Workforce Management

Lone worker solution for housing association

by Mark Rowe

bpha, the Bedford-based Housing Association that manages over 19,000 homes across the Oxford to Cambridge arc. It’s chosen to trial Body Worn Video (BWV) using a product from SoloProtect. The housing body is already a user of SoloProtect.

bpha has recently supplied four of its Housing Officers with the SoloProtect ID Pro, pictured, with a view to rolling out this type of device to more staff, if the trial is successful.

SoloProtect has delivered lone worker products for use by over 300,000 lone workers, since it began in 2003. The company remains at the forefront of the lone worker industry and continues to strive to offer solutions that are innovative and highly accessible to users, with a high level of customer service, and a clear return on investment for the deploying organisation.

bpha employs over 400 staff. It’s looking at deploying the SoloProtect ID Pro, in high risk areas where concerns or incidents have been recorded. The ID Pro, which was made available to customers from late 2019, is a dedicated lone worker device, with optional Body Worn Video among features to assist a user’s personal safety.

The makers say that their product differs from most traditional body cameras in that a discreet ID badge form-factor is retained, and the device is designed for incident-driven recording only, rather than it being deployed for continuous video capture. This incident-driven approach allows video evidence to be streamed to a SoloProtect Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). Video recording is instigated by the device-user opening a ‘Red Alert’ on their device. This allows operators to support a lone worker during a live event, while still in progress, rather than being available only in retrospect. The developers describe the product as less resource-hungry than others that require large amounts of video data to be managed – after each shift docked and downloaded, besides video storage, and redaction all meeting data protection requirements.

SoloProtect manages all video on behalf of the client as part of a GDPR compliance. bpha personnel issued with an ID Pro will be using the video verification to assist their personal safety, where required.

Matthew Hunt, Health Safety and Environment Officer at bpha said: “The safety of our employees is paramount, and we are really excited to be trialling the ID Pro devices. We have worked closely with SoloProtect for a number of years and have found their lone worker solutions invaluable. Adding video as another level of safety makes perfect sense and is something that I expect to benefit us hugely.”

And Craig Swallow, Managing Director, SoloProtect, said: “We’re delighted to be supplying bpha, and look forward to seeing how their team get on with the new devices. When we started developing the ID Pro, we always wanted comprehensive safety of the individual lone worker to be at the heart of the product’s functionality. We believe the product delivers this, and it’s great to be able to deliver a device that can significantly speed up alarm verification and get the best possible response for the user.”

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