Northumbria University, Newcastle Rolls Out CriticalArc’s SafeZone

CriticalArc today announced that Northumbria University has rolled out its revolutionary distributed command and control solution, SafeZone™.

The University selected SafeZone to enhance staff and student safety while reducing costs through increasing the efficiency of everyday security operations across its six campuses. Through unparalleled situational awareness, SafeZone enables the University’s security team to coordinate its response to incidents quickly and efficiently. The intuitive SafeZone app makes it easy for Northumbria’s 30,000 students and staff to summon security or safety assistance via a simple tap on their phone, so allowing security personnel to pinpoint their exact location. The SafeZone app has three main features whichh can be accessed by staff and students at the tap of a button for emergency, first aid and general help. Pinpointing their exact location, security officers are dispatched quickly and accurately to emergency and first aid requests, while the general help button connects directly to the Campus Services Helpdesk. Students and staff can also “check in”, to make the University’s security team aware of their location while working alone or after hours.

The cloud-based SafeZone system shares situational awareness across the whole security team, giving officers access to operational intelligence on the move, enabling more agile decision-making. As events unfold, all team members have complete visibility of the incident and the locations of their colleagues on smart devices. Superseding slow, unreliable and costly SMS, SafeZone’s mass notification is fast and efficient, allowing the University security team to send alerts to all staff and students. Specific instructions can be sent to response teams, or targeted messages to specific groups such as wardens or people at a particular location. Mass notifications can be accompanied by loud tones to warn users campus-wide or a discreet pulse to those perceived to be in the proximity of a threat.

John Anderson, Head of Security said: “We needed to consider what resources we had available to us to support initiatives like 24/7 access. When we investigated SafeZone, we were impressed with the features and how it could adapt to meet the needs of the University and the community.”

“Using this campus safety system demonstrates a proactive step to differentiate ourselves and provide a leading example of how the health and safety of our stakeholders is high on the University’s agenda. We hope nobody has to use it but I feel 100% confident that the resources we have in place, both technological and human, show our commitment to staff and student safety. Northumbria University is a safe place to work and study.”

Darren Chalmers-Stevens, EMEA Director, CriticalArc, added, “Northumbria University’s decision to implement SafeZone demonstrates their commitment to ensuring a safe learning environment for students and staff. This is a strategic win for CriticalArc with more to follow as we are continue to educate the market and work with universities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”

Well suited to campuses and collegiate universities, SafeZone eliminates language difficulties and enables the fastest possible response to incidents to ensure the best outcomes. Driving significant efficiencies and cost savings, SafeZone safeguards university reputations, offers competitive advantage, and ensures preparedness against environmental and physical threats.