SAFETY & SECURITY Cause for Alarm Pinpoint examines the main considerations when choosing a staff safety system for care facilities.


Earlier this year, a study published by healthtech company Florence revealed 46% of health and social care workers experience verbal and physical violence while at work. A further 31% reported more abuse in the last year than ever before. Sadly, these figures are not new. In 2014, a survey conducted by Community Care found 85% of social care staff had been abused in the previous 12-months.


Staff safety systems offer a solution to the mounting abuse of care sector staff by enabling employees to summon assistance quickly and easily should they need it. Combined with proper de-escalation training and a zero-tolerance policy, safety alarm systems serve to prevent aggressive incidents from taking place and can even reduce the likelihood of violent behaviour occurring.


So, how do care facilities choose the most appropriate safety system for staff and service users? The answer depends on a thorough assessment of the following factors.


EFFICIENCY AND SPEED


Quick intervention is crucial when it comes to preventing a violent attack. Care home residents are oſten in highly vulnerable positions and can become hostile with little to no warning. For this reason, care staff need to be able to summon assistance quickly and easily. The longer a safety system takes to activate, the higher the risk of an assault becomes.


“A 2014 survey found 85%


of social care staff had been abused in the previous 12 months.”


At Pinpoint, we have developed a system that activates in just 85 milliseconds. Simply pushing the button on a personal alarm notifies the response team to the exact location and risk-level of an incident almost instantaneously. Such efficiency allows responders to quickly attend the scene and de-escalate the situation, reducing the risk of a serious attack.


PRECISE


Equally, the accuracy of a staff safety system is a key factor to consider in care facilities. When an alarm is triggered, the response team should be informed of the exact location of the call, which in turn allows for rapid intervention.


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This is particularly true for large facilities with multiple floors and rooms, and in instances where multiple calls have been triggered simultaneously. Display devices should highlight the precise location and nature of each call to allow responders to allocate support as is required and eliminate any risk of confusion.


USER-FRIENDLY


If an emergency occurs, employees should be able to trigger their personal alarm easily and without alerting the aggressor. For this reason, staff attack systems should be simple to use and easily accessible.


This was a key factor in the development of our new P2 System, which benefits from a more sophisticated, discreet design that allows staff to swiſtly call for help without attracting attention.


ANTI-TAMPERING


Vandalism of safety systems is common in social care settings, as service-users tamper or abuse the devices out of frustration. Choosing an anti-vandal safety system is therefore an important and cost-effective measure that care settings can take.


Systems that employ anti-vandal fascia design to withstand tampering are more robust, improving product longevity and performance, while minimising excess costs.


FOLLOW-UP SUPPORT


The provision of follow-up support should be a key consideration when looking into staff attack systems for care facilities. In the case of a system issue or failure, the availability of maintenance support is truly invaluable.


As rates of violence toward care staff increase, so too does the demand for powerful, efficient staff safety systems in care facilities. Choosing the right system will depend on the organisation in question, the security needs of the staff and threat posed by patients. Keeping the above factors in mind will serve as useful guidance for care facilities looking to make the best choice for the safety of their employees.


www.pinpoint.ltd.uk www.tomorrowscare.co.uk


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