Case Studies
Connexion2 is currently working with a wide variety of employers with differing types of lone workers. Whilst each is different there is a common bond, a strong desire to ensure the safety of employees across the organisation. A number of different beneficiaries of Identicom are detailed below, for confidentiality reasons some company names have not been included:
BANKING, FINANCE, RETAIL AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Financial Services Representatives
Connexion2 is working with one of the leading financial services companies who provide a wide range of financial products. The staff involved in the sale and promotion of these services often visit potential customers in their own homes during evening hours. Clearly there is a potential for abuse, attack or worse and it is important that these workers have a way of recording information about their whereabouts and can summon help if required.
Commercial Property Key Holders
If an alarm is triggered in a commercial property late at night it is often the designated keyholder who is called to site to verify the alarm before the Police are called. Arriving on site at night and alone needing to check an alarm out is clearly a high risk job. Identicom is being used to help these workers record their progress and raise an alert if required.
Logistics Personnel
Wilts Wholesale Electrical is the largest independent electrical wholesaler in the UK with over 60 branches in southern England, south Wales and the Midlands. The company sells a range of electrical products for heating and ventilation, cable management, wiring and lighting. Branches place orders during the day and product is despatched over night by the company’s fleet of vehicles. Wilts Wholesale Electrical was concerned about the vulnerability of its drivers whilst out alone at night and turned to Connexion2 reseller Rocksure for Identicom.
“We had one incident where one of our drivers was trapped when his vehicle rolled back on him and although he was able to call us using a mobile phone he was not able to tell us where he was located. In another incident a driver was concerned about people hanging around one of our depots”, said June Jones, Health & Safety Officer at Wilts Wholesale Electrical.“Now with Peoplesafe our drivers have peace of mind knowing they can always be located and that help can be obtained by a touch of a button”.
Estate Agents
Sheffield estate agent, Butlers was the first Estate Agent in the UK to use Identicom. Independently owned by David and Leanne Butler, the estate agency specialises in residential sales and lettings from its two sites in Mosborough and Killamarsh in Sheffield. Employing a team of five, Leanne carries out all valuations whilst David looks after the day-to-day running of the business. David Butler wanted to be certain that Leanne could raise an alarm if threatened or if her movements changed from those diarised.
David says: "Most estate agents believe that their staff are safe during working hours, but this is not necessarily the case. Estate agents can just as easily be attacked during the day as out of office hours and giving staff a mobile phone is no safeguard as it can easily be knocked out of a person’s hand”.
Browns Estate Agency has four offices in Stockton, Norton, Ingleby Barwick and Yarm. In addition, the company also operates divisions covering Financial Services, Survey & Valuation, Commercial and Property Management & Residential Lettings. Proprietor Simon Brown was concerned that staff from its Property Management Division were vulnerable when showing potential tenants around premises.
“Peoplesafe is a far better system than sending an emergency text message from a mobile phone”, says Simon Brown.“If a meeting is longer than we would anticipate the unit prompts the user for a response. If no response is received the unit automatically switches to red alert and the person’s mobile is rung to check they are all right.If there was no response, Rocksure’s monitoring centre (who can listen in on the situation) would call me, and, depending on severity of the situation they would also call the police”. [NB: Rocksure utilise Identicom as part of its Peoplesafe service.]
Comment from Julie Bentley, Chief Executive of The Suzy Lamplugh Trust:
“The property industry has been slow to respond to the potential risks to staff when out meeting clients. We fully support an initiative such as this, which assists in safeguarding staff. We would like to see this industry more widely take seriously the risks faced by employees”.
HEALTHCARE
National Health Service (NHS): Lone working healthcare staff
In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) has an estimated 150,000 lone or community based staff. All of these staff provide valuable care services to patients and clients in the community but can often suffer from verbal abuse or risk physical attack during their work. The NHS trialled the use of Identicom with over 100 different workers in 22 different NHS organisations in England, the outcome of which was the succesful launch of Identicom in March 2005.
Jim Gee, CEO of the NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) said: "The NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) has now successfully completed trials of the Identicom device. NHS staff said they felt safer and more at ease in their working environment when using this device and I hope that NHS organisations take advantage of the opportunities, which are now presented to properly protect lone workers. Identicom is one of a range of measures we are taking to protect lone workers in the NHS from violence and abuse.”
