How to Use and Test a Personal Alarm (Quietly)

A personal alarm only helps if it is to hand and you know what to do. Here is the whole routine.

Carry it where your hand already goes

Clip it to your keys or bag strap. When you walk home with keys in hand, the alarm is already there.

Setting it off

1. Pull the pin out. The siren and strobe start instantly.
2. Hold it up or drop it: it keeps sounding either way, and a dropped alarm is hard to switch off for anyone else.
3. Move towards people and light.
4. Call 999 (UK) or your local emergency number if you are in danger.
5. Push the pin back in once you are safe.

Testing it quietly

Once a month, hold your thumb firmly over the speaker, pull the pin for a second and push it back in. Never test it next to your ear or in a small room.

Keeping it charged

Ashley Alarm 2 lasts up to 1 year on standby and gives 60+ minutes of continuous alarm on a full charge. Top it up by USB every few months.

Ashley Alarm 2 has a 130dB+ siren, a 200-lumen strobe and USB charging, and is carried by 130,000+ women. See Ashley Alarm 2.