Reliance Protect, provider of lone worker solutions, is celebrating after winning the prestigious Best Use Of Technology Award at the British Security Awards 2021. This hotly contested category celebrates the most effective use of technology in protecting people, property and assets and, after assessing all the entries, the judges agreed that Reliance Protect’s ID Ultra personal safety device sets a new benchmark in lone worker protection.
Organised by the British Security Industry Association (BSIA), the British Security Awards celebrate the achievements, acts of bravery and innovations made by members of the UK’s security industry. This year’s online event was hosted by star of Sky TV’s The Heist, Sue Hill, a former Chief Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police.
“Technology is an increasingly integral part of any security strategy and plays a key role in keeping people safe as they go about their activities,” explained Reliance Protect’s lone worker services director, Chris Allcard. “Whether it’s a community based NHS nurse, a social worker, an enforcement officer or anyone else that works on their own, when an alarm is sent location verification needs to happen quickly. Therefore, when we decided to develop our ID Ultra personal safety device, being able to pinpoint the exact location of the wearer was a primary objective.”
Although Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has had a positive impact on the effectiveness of personal safety devices, it needs to have line of sight to a minimum of four satellites to provide an accurate location. Built-up areas can cause problems and, when a wearer is indoors, GPS can become either inaccurate or not work at all. ID Ultra has been developed with advanced GPS technologies that work alongside Wi-Fi technology to provide location positions indoors.
The more Wi-Fi networks and access points ID Ultra can see, the better its location tracking – so, in urban environments it is far more effective than GPS. ID Ultra does this very quickly, sending a Wi-Fi position within 15-20 seconds of an alarm. By comparison, some lone worker devices can take upwards of 120 seconds to try to find a GPS location before timing out. To illustrate its effectiveness, in March 2021, Reliance Protect received 1,900 lone worker alarms into its BS 5979 Category II alarm receiving centre. Wi-Fi technology generated locations in 352 of those alarms – that’s 352 incidents where devices relying solely on GPS would have not provided a location.
“Reliance Protect has been protecting lone workers and safeguarding organisations since 2006, making us one of the most established and trusted solution providers in the UK,” concluded Allcard. “Given the record breaking number of entries, we are incredibly proud to have received the Best Use Of Technology Award at the British Security Awards 2021 and equally delighted that our dedication to pushing the boundaries of technology has been recognised by our industry peers.”
For further information, please visit: www.relianceprotect.co.uk or email [email protected].