Setting up the Swedish PDV alarm template
The PDV (Pågående Dödligt Våld — Ongoing Deadly Violence) alarm template is a Sweden-only alarm type designed for Swedish schools. It follows the protective action guidelines issued by MCF (Myndigheten för civilt försvar) in collaboration with the Swedish Police Authority, Centre against Violent Extremism, and the Swedish Schools Inspectorate.
When triggered, the PDV alarm notifies every user in the subaccount so they can follow the Run – Hide – Tell (Swedish: Fly – Sök skydd – Larma) protective action model.
PDV is a template-based alarm: the alarm name, icon, colour, sound, recipient mode, location behaviour, confirmation step, 112 emergency call button, and instruction text are all preset by Cosafe and cannot be changed by the admin. This guarantees that the alarm behaves identically across all Swedish schools using Cosafe. The template has been developed in accordance with best practice and is based on use cases from actual real-world PDV attacks, which is why its configuration is standardised and locked.
Before you start
- You need account level administrator access to the Cosafe Admin Panel.
- PDV must be enabled for your organisation by Cosafe. This is not self-service — contact Cosafe support to have the PDV template added to your account. Until this is done, the PDV option will not appear when creating a new alarm.
- Decide which user groups should receive the PDV alarm in addition to all users in the subaccount (the template always notifies everyone in the subaccount; predefined groups are additive).
Setting up the PDV alarm
- Log in to the Admin Panel at admin.cosafe.com.
- Navigate to Account in the left-hand menu and select the relevant school account.
- Open the Alarm tab.
- Click Create alarm. A template chooser popup appears (this popup only shows if the organisation has PDV enabled — see Before you start).
- Select the PDV card. The other option, Custom, creates a standard configurable alarm and is not covered by this guide.
- The alarm form opens pre-configured with the PDV template. Most fields are locked and hidden — you cannot change the public alarm name, icon, colour, sound, location behaviour, confirmation step, 112 button, instruction text, or the rule that all users in the subaccount are notified.
- Configure the fields that are available to you:
- Configuration name — an internal label used to identify this alarm in the admin list. This is not shown to end users when the alarm is sent. You may need more than one PDV configuration because each can target a different set of predefined groups: for example, a council might have one PDV alarm named "PDV – Nursery Schools" that notifies the triggering school plus the leadership responsible for nursery schools, and a separate "PDV – Secondary Schools" alarm that routes to the leadership responsible for secondary schools. Use the configuration name to keep these variants distinguishable in the admin list.
- Predefined groups — groups that should also receive the PDV alarm. All users in the subaccount are notified by default; groups selected here are added on top of that.
- Force alarm down to all subaccounts (advanced) — pushes the PDV template down to sub-organisations. Only one PDV alarm can force-down to subaccounts at a time. If another PDV alarm already has this enabled, the option is disabled and a warning banner explains why.
- Click Save.
Verifying the alarm
After saving, open the alarm from the admin list and confirm:
- The configuration name matches what you entered.
- The intended predefined groups are listed as recipients.
- If you enabled force-down to subaccounts, the setting is reflected on the alarm.
Optionally send a test alarm to a small group to verify that the PDV notification, sound, and 112 emergency call button appear correctly on recipients' devices.
Staff rollout recommendation
All staff who will receive the PDV alarm must watch the Fly – Sök skydd – Larma training film before the alarm is activated. The film explains exactly what to do when the alarm is received.
MCF has produced a training film specifically for school staff, school management, and older students. Watch it below, or visit the MCF school safety page for additional resources.
The film above is intended for school staff, management, and older students. MCF also provides a shorter animated version for younger students — both are available on the MCF school safety page.
Recommended rollout steps:
- Contact Cosafe to have the PDV template enabled on your organisation.
- Cosafe can even help you set up the new PDV and enable it for your subaccounts.
- Have all staff watch the training film, or schedule an onsite training session with one of our experts.
- Optionally complete MCF's web course on school attack protection.
- Check that all staff have access to the new alarm in their app.
External resources
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| MCF — Preventing school attacks | mcf.se |
| MCF guidance document (PDF, Swedish) | Download |
| MCF guidance document (PDF, English) | Download |
| MCF web course — School attack protection | mcf.se |
| Skolattack.se (Centre against Violent Extremism) | cve.se |
If you would like one of our PDV experts to run a tailored PDV course for you and your colleagues, contact Cosafe's advisory team and we'll arrange it.