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CARed Alert
A Red Alert is a 24/7 emergency panic alarm, designed to quickly get help to your lone workers at the press of a button.
A key function on every SoloProtect personal safety solution is the Red Alert. It’s an alarm system that is available to use at the lone worker’s discretion, in the face of verbal abuse, aggression, injury or if their personal safety has been compromised.
What is a Red Alert?
A Red Alert is essentially an alarm button that triggers a one-way audio call from the lone worker’s personal safety device, or safety app, to the SoloProtect Alarm Receiving Centre. Here the incident is swiftly passed to an operator who listens to the event, verifies its nature, and escalates it appropriately (i.e. contacting the police or a pre-determined escalation contact).
More than a Panic Alarm:
Occasionally, lone worker solutions are compared with panic alarms. However, whilst the two might be used in identical circumstances, a credible personal safety solution will deliver more than a loud noise being elicited by a device or a signal alert notification being displayed on a server. That gives a fully managed, SoloProtect solution a clear advantage over a standard panic alarm solution.
You can read more about this in our blog: Panic alarms: traditional vs monitored.
The real value of the Red Alert is the response the Monitoring Centre can elicit on the lone worker’s behalf and the human element of the solution, where the operator’s discernment is key to understanding what is happening to the worker and eliciting the best possible outcome for that individual through a robust escalation process.
The latter is facilitated by the Red Alert’s live audio call and supported by the context of any previous Check-Ins (a non-alarm message facility detailing user, location and situation detail left through the device) and Geolocation data communicated from the device to the Monitoring Centre (only available to the Operator during a live Red Alert event).
In terms of response to an alarm button activation, the accreditation that sits with the SoloProtect Monitoring Centre allows an operator to request the highest level of response in the UK, for a lone worker incident, where appropriate. SoloProtect is certified against EN 50518, BS 8484, ISO9001, and ISO27001 (read more about our accreditations).
SoloProtect maintains applications with Police Forces in England and Wales for registered URN (Unique Reference Number) access for the ARC – allowing an immediate and local escalation direct to the relevant force, above the centralised 999 system – making it the most efficient mechanism to request a Police attendance for a lone worker incident in the UK.
When should I open a Red Alert?
A Red Alert should be opened by a single alarm button press if a user is clearly facing a risk to their personal safety. The risk could be a social one, specifically linked to aggression – or an environmental one, that is likely to result in injury to the worker.
A Red Alert will open a one-way call to the Monitoring Centre. As a Red Alert is manually opened via the push of a panic button, the SoloProtect Operator will not speak back to the user directly through the device (in case it is a duress situation that could exacerbate it further).
Is a Red Alert a discreet alarm?
Whether a Red Alert is truly a discreet alarm, is largely affected by the form factor on which the alarm system function is used. Traditionally, a discreet alarm is prevalent on dedicated devices rather than apps, where wearability is standard, and the panic button operation that facilitates the Red Alert call can be completed without a user having to break eye contact (an example of this would be the SoloProtect ID Touch).
Raising a Red Alert on a mobile application or other different form factor device(s) may be less discreet in terms of the alarm button operation. Prior to selecting a form factor of use for any lone worker, employers should assess the need for a discreet alarm in relation to the lone or mobile workers in their business.
For more information on the Red Alert function, please see our range of SoloProtect Solutions or contact us using the form below.