North Ayrshire Council
North Ayrshire Council have recently adopted the new ‘mloneworker’ mobile software application developed in partnership with CommonTime and powered by Argyll. This has been combined with Argyll’s location monitoring platform ‘Seeker’, in order to provide an effective Lone Worker solution for their Housing and Technical Services Department. The solution is utilising HTC GPS enabled Windows Mobile smartphone handsets and has been rolled out to all Housing Officers in the area.
The Client
The Council owns the majority of the rented housing sector, with other Registered Social Landlords (RSL) accounting for a small proportion and Housing Services deals with allocations, housing management, repairs management, homeless services, quality and performance management, strategic development and community safety.
The focus of the Housing Department is to improve the quality of social housing, the availability of affordable housing and to reduce homelessness. Due to the nature of their work, Housing Services staff are required to deal face-to-face with members of the public on a daily basis. As with all public-facing workers, they are at risk of confrontation and on occasion this can escalate to either verbal or physical abuse.
Acknowledging their responsibility under H&S legislation and ‘duty of care’, and by identifying and understanding specific risks encountered by its employees as Lone Workers, North Ayrshire Council investigated a range of safety systems before deciding upon solutions provided by Argyll.
Following a recent review of the existing solution, North Ayrshire Council recognised the need for maintaining the effective time and risk management protocols that catered for out-of-hours scenarios and also acknowledged the benefits of understanding the whereabouts of staff at all times. The organisation also identified a need to upgrade their existing mobile devices and introduce flexibility for improved access to workflow processes in the future.
The Solution
HTC Windows Mobile smartphone handsets containing GPS technology have been rolled out to all Housing Officers in the area. The HTC devices have been installed with ‘mLoneworker,’ a new Lone Worker health & safety application developed by Derby based ‘CommonTime’ and powered by Argyll’s award winning Lone Worker technology. Argyll’s sophisticated location monitoring platform, Seeker, provides council management with access to highly detailed, street level mapping, accessible through a convenient and secure web interface that plots the position of every Housing Officer to accuracies of within 5 metres and displays this on any device or PC supporting a web browser. Argyll’s integrated Alarm Receiving Centre(ARC) is used to manage and monitor the location and risk of all staff and provide them with an effective safety net and duress alarm capability 24/7.
How it works
Employees are provided with a software based facility to notify Argyll while they are out ‘on-shift’ and at risk. Time based reminders ensure that Housing Officers interact periodically via the application and notify Argyll that all is well. However, should employees encounter difficulties or miss a reminder the Argyll ARC will rapidly investigate and follow up with an agreed plan of action, thus ensuring their personal safety. In the event that users are faced with confrontation, they are a single button-press away from summoning assistance, quickly and discreetly. Using a preconfigured button on their device they can issue a duress signal which instantly alerts Argyll’s 24/7 manned control room and simultaneously opens a voice channel enabling Argyll’s highly trained operators to listen in. GPS information is instantly available and ARC operations staff can then put into effect a pre-determined incident management procedure including, if required, the use of existing links with the Police to ensure a swift response converged on the precise staff location. Sophisticated voice recording ensures that every incident is captured and can be produced in evidence if required.
Why Argyll
Since its foundation in 1998, Argyll has become the UK’s leading provider of services and technology solutions that support employers fulfil their duty of care to Lone Worker employees. The company supports over 25,000 individuals and offers a range of products and services specifically designed to monitor and manage an individual’s health, safety and well-being empowering them with the ability to manage day to day risks. Argyll not only provides Lone Workers with the means of summoning assistance and a guaranteed emergency response, but also provides the employer with full compliance of health & safety legislation and the new Lone Worker standard BS8484.
