I’m always on the hunt for ideas that make the working life of front-line professionals safer and more effective. Rather auspiciously, not long after I joined Bold Security Group, Graham Hawkins, Managing Director, brought this particular innovation to my attention, and it sounded like a very clever idea. Then, last month it won a Security & Fire Excellence Award for “Security Software Product or Software-as-a-Service” 2021, and I definitely had to take a long look at the system……….. and hopefully get involved!
It’s called Salus.
Bold Security Group, in partnership with cutting edge tech firm, Humanalytics, have developed and implemented a comprehensive and effective, safety monitoring and welfare system, not just for security officers, but all lone workers.
For the vast majority of companies, the safety and wellbeing of employees, especially when working alone or remotely, is of paramount importance. The legal “duty of care” placed on organisations, can often create a huge procedural and administrative burden for health and safety management however, and when things go wrong, beside the awful tragedy and heartache caused, the financial and reputational damage can destroy a company.
There is now an innovative and effective technological solution.
Exploiting many of the capabilities of the latest ‘smartwatch’ hardware technology, Salus has taken a quantum leap towards solving the problems of ensuring the safety, and monitoring the wellbeing, of lone working personnel.
It comes as an easy to use, smartwatch application, that uses GPS technology to accurately pinpoint the location of your staff, and it uses biometric monitoring, spatial orientation detection, and communications features, to detect if the wearer has collapsed or lost consciousness, sending a “man down” alert to the monitoring centre within 40 seconds of being triggered. The monitoring centre can send a loud alarm tone and vibration to the watch, then use the watches’ voice telephony capability to attempt to contact the wearer, before summoning assistance.
In an emergency situation the wearer can also send a covert duress alert, quietly, to a central control centre, using a simple key press combination. This is flagged up instantly by the system, and can be actioned appropriately. In such circumstances Salus records the sounds from the vicinity of the watch for some time after the alert has been activated, and sends this to the control centre to assist responders, and for evidential purposes.
Companies that have several lone workers can also utilise the Salus “Dashboard” software in their communications hub or office, to provide real time access to location and task data, for all of their lone workers!
This Dashboard allows a huge amount of customisation, providing a versatile and adaptable system which can evolve with the changing needs of any company. It represents a complete task generation, real time monitoring, communications and productivity solution, and is unique to Salus.
This level and detail of real time monitoring reduces the need for physical management or supervisory welfare checks, and the wearer can be contacted or messaged directly via the smartwatch, to impart or receive any information necessary.
I have been asked about the data collection ramifications, and if the system is genuinely GDPR compliant. All the GPS positional and biometric information collected is of course sensitive special data, and must be protected. Salus uses advanced encryption in both the App, and Dashboard software, to ensure the safety of the data collected.
The smartwatch app allows booking on & off using a biometric signature which can be set up to identify any specific user.
The system doesn’t just monitor health and wellbeing of course. It can be configured to send task information and reports to and from your Salus user Dashboard, and can be used to make and receive voice phone calls without the need to be walking around holding a phone, or using any additional Bluetooth equipment.
While speaking to the developers, I mentioned that it must be a drawback that smartwatches can not take photos that can be attached to reports or task information? They’ve thought of that as well. Salus is also available as an app for Android smartphones, which introduces the one thing that a smartwatch currently cannot provide, the ability to take high resolution photos and attach these to reports. The smartphone mobile app also allows booking on & off with a live picture (Selfie) which has location tag and username, embedded in the image. Clever stuff. All of these user images and biometric data are securely stored in the cloud, which allows automatic timesheet reporting.
The smart phone app can also be used as a stand-alone product, providing many of the benefits of Salus, but without the biometric health monitoring that the watch provides. This should prove popular as, despite the limitations of a smartphone, everyone carries one, and there is of course, no need buy a modern smartwatch.
I put the issue of cost of a smartwatch, to Graham Hawkins, who told me that there were a range of subscription options to spread the cost of the hardware, and include this with central control centre monitoring fees, Dashboard system costs or software licencing. Apparently any company, or even individuals, can talk to Bold Security Group about their specific needs, and a safety system can be specially tailored to do what is required.
When I first heard about Salus, I thought it had huge potential. Indeed potentially life saving abilities. Now it seems that the judging panels of industry awards seem to feel the same. There’s no doubt going to be a lot about this showing up in the media over the next few months, but you heard it here first!
Visit: https://humanalytics.com/salus.html for more information.
Rollo Davies F.ISRM, MSyI.
Special Projects Manager, Bold Security Group & Industry Improvement Campaigner
