"Alexa, Code Red" !!!

[Lawn Mower]

Hi,

My dad age 73 in a couple of weeks, lives with us, he's already had one heart attack, so I like to keep an eye on him. I maintain and repair a lot of lawnmowers etc during wintertime spending a lot of hours in a workshop in the yard behind the house. That leaves my dad alone in the house at times when I'm running noisy machinery, hand grinders etc. My concern is, if dad felt ill I wouldn't be able to hear him shout for me, that would be disastrous, so...

I've been looking as how Alexa might be able to help, what I had in mind was, if dad felt ill he might not have time to find his phone and call me, but he probably would be able to give Alexa a "command" something like "Alexa, Code Red" that would instruct Alexa to sound a siren loud enough for me to hear it, his Alexa is connected to a bluetooth speaker, that's all I need Alexa to do. I know Alexa can be set up to make phone calls, but if I was already speaking on the phone I wouldn't know what was going on.

I don't know if there's an App or a Skill that could do this, hopefully you guys do ?

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Bill.

[jwlv]

If I were in your situation, I'd use an Echo Button. Unfortunately Amazon discontinued it.  But you might be able to find one used on Ebay or OfferUp.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072C4KCQH/

The way these buttons work is you create a routine to respond to a button press. So in your case, the routine could make Alexa play a klaxon sound, then speak "emergency!"  on every Echo device in your house and then flash the lights or something. The buttons are pretty big, so it's not something that you can wear around your neck. It's about the size of a computer mouse.

I have 4 of these buttons. I use them as a short cut to turn on and off three groups of lights in my kitchen.

If you can't get these buttons, you can use a similar routine to respond to someone saying "Alexa code red."

As part of the routine, you can set the volume of your Echo devices to 10 (max) and then play the klaxon sound and speak "emergency!"

If you are not familiar with routines, take a look at this video for a quick explanation.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202200080

[scottrods]

Invest in a hue hub and some Light bulbs... the cheaper Hue bulbs will work if you are able to get WIFI in your shop and in the house... Set it up so he can call out to Alexa To Turn on Emergency light... or name the Bulbs "Code red"... or whatever you like. When he calls out the command "Turn on Code red" the light/s should light and don't need to be loud enough to overcome your noises, if the light is in your view. If you want to really do things up, you can probably even get the bulbs to flash or go with color bulbs to allow you to choose the color red to help you recognize the different light means he needs help. or even easier to buy an amazon Plug and plug something noisy into it and have hime call for the plug by naming it whatever the "code word" you choose happens to be... in my estimation, the more options for him, the better if he is still pretty sharp... sometimes it could take a couple of things to get a person's attention... Tons of ways to get the scene to give you an emergency call... these are just a couple off the top of my head.

[Lawn Mower]

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me, I'll be checking out the suggestions you guys make.

You'd think that there would already be a Skill or something where Alexa could sound a siren or some sort of alarm.
I've asked Alexa "sound alarm" and similar commands, nothing happens...

Thanks again for responding, your time and consideration is valued and appreciated.

[showpow]

There are skills that can send text messages. Not 100% what you're looking for, but it may help: https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Johnston-Hurt-non-emergency-alert/dp/B06WVFL4H3

[Canada Bob]

Thanks for the suggestion Showpow, but what I need is something that I can't miss, a LOUD siren or like one of the guys said a flashing light.

[fstbusa]

I would get one of these and set up a routine to sound the siren when you say a specific phrase.

https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Wireless-Smart-120dB-Siren/dp/B07N8LCNJ5

[tuicemen]

Since every second would count I'd  be concerned I didn't  hear anything with noisy machinery running and being close to it I may not notice a flashing light ( unless ot was the main light source). However if power was turned off to the noisy machine that would be immediate!  Check out some smart plugs and hopefully you can find ones rated for machines you'll have plugged into. Then have alexa turn them off with the red allert phrase add a flashing light or siern as well so there is no dought the power failure was not a breaker being tripped.

[Canada Bob]

Thanks for the further suggestion, and Thanks for taking the time, it's valued and appreciated.
Lots for me to think about, up sides and down sides on them all, but I'll figure it out with the pointers you've all suggested.

[fstbusa]

Thanks for the further suggestion, and Thanks for taking the time, it's valued and appreciated.
Lots for me to think about, up sides and down sides on them all, but I'll figure it out with the pointers you've all suggested.

also keep in mind... if this is a life and death situation, you may not want to rely on an internet connected device.  Something could always go wrong... the echo not being able to hear someones voice, not understanding their voice, internet hiccups, power outages...

[Canada Bob]

Good point about it being dependent on the internet, I guess there's a weak spot no matter which way I look to set this up, but I appreciate that you've pointed that out for me, Thanks.

It seems odd though that no one has an App or a Skill that could be used in circumstances like this, a good number of families have a parent or someone who might need to call for urgent help, lots to think about.

Bob.

[scottrods]

I think the reason for this not having a skill or app, is liability... No one wants to take responsibility for it if you have a call on it and somehow theres a failure in the system, human or mechanical or electric or electronic... In our world of Lawsuit happy people, this is understandable as well.

[Canada Bob]

I think the reason for this not having a skill or app, is liability... No one wants to take responsibility for it if you have a call on it and somehow theres a failure in the system, human or mechanical or electric or electronic... In our world of Lawsuit happy people, this is understandable as well.

Hmmm, I get it, as you say that's probably why there isn't a skill or an app to do what I need. Other than that I'm still looking into some of the ideas folks have outlined, so again Thanks to everyone for taking the time.