Follow the link to the NHS SMS Website for further details
Windsor, Ascot & Maidenhead PCT has upgraded its employee security system by purchasing Connexion2’s Identicom. Staff security is a central concern for the Trust, with around 200 professional health care workers regularly working on their own out in the community. To ensure their well-being, the Trust needed to provide them with a personal alarm system that would assist the worker, whenever and wherever it might be needed.
The Trust originally operated a telephone system whereby an employee could call a dedicated line and give a PIN number that would activate a security response. However, this system did not provide any location capability in the event of an incident or offer a discreet facility that would raise an alarm without potentially increasing the worker’s risk.
“We don’t want our staff to be attacked or put in any kind of danger which is why we are rolling out Identicom units to our most vulnerable staff members”, said Paul Corcoran, Integrated Governance Manager at Windsor, Ascot & Maidenhead PCT.
The Identicom units were supplied to Windsor, Ascot & Maidenhead PCT by Vodafone Limited.
LOCAL AUTHORITY
City & County Council staff
Local Authorities employ many types of workers who commonly work alone, and at all hours. These individuals are constantly interfacing with the public and in trying to deliver a service face verbal and physical aggression on a regular basis. Some of the beneficiaries of Identicom include:
Stoke-on-Trent: Traffic Wardens
In June 2005, Stoke-on-Trent City Council (Midlands, UK) publicly announced its intent to look at equipping its traffic wardens with Identicom. This follows numerous incidents involving these workers facing frequent verbal abuse and in some cases physical attack. The council is keen to look at providing its workers with Identicom as a way of not only helping workers raise an alert for assistance but also to help capture evidence of the verbal abuse they face.
Sefton Council: Social Workers
Sefton Council: Housing Benefit Officers
Sefton Council: Security Staff
Sefton Council: Tax Enforcement Officers
Sefton Council was one of the first council’s in the UK to adopt the use of Identicom to protect its staff from assaults.
Dave Ellison, Security Services Manager at Sefton Council, said: “There has been a marked increase in verbal abuse towards our workforce over the past 12 months and verbal abuse can often escalate to a physical assault. Bold Communications (who supplied the units to Sefton Council) demonstrated the Identicom device to us and we were so impressed that we emailed our workforce to establish who it would benefit. We have initially equipped our housing benefit officers, social workers and tax enforcement officers with the device”.
Sefton Council: Emergency Duty Team
Council Emergency Duty Team's are small teams of professional social workers providing emergency cover for out of office situations. When called upon, the practitioner is unaware whether he or she will be called to an incident that involves alcohol, drugs, mental health assessment, child abuse or domestic violence. Now, Sefton Council’s Emergency Duty Team is benefitting from Identicom.
Glen Williams, Manager/Practitioner of the Emergency Duty Team for Sefton Council, said: “A typical example of our work would be the phone ringing at 10.00 p.m. to say that Mr X needs assessing under the Mental Health Act (1983) as he is very disturbed and on his own in his flat...Whilst we do everything possible to avoid visiting alone, there are times when we have to and may be faced by an extremely disturbed adult who is paranoid, aggressive and quite psychotic. Simply being out and about late at night on some of the estates we visit, where alcohol and other substances are consumed, can in itself feel threatening”. Glen continues...“Technology can never entirely eradicate risk, but Identicom provides peace of mind and if used to supplement good lone work practices, is an invaluable asset for lone worker safety”.
Sefton Council: Complementary Education Service
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 staff with the additional support of Identicom.
Steve Jones, Service Manager of the Pinefield Centre, said: “Working within the Complementary Education Service does involve our personnel to periodically work alone, and 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 were supplied to Sefton Council by Bold Communications.
South Gloucestershire County Council: Street Care Workers
With more than 250,000 residents, South Gloucestershire is the fastest-growing area in the South West, offering bustling towns and unspoilt countryside, excellent travel links and major commercial and industrial areas.The Street Care Department covers a spectrum of activities within the Council from abandoned vehicles to car parks and from parks to stray animals.
Verbal and physical abuse against dog wardens and council officers dealing with abandoned vehicles and high hedge disputes is a common occurrence.Now, South Gloucestershire Council has found a means of protecting its Street Care workers by using Peoplesafe, a technically advanced lone worker safety device from Rocksure Systems.
After seeing Peoplesafe demonstrated, Jim Daniels, Senior Community Spaces Officer quickly decided the safety device was exactly what was needed to safeguard the Council’s lone workers. “Not only does Peoplesafe provide our employees with a means of obtaining help in the event of a dispute or accident but it also enables us to record a disagreement and play it back when there is a discrepancy about what was said”, says Jim Daniels.
