The University of Hertfordshire has some 25,000 students and 2,700 staff. Its two sites, College Lane and de Havilland, are less than a kilometre apart, and offer campus residential accommodation for 4,500 students.
In 2015, the Hatfield-based university entered into a long-term partnership with Securitas and has a wide range of protective services including On-Site, Electronic and Remote security and Fire and Safety.
With two campuses to protect, the university wanted an on-site team to respond to emergencies. The uni and security contractor agreed that a First Response Team, in a specialist First Response Vehicle, should meet this need.
Securitas upskilled 15 on-site security officers to form the First Response Team, training them in first aid and Emergency Fire Crew Capability (EFCC). A First Response Vehicle is used by the team, whether to extinguish small fires, deliver first aid or help with chemical spills and lift break downs. The vehicle travels between College Lane and de Havilland and is always manned by two officers.
When not attending an incident, the staff routinely check fire safety equipment and generally keep a watch for any issues. The First Response is on call 24 hours a day, daily. First to attend any campus incident, they are the key point of contact for local emergency services responding to larger, more serious campus incidents.
Dale Murphy, Head of Security and Resilience at the University of Hertfordshire, said: “The First Response Team have established themselves as a crucial part of campus life. Students, staff and visitors are reassured by the constant presence of the First Response Vehicle. There are many high risks areas on a campus, including student living accommodation and laboratories, so having a skilled team on standby to handle emergencies, and support the local emergency services in a major incident, is invaluable.”
