Identicom now available to UK Public Sector via Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
Violence against public sector workers is an ongoing concern and lone, community-based staff are among the most vulnerable.Vodafone UK and Orbis Monitoring have taken steps to provide faster deployment of protection devices by signing an agreement with the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).The agreement is to deliver Vodafone UK’s new Lone Work Protection Identisafe device with the Orbis monitoring service directly through OGC Buying Solutions.
This agreement with Vodafone UK enables Orbis to meet the Best Value guidelines set out by OGC Buying Solutions, the trading arm of the OGC, for the direct purchase of Vodafone Identisafe.This eliminates the requirement for public sector departments to tender using OJEU (Official Journal of European Union), making it easier to provide protection to those community workers who are most at risk.
The joint offering is designed to allow customers to trigger an alarm subtly if they feel at risk so they can be located and helped, with police involvement if necessary.The Orbis Monitoring Centre has a direct line to the emergency services call centre which bypasses the 999 operator for additional speed and effectiveness.
Jim Gee, Chief Executive of the NHS Security Management Service, said, “Following the successfully completed trials of the Identisafe device by the NHS Security Management Service in March 2005, NHS staff said they felt safer and more at ease in their working environment when using it. Identisafe was one of a range of measures recommended to the NHS as part of new guidance to better protect NHS lone workers from violence and abuse. We know that the better we protect NHS staff, the better they can protect the health of the public.”
The device is specifically designed to be easy to use and access even under duress. The product looks and is worn like a normal ID card holder and can be operated without breaking eye contact with an aggressor.
David Hughes, Head of Government, Vodafone UK, said, “Mobile technology is now well-established within the emergency services and public sector bodies as an accurate and dependable method of locating people quickly.The strong combination of the Vodafone UK network and the Orbis monitoring technology has been instrumental in arranging this direct agreement with the OGC.”
Orbis director, David Armstrong, said, “Our software can take thousands of recordings of peoples’ whereabouts or incidents. Message-taking is not restricted to over-the-phone note-taking and all messages are available to operators instantly.Users can be assured of confidentiality – their information will only be accessed in an emergency.All communications are recorded on DVD and can be used later as evidence in any legal proceedings.”
There are four payment options: outright capital purchase with a choice of an all-inclusive (device plus calls) or a non-inclusive package (device only); and a monthly hardware payment with the choice of the same two packages.
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For further information on Vodafone UK please contact:
Katherine Danby or Bryony Clow
Vodafone UK Public Relations
Tel: 07000 500100
Email: press.office@vodafone.com
For further information on Orbis PLC, please contact:
Jan Comer
Aurora PR for Orbis Monitoring
Tel: 020 8287 1124 / 07970 258 023
Email: jancomer@aurorapr.co.uk
NHS SECURITY MANAGEMENT SERVICE
The NHS Security Management Service has policy and operational responsibility for security issues in the NHS, This includes the protection of all staff, including lone workers, from violence and abuse. Further information is available it www.cfsms.nhs.uk
ORBIS MONITORING
Orbis Monitoring is part of Orbis PLC, the leading protector of lone workers and vacant properties in Europe.It was among the first to pioneer a new level of lone worker protection that provided exact location techniques and 24/7 response centre support to summon the appropriate help to the incident.
VODAFONE UK
Vodafone UK has 15.3 million customers and is part of the world’s largest mobile community offering a wide range of voice and data communications. On the 1st January 1985, the first mobile phone call was made by Ernie Wise on the Vodafone network. Since then, Vodafone was the first to introduce SMS in 1994 and to make a 3G voice call in July 2001. Vodafone UK was the world’s first mobile operator to introduce international roaming, now connecting customers with standard roaming agreements in 174 countries, GPRS roaming in over 55 countries and 250 cities worldwide using 3G.
Following the launch of Vodafone UK’s 3G/GPRS Mobile Connect data card in April 2004, the company launched Vodafone live! with 3G in November 2004 offering services such as video-calling and music downloads. Vodafone's 3G UK population coverage currently stands at 65 per cent and the network is being continually expanded.
