Operators of the biggest hotels in New York City have agreed to a long-term contract that will give hotel housekeepers and other employees personal panic buttons.

The security devices would summon help if hotel staff encounter danger in a guest’s room. The provision in the proposed contract calls for the hotels to equip certain employees with “devices to be carried on their persons at work that they can quickly and easily activate to effectively summon prompt assistance to their location.”

The devices, which will be distributed within a year to housekeepers, room-service waiters and even the attendants who stock the minibars, may vary from hotel to hotel for technical reasons, but all will serve the basic purpose of calling for help.

The contract covers employees at most of the big hotels in the city, but not those operated under the Hilton brand by Blackstone Group, including the New York Hilton and the Waldorf-Astoria.