Skyguard Equips Edudo’s Workplace Tutors with MySOS Personal Alarms

EPSOM, U.K. - May 16, 2014 - PRLog -- Tutors delivering education for an innovative national workforce development company have been equipped with Skyguard’s MySOS device, to protect them whilst working alone.

Edudo, which provides tailored work-led education courses to the unemployed and those in work, is thought to be the first company of its kind in the country to offer the state-of-the-art alarms to its employees.

The move is part of edudo’s commitment to the welfare of its valued workforce and aims to protect lone workers in need of urgent support when faced with a learner who is displaying emotional, unpredictable or challenging behaviour.

The GPS enabled device allows staff to alert colleagues to issues, or send an SOS alarm to Skyguard’s 24/7 Incident Management Centre. Here, trained Controllers can see the user’s relevant information and location, talk to the user if safe to do so, and direct the emergency services to them. As Skyguard’s service is certified to BS 8484 – the British Standard for Lone Worker Monitoring Services, this allows the Controllers to bypass the 999 system for the highest police response, saving vital minutes in an emergency.

Managing Director of edudo Ronan Smith said, “One of our top priorities as an employer is to look after the welfare of the edudo team. So it follows that lone working, finding yourself in unpredictable and challenging situations from time to time, personal safety is an issue we must take very seriously.

“Thankfully, none of the edudo team have ever been harmed or needed to contact the emergency services, but deploying Skyguard’s system allows me to sleep a little easier, knowing that if one of our tutors or support staff needs assistance, professional support is only the touch of a button away.”

Skyguard’s Marketing Director, Will Murray, added: “We are delighted to be working with edudo in providing 24/7 support and backup to their lone working staff. The safety of employees in the workplace is often an afterthought in many organisations, so it’s commendable that edudo have taken the lead on this in their industry.”

All of edudo’s field-based staff are undergoing training on how to use the multifunctional device, as an integral part of the company’s lone working policy.

As the project has been implemented so successfully, edudo is now exploring the possibility of issuing the device to learners in order to protect them when travelling alone.

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Note to Editors:

About Skyguard

Established in 2000, Skyguard provides Europe’s premier personal safety service for lone workers and people at risk. Skyguard offers a range of state-of-the-art personal safety devices linked to our own purpose built, UK based, 24/7 Incident Management Centre certified to the highest lone working industry standards (BS 8484, BS 5979 Category II). It was the first single purpose Alarm Receiving Centre in the UK to receive these certifications by NSI’s ARC Gold Approval scheme. Skyguard is the UK’s only wholly owned end-to-end service provider, with each component fully certified to all elements of BS 8484.

One of the few companies in the industry to have both devices and ARC accredited by ACPO’s coveted Secured by Design, the Skyguard service is used by over half the UK’s Police forces to protect the most vulnerable in society.

In August 2011, Skyguard launched the world’s first and only localised emergency response service operating in 36 countries across Europe, the Russian Federation and South Africa.

About edudo

edudo was set up in 2011 to help people further their professional development through a range of recognised vocational qualifications. By putting the learner at the heart of everything it does, the company has trained thousands of people in the construction, healthcare and security sectors through partnerships with FE colleges and Jobcentre Plus. edudo runs two significant learning programmes – edu4work, which is geared towards helping those without employment get into work with an essential entry-level qualification; and edu@work, which enables learners in employment to progress to the next stage of their career. Based in Staffordshire, edudo was created by Ronan Smith, who previously worked at director level for national a work-based learning provider.