Press 5 for help
October 1st 2007 With local councils in
Cornwall reporting
incidences of verbal and
physical abuse, Carrick
District Council's
Development Services
Department decided to
review its lone worker
security. As a result, it has
purchased Identicom as part
of SoloProtect, a protection
service for lone workers.
After a successful trial,
the Council bought 35
Identicom units, which are
now being used by its
planning, enforcement and
building control officers.
When an employee feels
they are entering a
hazardous situation, they
press an amber alert button
which notifies SoloProtect's
monitoring centre. In this
way, the monitoring centre
is able to note the wearer's
location and raise the alarm
if the amber alert is not
cancelled within a
predetermined period.
If the red alert is then
pressed, staff at the 24/7
monitoring centre can
discreetly listen-in to what
is happening and assess the
level of support required
involving the police if
necessary.
In the event of verbal
confrontation, the Centre
can also record the
conversation for future
action.
Further information is
available from Connexion2.
Press 5 for help
Front-line workers at The
Gateshead Housing company
can now summon emergency
support and the police with
one press of the '5' key on
their mobile phones.
About 100 housing and
neighbourhood relations
staff are being protected by
the new Code5 service from
Orbis Monitoring.
Staff work alone all from
early morning to late
evening, doubling up only
when customers are known
to be violent. Robert
Demidio, health and safety
manager says "It is vital for
workers to have someone
reliable they can contact in
an emergency.
"Code5 is a good service.
Staff can use their own
mobile phones, so there is
no need to change or carry
more equipment.
Experienced operators are
always there for them 24/7.
It also provides staff with
the ability to record difficult
appointments and keep a
central file in case
allegations are made later."
Lone workers use the
recording function to log
their likely whereabouts. In
an emergency, locations are
retrieved, verified using LBS
technology, then displayed
on computer screen maps to
help operators guide support
to the scene. More articles from Orbis Property Protection Limited: | 
