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Introducing Skyguard … the first personal safety service for lone workers at risk
With attacks on lone workers such as security staff, estate agents, local authority staff and NHS workers at an all-time high, a new British personal safety service is set to bring improved peace of mind to the millions who spend some or all of their working time alone and vulnerable.
The aptly-named Skyguard is the first service to combine a pocket sized Personal Safety Device, or Skyminders, capable of raising an alarm, with operators at a 24 hour Emergency Response Centre who take control using the latest technology. Having verified the incident, they then organise swift assistance from either the emergency services or Skyguard’s own mobile team.
The service is centred on unique software at the Emergency Response Centre, developed by Skyguard, which can handle alerts from a range of Skyminder Personal Safety Devices, including GPS-enabled mobile phones. Once activated, it provides Skyguard’s professionally trained operators with personal details, photograph and precise location on large scale mapping as well as enabling communication with the worker in distress, before sending in help.
Health visitors and medical personnel on call are expected to be among the first users of the service - with over 1.5 million violent and abusive incidents against public sector employees alone being reported each year. Local authority staff, estate agents, security staff, taxi and van drivers are other likely early beneficiaries.
Chaired by Sir Geoffrey Dear, former chief constable of the West Midlands Police, Skyguard’s team of British security and programming experts have been working on a number of lone worker tracking systems since late 2000, supported by a DTI Smart Grant and private funding.
This first monitoring and response service, launched in partnership with Legion Security plc, is accompanied by ‘SkyMinder Blue and Skyminder Plus’ - a palm sized Personal Safety Device currently in the final stages of production.
The timing of Skyguard’s emergence coincides with both rising concern about personal safety and substantial legislation making employers responsible for their people while on duty.
Not only can lone staff now benefit from a professional personal safety service but their employers also gain significant protection against compensation and corporate negligence claims. (Over 6,000 companies paid out damages for Health & Safety incidents in 2001 and, in 2004, one city council was forced to pay £200,000 to a lone worker who was assaulted while working unaccompanied.) 12.09.2005, Skyguard
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