SAFETY & SECURITY SYSTEMS Smart Safety Dan Harding, Director of visitor management app company Sign In App, explores the


primitive nature of using physical records to monitor who is in a building in an emergency and the benefits that utilising new technology can bring to care facilities.


For many years, care facilities have used paper records, or depended on the memory of patients, residents or colleagues, to identify who is within a care environment in the event of an emergency. Not only is this an unreliable method, particularly as due to the mere nature of these establishments there is oſten a large number of people, but it could result in significant health and safety concerns, not to mention potential tragedy. Time should be spent on aiding people out of the building in the event of an evacuation, not trying to collect scraps of paper and rush around to try and work out who is leſt.


It’s imperative for care environments to step up their game when it comes to staff, resident and visitor management, and technology can provide a simple, single view of all personnel on a site, from any device via portal login.


No matter the environment or circumstance, but particularly in a care setting, fire drills are a vital part of a business’ fire safety plan, an obligation that every business must fulfil to ensure adequate systems are in place and all employees are aware of appropriate procedures in the event of an emergency. However, as important as they are, fire drills can be a nuisance, disrupting the work day and are oſten met with complacency and begrudging sighs at the thought of having to take time out to evacuate the building and stand outside so the staff can be timed and counted. So, in today’s digitally- enabled world, how can technology help to streamline safety whilst also providing peace of mind that, in a real emergency, you know exactly who needs to be accounted for?


Running through an evacuation procedure, in theory, should be a swiſt exercise, undertaken as though a real threat is present. However, we’ve all been there; it’s a rare occasion that a drill is met with enthusiasm or speed. Especially with the usual confusion that occurs as marshalls try to establish


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who is on site that day to make sure everyone is checked off the list – oſten this process takes far longer than it should as there is typically no registration system in place to establish who should be on the list in the first place.


The pen and paper visitor sign in book is oſten relied upon to confirm external visitors to a premises, but is notoriously unreliable when it comes to people recording the time in and out of a building. It certainly cannot be relied upon for accuracy in an emergency situation. And in a panic, who will remember to collect the book and also remember which staff members are in that day?


However, with technological advancements, the visitor sign in book is now a redundant method. Instead of unreliable pen and paper systems, visitor and staff management apps provide a single view of personnel on site. In the event of an emergency, the fire marshall can now instantly view an entire list of people in the building by logging into an online portal through any mobile device, rather than wasting time, and potentially putting people in danger, collecting physical records of who is on site.


When you consider what could happen to those unaccounted for in a real-life emergency, it’s a frightening thought and puts the necessity of fire drills into perspective. Safety is paramount. Therefore, businesses should reassess their strategy when it comes to staff and visitor management, utilising simple, affordable technology solutions to put appropriate safeguards in place and make sure no one is forgotten. Not only will this speed up the process of required fire drills, but also put minds at ease that in the event of a real- life emergency, a person will never be leſt behind.


signinapp.co.uk www.tomorrowscare.co.uk


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