Customers and friends of lone worker protection product manufacturer SoloProtect marked the company’s opening of its new UK headquarters on Friday, October 16. Suzy Lamplugh House in Sheffield houses SoloProtect’s new UK headquarters and Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). Attending were Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield South East; Sir Keith Povey, President of the BSIA; and Rachel Griffin, Director of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, pictured.
The day featured industry presentations to guests, lunch and networking, plus a guided tour of SoloProtect’s new ARC. The premises are based close to the Meadowhall roundabout on Sheffield Road in Tinsley.
The ARC will begin handling SoloProtect customer ‘Red Alerts’ from 2016, and will imminently be audited to be the first dedicated Lone Worker ARC to receive accreditation against BS 8591 and the European Standard EN 50518 , covering ARCs.
Craig Swallow, Managing Director of SoloProtect UK said: “Our goal is to deliver the quickest response to our customers with the most qualified staff today and in the future.”
Through recent expansion, SoloProtect – maker of the Identicom lone worker device – has added 14 new full time positions to its growing UK operation; all based in Sheffield. This year the firm introduced a formal living wage policy, raising the company’s lowest wage to a minimum wage of £11 an hour, above the UK threshold of the national £7.85 per hour outside of London (£9.15 in the capital).
The building is named after SoloProtect’s nominated charity is the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Craig Swallow developed the idea for the ‘Identicom’ after attending a Suzy Lamplugh Trust event about personal safety in 2002. The device was designed to look like an ID badge and be discreet and wearable. SoloProtect and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust officially announced a new strategic partnership in June 2015. This includes part of the new building available to the trust to deliver safety training. The opening day of that Suzy Lamplugh House also featured a prize draw in aid of the Trust, which managed to raise just under £300.
Identicom is used by more than 150 000 lone workers worldwide and used by the NHS, Hilti, Sky, Domino’S Pizza and housing associations among others to offer protection to their lone workers. After SoloProtect’s acquisition by American company Kings III Emergency Communications in 2013, the product is now available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Germany and France direct to market. John Broady, CEO SoloProtect, said: “We truly take lone worker protection and lone worker safety passionately. It drives everything that we do.”
