Top 5 Benefits of Deploying Technology During Lockdown

It’s true that troubled times bring out the best in people, we’ve seen some incredible feats of kindness, and witnessed some truly inspiring stories during one of the most difficult periods in modern history.

From the amazing work of the NHS to the thousands of volunteers doing their bit – Covid-19 has had its fair share of heroes.

Unfortunately, there does have to be a flipside to this, and it can also be said that a crisis can bring out the worst in people. Take for example, recent CPS statistics, which have revealed that ‘assaults on emergency workers had become the most common coronavirus-related crime.’ [1]

Unbelievably, at a time when we need them most, there has been a number of abhorrent incidents in which our emergency workers have faced aggressive behaviour. Even more disgusting is that some of these cases have involved coughing and spitting, deliberately weaponizing Covid-19.

PFEW National Chair John Apter said: “Being spat and coughed at, in the middle of a pandemic which has taken so many lives, is disgusting, dangerous and inhumane. In some cases, individuals who commit these offences are even saying they have the virus and hope the officer catches it then dies.”

This will obviously disgust the majority of people and is behaviour you wouldn’t ever dream of, however, for those working in the emergency services it’ll come as little surprise.

A report released in September 2020 highlighted the scale of verbal and physical violence directed at the police, fire services and ambulance workers. In London alone, there were 346 reported physical attacks on ambulance crews, 499 threats and verbal abuse aimed at medics and 111 call handlers, and in the last twelve months, the Metropolitan Police had seen 5,606 assaults on officers. [2]

Sadly, this isn’t news to those working in the emergency services and it’s clear more needs to be done to protect the personal safety of those working with members of the community.

No one should be subjected to any kind of abuse in any walk of life, particularly those tasked with protecting and serving us all during this deadly pandemic.

It’s not just those in the emergency services that have seen a rise in aggression though, it was also reported recently that violence towards retail staff had doubled during the pandemic [3], and I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. There must be an embarrassment of horror stories of aggressive behaviour towards workers during Covid-19. Tensions are high and anyone working in a customer/community-facing environment is likely to have seen a shift in behaviour towards them.

Now, more than ever, we need to be looking out for each other. Our emergency services work very hard in an extremely pressured environment; they do an exceptionally important job, and it’s unacceptable for them to be subjected to aggression or violence. In fact, the personal safety of everyone is hugely important, whether you work for the police, in a shop, as a delivery driver, or you're self-employed, it makes no difference. These are stressful times and it’s important that the news is full of feel-good stories – try to ensure that this crisis brings out the best in you.

Deploying technology to protect your workforce, such as a SoloProtect personal safety solution, is one way of supporting them should an aggressive situation occur.

Check out our top 5 benefits of deploying technology in your organisation:

You can rely on technology in situations when it’s not possible to deploy more than one member of staff. A fully managed personal safety solution will provide 24/7 support and give your workforce the peace of mind that someone is there should an incident occur.
Support via a dedicated portal, such as SoloProtect Insights, will give you access to real-time information, such as the visibility of your employees – allowing you to relax in the knowledge that your workforce is safe.
As well as allowing the monitoring of a live situation, any dedicated personal safety solution worth its salt, will capture and store live audio directly to a monitoring centre – accessible, should it be needed, for legal purposes. You should also be able to directly review genuine incident reports.
Speaking of reporting, digestible data and the option to automate reporting is also of huge benefit. This will allow you to easily involve stakeholders and assess any return on investment.
Technology gives you complete personal safety management. It saves you time, helps you manage your teams and will ultimately increase productivity. It puts your entire solution at your fingertips.
For more information and to book a demo click here:

References

[1] - https://www.polfed.org/news/latest-news/2021/tougher-sentences-needed-for-coughing-and-spitting-attacks

[2] - https://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/2019/09/20/emergency-services-thanked-as-new-statistics-reveal-extent-of-abuse/

[3] - https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-violence-and-abuse-against-shop-workers-doubles-during-pandemic-12054201