The Coronavirus outbreak has shown that protecting peoples’ health and wellbeing is not just a responsibility for health authorities and governments.
The
Coronavirus outbreak has shown that protecting peoples’ health and wellbeing is not just a responsibility for health authorities and governments. All organizations are under a duty of care obligations to protect their people. As this current emergency unfolds, these obligations are becoming more obvious. The top priority must be the safety of employees, customers, and user communities.
This is putting security managers and their teams in the spotlight, requiring them to manage new risks, follow new protocols, and, in some cases, to provide direct assistance to those affected by the Coronavirus.
And the challenge is not just to deal with the immediate medical situation, but to maintain the ability to manage every other risk at the same time while protecting others and perhaps even dealing with the pressure of sickness within the security team itself. So team efficiency is more important now than ever.
Emergency Incidents and Management
Incident management solutions have become extremely important in the current situation. With their ability to connect people spread across different locations and integrating different solutions, these software platforms can provide timely information and improve response to emergencies. A company that offers such a solution is CriticalArc.
Glenn Farrant, CEO of CriticalArc, explained that over the last five years, many organizations with large numbers of people to protect, like universities, have been adopting the company’s SafeZone solution.
“They’ve been using the technology to transform the protection they give to students and staff, and to tackle critical incidents such as medical emergencies and crime to vulnerabilities arising from isolation and mental health problems,” Farrant explained.
The technology works by putting individuals rapidly and directly in touch with control room responders during an emergency and non-emergency situations, and it works both when users are on-site and when they are traveling. It allows security teams to see precisely where checked-in users are, and to know if they need help immediately.
“In Europe, Australia, the US – and in a growing number of cases globally - it has proven to be a highly effective command and control tool in a wide range of situations, including natural disasters, civil disturbances, and terrorist incidents,” Farrant continued. “The real-time data and situational awareness that SafeZone provides, makes it an important tool in the current high-risk environment caused by the virus.”
Implementation in the virus outbreak
Solutions like SafeZone can be used to set up one or more hidden Covid-19 SafeZone regions (visible only to those in the group) so that people who are self-isolating can be asked to check-in and share their location real-time.
The ability to have people check-into specific groups, and see which people are in which geographic areas, will help organizations keep track of who may be at risk in particular disease hotspots.
Health authorities have identified specific groups that are more vulnerable to the Coronavirus, i.e., those with respiratory or heart conditions, those over 65, etc.
“CriticalArc is helping customers add users to Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEP) and Medical Care Plan User Groups so the more vulnerable users can receive additional support if required,” Farrant concluded.