Fife Council: Social Work Service
Fife is the third largest local authority in Scotland with a population of 350,000. It employs 4,350 personnel within its Social Work Service of which 2,600 staff are lone workers.
Stephen Moore, Head of Social Work Services at Fife Council, said: “We have a number of care homes for the elderly where staff are particularly vulnerable at night and where there have been a couple of break-ins. As staff are attending to residents’ personal needs, carrying a mobile phone is not a practical option. Identicom has overcome the difficulties of not being able to carry a mobile phone. The Identicom units have been distributed to our residential homes. Staff now have the security of being able to wear Identicom either around their necks or clipped to their clothing, and know that they only have to press the call button to activate the emergency procedure”.
The Identicom units were supplied to Fife Council by Blue Chip Technologies.
Places for People Group: Outreach Workers
North British Housing (subsidiary of Places for People): Housing Officers
The Places for People Group is one of the UK’s leading housing and regeneration specialists. Identicom is not only ensuring the safety of the Group’s staff but is also being utilised for recording incidents of verbal abuse.
Shaun Thornton, Housing Officer, who works in the inner city areas of Manchester looking after social housing for North British Housing, said: “You feel alright when you’re in your car but when you park and get out and there’s a group of youths nearby, you can really feel that you are on your own. I found Identicom easy to use and it gave me a sense that someone was always there for me...I pressed the amber alert every time I went for a meeting and on one occasion tested the red button to see what would happen. I was amazed at how fast the call centre was on the line”.
The Identicom units were supplied to the Places for People Group by Orbis Monitoring.
Family Care: Outreach Workers
Family Care has worked with vulnerable families for over 140 years and in the last 20 years has become focused on child protection ensuring children are safe with their families.The organisation offers comprehensive residential, day and community assessments, often within Local Authority section 47 investigations.Over 95% of the referrals are children whose names are on the Child Protection Register and/or subjects of Interim Care Orders.
Outreach workers attend meetings with families to carry out assessments and address past issues and behaviours where parenting has been a concern.Referred families often have multiple and complex needs caused by learning difficulties, mental health, drug and alcohol misuse and abusive relationships. Frequently faced with challenging situations and the need to go out into the community at irregular hours, Family Care decided to look for a device, which would enable workers to raise the alarm if threatened.
Chosen by Family Care for its innovative technology and covert design, a total of 11 Identicom units are now being used by workers.
The Identicom units were supplied to Family Care by Rocksure.
SECURITY STAFF / KEYHOLDERS
Johnson Matthey Security Staff
Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells is a global business, dedicated to the supply of high quality fuel cell components for hydrogen and methanol fuelled systems. The business has operations in the USA and Japan as well as its high- tech manufacturing facility in Swindon.The site’s security team operate 24/7 with security officers patrolling the site from 5.00 p.m. until 7.30 a.m.
“I was conscious that as our security officers regularly work alone and could be vulnerable to an accident or attack”, says Bob Bizley, Security Team Leader at Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells.“Now with Identicom they have peace of mind knowing they can summon help at a touch of a button.”
The Identicom units were supplied to Johnson Matthey by Rocksure.
LONE WORKING SALES STAFF
Persimmon Homes
Persimmon Homes is the UK’s largest house builder. Aware that employees working in its marketing suites were vulnerable to verbal and physical abuse, Persimmon Homes’ Health & Safety team looked for a cost effective and efficient means of protecting them.The solution came with Peoplesafe, a technically advanced lone worker safety device from Rocksure Systems, a leading supplier of personal security.
Now, following an extensive trial, Persimmon Homes has issued all it lone workers in North Yorkshire with Peoplesafe.Resembling a normal ID holder, but packed with the latest mobile phone technology, Peoplesafe not only enables the lone worker to covertly 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.
David Smith, Sales Director of Persimmon Homes in North Yorkshire was keen to ensure that his team was the first to use Peoplesafe.“Unfortunately, our staff have had to face a wide range of serious threats in the past including verbal abuse, physical abuse, intimidating behaviour and robbery.Our employees are at risk each time they show a prospective buyer around our new properties as they are on there own and out of sight.Many of our sales staff are female and the risks are obvious”.
The Identicom units were supplied to Persimmon Homes by Rocksure.
