In accessible toilets, hospital washrooms, care facilities and changing rooms, a fall or a sudden illness can go unnoticed for a long time. Cameras are not acceptable in these spaces, and call buttons only help when the person can still reach them.
Camera-free sensing closes part of that gap. It can detect that someone is present, that they have stopped moving, or that they have stayed much longer than expected, without capturing identifiable images. This guide sets out what property, facility and clinical teams should decide before choosing a sensor, and how to check that a system will work on the day it is needed.
Start with the response workflow
A fall-detection project is not only a sensor choice. Its value comes from what happens in the minutes after an event, so design that part first.
- Who receives the alert first, and who is the backup if they do not respond?
- How quickly must the alert be acknowledged, and what happens when it is not?
- What location detail do responders need: building, floor, room and, where relevant, cubicle?
- Should staff be alerted locally, with a buzzer or light, as well as on a dashboard or phone?
- What happens when power or communications fail?
Write these answers down as the response plan. It becomes the specification the system is tested against.
Decide which events matter
Not every space needs the same detection. Agree which of these events each room type requires:
- Presence: someone is in the space.
- No movement: someone is present but has stopped moving for a set period.
- Long stay: someone has been in the space far longer than is normal for that room.
- Fall: a sudden change in posture or position consistent with a fall.
No-movement and long-stay alerts are often the most dependable starting point because they rely on simpler signals. Fall detection can add value, but it needs more careful placement and testing, and its limits should be agreed in advance.
Choose sensing around privacy and room layout
Common non-camera options include low-resolution thermal sensors, mmWave radar, and sensor fusion that combines both. Each sees the room differently.
- Low-resolution thermal sensing shows heat patterns rather than faces, which suits privacy-sensitive rooms.
- mmWave radar can pick up very small movements such as breathing, which helps no-movement detection.
- Fusing the two can reduce false alerts when one signal on its own is ambiguous.
Coverage depends on ceiling height, mounting position, partitions, doors, fixtures and where a person is likely to fall. Heat sources such as hand dryers, hot pipes or direct sunlight can affect thermal readings. A site survey and controlled tests in the actual room are essential before committing to a layout.
Balance alert speed against false alarms
Every threshold is a trade-off. A short no-movement timer catches events sooner but produces more false alerts; a long one is calmer but slower. Frequent false alerts teach staff to ignore the system, which is the worst outcome of all.
- Set timers per room type rather than one value for the whole building.
- Review the alert history after the first few weeks and adjust with the operating team.
- Record every change, so the current settings are always known.
Separate local and central functions
Time-sensitive alarms should not depend on a round trip to the internet. A local buzzer or light can respond immediately at the room, while central software handles monitoring across sites, alert history, user roles, reporting and integration with nurse-call, building management or other systems.
Agree in advance what still works if the network or the cloud service is unavailable, and make sure staff know.
Test the whole alarm chain
Commissioning should prove the full path: the sensor event, the gateway and network, the software alarm, the location shown, the notification, acknowledgement and recovery. Checking that a sensor changes state is not enough.
- Walk-test each room with realistic scenarios agreed with the operating team.
- Confirm the alert reaches the right people with the correct location.
- Simulate a communications failure and check the system reports it.
- Repeat the tests periodically, and after any change to the room layout.