Teachers of vulnerable children benefit from Identicom
IDENTICOM PROVIDES SAFEGUARD TO COMPLEMENTARY EDUCATION SERVICE
Identicom, the award winning lone worker device from Connexion2, is providing lone workers from the Pinefield Centre, with peace of mind knowing that they are being monitored in potentially hazardous situations and can discreetly summon help if a threatening incident occurs.The Pinefield Centre is the headquarters of Sefton Council’s complementary education service.
Complementary education exists to support the continuing teaching of vulnerable children through the collaborative working with schools, families, health, social services and other agencies.Children being supported within the Complementary Education Service encompass minority ethnics and asylum seekers, Traveller children, distance learning and those being educated at home either because they are sick, EOTAS (education other than at school) or pregnant at school age.
Whilst the majority of pupils educated within the Complimentary Education Service attend specialist centres where behavioural problems are rarely an issue, the Service does require educational personnel to visit pupils in their homes, either to liaise with parents or to tutor children.Lone workers are amongst the most vulnerable in the workforce and whilst attacks on educational staff are rare, the Pinefield Centre decided to provide their personnel with the additional support of Identicom.
Resembling a normal ID holder, but packed with the latest mobile phone technology, Identicom not only enables the lone worker to discreetly raise an alarm if threatened, but also allows a third party to listen to what is happening and record events whatever the distance. The device can also support the pinpointing of a worker’s location using GSM/LBS technology.
Users press an amber alert button to notify Sefton’s Security Services, who monitor the Identicom units from a control room at the Council, when they know they are entering a potentially hazardous situation. If they then have cause to press the red alert, a member of staff retrieves the information on their locality, listens in on the line to what is happening and co-ordinate the appropriate emergency support – involving the police if necessary.
“Working within the Complementary Education Service does involve our personnel to periodically work alone”, says Steve Jones, Service Manager of the Pinefield Centre.“Although verbal and physical abuse is very rare, we felt that Identicom would provide our staff with security and peace of mind”.
The Identicom units have been provided by Bold Communications, the UK’s leading solutions provider of alarm monitoring systems.Sefton’s Security Services are monitoring the units from its own control room at the Council. Ends
