Kari's Law: Alerting Your Team When Someone Dials 911

When someone in your building calls 911, the people on site can often reach them faster than emergency responders can — by unlocking a door, meeting the ambulance, or guiding paramedics to the right room. Notification groups alert your chosen staff the moment anyone on your phone system dials 911.

In the United States, Kari's Law requires business phone systems to notify a central point (like a front desk or security office) whenever a 911 call is made. Notification groups are how you meet that requirement.

Two things Kari's Law expects

1. Direct 911 dialing. Anyone must be able to dial 911 and reach emergency services directly — with no need to press 9 first. ReliaRing accepts 911 directly, so this works out of the box.
2. On-site notification. Someone at your organization is alerted when a 911 call happens.

Who is alerted

For each 911 call we alert, in order:

1. The notification groups that cover the emergency address the call came from.
2. Otherwise, your account default group — the group notified for 911 calls from any address no other group covers.
3. If you have no group at all, your account administrators are emailed, so a call is never missed.

The group you create in the setup flow is your account default group. Add more groups when different sites need different people.

Creating or editing a group

1. Go to Emergency (E911) → Notifications.
2. Create a new group (or Edit an existing one) and give it a name, such as "Head office emergency contacts".
3. Add up to three recipients. For each, choose how they are alerted:
   • Email
   • Text message — a mobile number
   • Voice call — a phone number that receives a spoken alert
   • Webhook — a web address, for connecting the alert to another system
4. Under Emergency addresses this group covers, tick the addresses this group is responsible for. If you run more than one site, this is what stops your Calgary front desk being paged for a call in Toronto.
5. Turn on Account default group if this group should cover every address without a group of its own.
6. Save the group.

What recipients receive

Alerts say who called, their extension, the callback number, the emergency address that was sent and where it came from (their own address or the company default), and the time. A real 911 alert is clearly marked as an emergency. A 933 test call sends a separate, clearly marked test alert, so nobody is alarmed by a drill. Administrators signed in to the portal also see an on-screen alert.

The email's Number is the caller's extension or phone number. Callback is the number emergency services can use to call back; it may be different. When the calling device is identified, the email also shows its saved Device name and Device type, such as a desktop app or desk phone. Device details may be unavailable for an unidentified call or a call arriving through a trunk.

Test your recipients

Use Send test next to a recipient and confirm the message arrives. This does not contact emergency services. Every alert and test is listed in the Notification log with its delivery result.

If a test never arrives, see 911 Alerts Are Not Reaching My Team.

Tips

• Pick people who are usually on site and reachable, such as a front desk or security desk.
• Pair an email with a text message so someone sees the alert quickly.
• Keep the list current when staff change roles, and review it after a move.

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Related articles

• How 911 Works on an Internet Phone Service
• Testing Your 911 Setup Safely with 933
• Registering and Updating Your Emergency Address

For a real emergency, always dial 911.