An emergency contact is the person you trust most to be notified of an emergency. It should be someone you completely trust and who has access to your home or business. They should know how to use your system and have a code.
How Guardian Uses Emergency Contacts
When Guardian receives a burglary, fire, or medical emergency signal from your security system, our monitoring team contacts one or more of your emergency contacts if they cannot reach you.
To improve the chance that we can reach your contacts in an emergency, make sure whomever you choose has our monitoring center’s phone number saved into their phone: 1.800.364.3616.
Contacts will be notified in accordance with our alarm processing standards. Learn more about our alarm process here.
How Many Emergency Contacts Can I Have?
Most customers have 2-5 emergency contacts, and some as many as 20. We’ll work with you to ensure you have the amount of contacts that you need.
How to Edit or Update Your Emergency Contacts
Did you build your emergency contact list when you first started with Guardian? When was the last time you updated your list? We recommend reviewing and updating your list on a regular basis. Make sure your emergency contact list has no disconnected numbers, wrong numbers, or names of people who are no longer available.
Using the App
If you have the Guardian app, you can update your list from there, just follow these steps:
1. Log into your Guardian app.
2. Select More from the menu.
3. Then select the Monitoring Settings option.
4. Select the Location Phone Number if you need to update the primary phone number on the account. This is the first phone number that is called when an alarm is triggered.
5. Select Emergency Contacts to update the contact names and phone numbers that should be called if the location phone number cannot be reached. From here you can add new contacts and phone numbers to call before and after the authorities have been dispatched to the location.
6. Once all contacts have been entered, you can change the order in which they are called by selecting Sort in the upper right corner and dragging the names into the desired order.
7. Hit Save.
Using the Website
You can also update your emergency contact list from a desktop or internet browser by logging into your Guardian account.
1. Once logged in, select Monitored Services from the left-hand menu.
2. Select Emergency Contacts from the drop menu options.
3. The primary contact phone number is the first phone number that is called when the alarm is triggered. Select the pencil icon to edit the phone number.
4. Emergency contacts are listed in the order in which they are called. To add a new contact, select the Add Contact button. Existing contacts can be edited by selecting the pencil icon or deleted by selecting the trash can icon.
5. To change the order in which the contacts are called, use the up and down arrows to move the contacts into the desired order.
6. Hit Save.
Your emergency contacts are now updated!
Choosing Your Emergency Contacts
If you need to reassess your emergency contact list but aren’t sure who should be included, remember that these contacts should be people you trust and who can easily get in contact with you in the case of an emergency. Or, ask yourself the following questions about anyone you’re considering:
- Does this person live close enough to visit my house and check on it in an emergency?
- Do you feel comfortable teaching this person to use your system?
- Would you trust this person with the responsibility of being on the contact list?
- Does this person know how to get in contact with me even if you’re at work or traveling?
- Are you willing to give this person a passcode and authority to know what’s going on with your home/system in an emergency?
- Is this person good at answering the phone quickly when called?
After an emergency, Guardian customers sometimes call to tell us they are grateful that the monitoring center was able to connect with a trusted family member or friend. For instance, this person can help authorities gain entry without damaging your door or before the situation escalates. We’d like you to have that same peace of mind. Be sure to check your emergency contact list today and update it if necessary.
