone on site, visitors and contractors who are checked in and staff who are clocked in. Everyone on it gets an I'm safe link on their phone, marshals mark the rest at the assembly point, and you can see at a glance who is still to account for.
Emergency alerts and roll call are included on Starter, Growth, Pro and Enterprise.
Who can start an alert
Whoever sees a fire or a threat first should be able to raise it, so the front desk can, as well as security and admins.
| Role | Can |
|---|---|
| Owners, Admins, Site admins, Security leads | Start an emergency alert or a drill at their sites, mark people safe or missing, and end a roll call |
| Receptionists and guards | Start an emergency alert at their sites and mark people safe or missing. They can't start a drill or end a roll call |
| Auditors | See roll calls in the Console |
Receptionists and guards can start an alert unless you switch it off. In Console → Settings → Security → Emergency alerts, turn off Receptionists and guards can start an emergency alert, and only those who run roll calls can start one. The change is recorded in the audit trail. See Roles and permissions.
Before you need it
Put Agoo on the right phones
Receptionists, guards, security leads and whoever acts as a fire marshal install Agoo Workspace on their iPhone, iPad or Android phone or tablet and sign in. The app keeps who's on site at their sites on the phone, so the list is already there when the network or power goes. Make sure each of them is added to their site in Console → People.
Keep the on-site list accurate
A roll call is only as good as your check-outs. Make sure visitors check out when they leave, use automatic end-of-day check-out, and ask staff to clock out. See Check-out.
Run a drill
In Console → Security → Roll call, choose Start a roll call and Drill. It works exactly like a real one, and the record says drill. Leave Send everyone their link on to test the messages, or turn it off for a quiet drill counted at the desk. Drills are started by those who run roll calls: Owners, Admins, Site admins and Security leads.
During an emergency
Start the alert
On a phone: in the Workspace app, open Desk → Safety and tap Emergency alert. Choose the site, edit the message or pick a ready-made one, then press and hold Hold to send the alert for two seconds. Let go early and nothing is sent.
In the Console: open Security → Roll call and choose Start an emergency alert (if you run roll calls, Start a roll call, then Emergency). Choose the site and add a short message if you like (it's sent with the link and may go by SMS), then confirm with Send the emergency alert.
An alert covers one site. Each site has one roll call at a time: while one is running, open it instead of starting another.
Everyone gets an "I'm safe" link
Agoo messages everyone on the list at once, with your message and a link. Staff with the Workspace app get it there first, as a Time Sensitive notification that breaks through Focus modes, with I'm safe on it: tapping it (after Face ID, Touch ID or the passcode; on Android, their fingerprint, face unlock or screen lock) marks them safe at once. If the notification hasn't reached their phone within a minute, or they don't have the app, it goes by SMS or email. Visitors get it the way their pass reached them. The link opens a page on your organisation's Agoo address with one large I'm safe button, with no app or sign-in needed. Tapping it marks them accounted for, and the page thanks them by name. If the roll call has already ended, the page says so and tells them to follow the marshals' instructions.
Confirmations always use links, not SMS replies, so they work on every network and every phone that can open a link.
Everyone sees it
The alert appears at once (within a second or two, without a refresh) at the top of every page of the Console, and on Home and the Desk in the Workspace app, for everyone at the site who sees roll calls: "Emergency at Ridge HQ", with how many are still to account for.
Marshals mark the rest
At the assembly point, marshals open the roll call on their phone, from the banner. People still to account for come first, each with a call button when Agoo has their number. Tap Safe when you see someone, or Missing to undo a mark. In the Console, use Mark safe, and Find someone to search the list.
Each person shows how they were accounted for: they said they're safe from their link or the app, or a marshal marked them. Marshals at different assembly points all see the same list as it changes, so nobody is counted twice.
End the roll call
When everyone is accounted for, or the emergency services take over, someone who runs roll calls ends it: End the roll call in the app, or End the alert in the Console. Agoo records when it ended and who ended it, the links stop working, and the final list is kept.
Afterwards
Console → Security → Roll call → Recent roll calls lists drills and emergencies that have ended, newest first, with how many were accounted for. Open one to see its final list. Starting, marking and ending are all in the audit trail.
When the network or power is down
The Workspace app keeps the on-site list for the sites each person works at (visitors checked in and staff clocked in), and the roll call while it runs, with everyone's phone number so the call buttons work without data. Marshals can open the list and mark people safe or missing with no signal; their marks are sent as soon as the phone is back online.
Sending the alert itself needs a connection, from the phone or the Console, because the messages go from Agoo. Without one, raise the alarm on site the way you always would, and use the list on your phone. "I'm safe" links need the person's phone to have signal or data, so marshals should always mark anyone they can see.
Phone numbers are on marshals' phones only while a roll call runs, and are removed when it ends.
Agoo has asked Apple to let roll calls sound even when a phone is on silent (Critical Alerts). Until Apple agrees, a roll call notification sounds like any other Time Sensitive notification, so a phone on silent shows it without a sound. Marshals should still mark everyone they can see.
On Android, a roll call comes on Agoo's Emergencies kind of notification, as loud as Android lets an app be. To let it sound during Do Not Disturb, each person turns on Override Do Not Disturb for that kind in their phone's notification settings (the Workspace app on Android).
Alerts don't wait for a balance
Roll-call messages are urgent: quiet hours never hold them back, and when your SMS allowance and wallet can't pay for a text, Agoo sends the email instead. Keep your wallet topped up so everyone gets an SMS, especially before a drill with the messages on.
What's coming
| Feature | Available |
|---|---|
| Emergency alerts and the live list in the Console and the Workspace app, marking offline | Now, on iPhone, iPad and Android |
| The alert as a notification in the Workspace app, with I'm safe on it | Now, on iPhone, iPad and Android |
| Marshals for each site, and muster points such as "Car park A" in Console → Settings → Sites | Planned |
| An alert to every site at once | Planned |
| The roll call's report: how long it took, who was missing and for how long, as a PDF | Planned |