Security professionals operating in high-risk areas in the UK or abroad can face danger, writes Colin Dale, pictured, Director, Business Development, Vismo Global Tracking Solutions.
The threat to an individual may be small but when it happens it is of course a major issue for everybody involved – the individual, their employer and family and friends. Danger can come from a “conventional” source – an explosion in an industrial complex or a fire in commercial offices or warehouse – or from “new” challenges: a terrorist attack or, in extreme cases, attempted kidnap. Many jobs in the industry are no less safe than others elsewhere, but some positions involve real risks that can be minimised through best practice and the use of personal tracking technology combined with a two-way flow of information. The latter is designed to not only reassure those affected but also give advice that minimises or eradicates further risks and be of help in any attempted rescue or evacuation.
About the technology
The approach we have taken at Vismo is to develop, enhance and support a global tracking app – for use with for smartphones [android/iPhone/Windows], satellite phones and the Apple Watch – that minimises battery drain while providing highly accurate GPS-based location co-ordinates to emergency services, the intelligence community [where appropriate] – and to compatible systems in the security industry. Most are compatible, and compatibility is increasing. The app turns a phone into a tracking device with panic button capability, enabling a global security centre to track, protect and respond to users as they work in and/or travel to, through and out of high-risk areas anywhere in the world.
Clearly, some jobs in security are at the front line of risk, but, regardless of the risk factor, the employee gets the same level of service – except in exceptional circumstances, where extra safeguards may be put in place. These include military back up in very high risk areas where highly sensitive and risky security work is being carried out. The app is used by many FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies – and UN agencies, journalists and security personnel in hot spots around the world. FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies use it as part of their duty of care towards their employees. During the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, for example, some employees of major corporations were in the capital en route to do business in China, others working there in financial services. Although none were in the immediate vicinity of the attack, they received information about it, and advice, via the app, and their employers were seen to be active participants in duty of care practice.
How the app works
When users are caught up in an incident, they activate the app’s panic button on their device, triggering an alert at a security centre and sending real-time, covert recordings to the centre to help its personnel identify what is going on and formulate an appropriate response. They will communicate with the users via using SMS messages rather than voice in order to gain as much further information as possible, discreetly, and give advice on how to minimise personal risk.
By now the centre will be liaising with emergency services and sharing the users’ precise location via mapping and travel software that is commonly used among those services around the world; and sharing information with security industry systems [where they are compatible]. Employers of security professionals using the app are kept in the loop through a dedicated, secure webpage that is allocated to each employer by Vismo. Activation by a user may well be the first time a security centre is made aware of an incident, but the way it handles any alert is designed to safeguard app users as much as possible. If an alert comes first not from a user but one of the emergency services – or a news flash – the centre will send an SMS to the phones of any users in the vicinity of the incident with information and advice.
Apple Watch
Users of the app that’s on their Apple Watch can now operate the panic button on their device remotely without having to key in a security code. Remote operation overcomes the issues of having to unlock the device to activate the panic button or accidentally setting off false alarms when using a “shake to panic” type of activation.
Vismo continues to offer its security code enabled “standalone” panic button for those users who keep their Panerei or Rolex on their wrist. The company always recommend users install that button in the dock of their iPhone for ease of access.
Geo-fencing
Features of the app include the ability for users or their employer organisation to draw a geo-fence on a digital map in order to highlight where risks are known or might happen and show where users are on the map in real-time. Users are automatically given alerts by SMS when they enter or leave a geo-fenced area. It can be a map of an airport [or part of it], a shopping centre, an industrial complex or particularly high-risk areas in the Middle East or elsewhere.
The ability to pinpoint an individual on the ground and correlate their position, relative to high-risk areas, is key to maintaining the safety and security of individuals. Additionally, if a staff member finds themselves in a crisis situation, the ability to locate their exact position and give appropriate advice is vital and could save their life. Precise GPS location fixes and the availability of historical longitude and latitude information during crisis situations around the world has resulted in many organisations turning to the app as a proven way of ensuring their employees stay safe.
The app was used to track the British and Canadian athletes during the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were anticipated to pose a high terrorist threat. In being equipped with the app, the British Olympic Association and Canadian Olympic Committee had the ability to rapidly act on adverse situations had they arisen. Similarly, it was on the phones of British media [tv/radio and newspapers] when in the US covering the elections and presidential inauguration.
It is deployed widely in the UK and has also been used to track and locate individuals kidnapped and held at gunpoint in Syria, caught in the devastating earthquake in Nepal in 2015, and reassure organisations that their staff were not in the vicinity of the terrorist attacks in Nice, Brussels, Paris, Tunisia and elsewhere. It helped to secure the safety of a journalist after a multiple bombing and shooting incident in Iraq.
Outside work, too
The use of an app is not restricted to work and working hours. App users typically have the app in “on” mode wherever they are, including when not at work in case it needs to be used either to notify the app’s security centre of an incident – perhaps a flood, fire or traffic accident – or in case the security centre sends an SMS to them to warn of an incident. Whether the user is at work or not, even on holiday in any part of the world, the app sends an alert of an incident when the user is within a 10km [6.2 mile] radius of his/her location. Satellite phones ensure the app has truly global coverage, reaching those parts that mobile phone signals don’t because they are so remote.
More at vismo.com.
