Australian Universities go for SafeZone

WOLLONGONG, Australia - March 2, 2014 - PRLog -- CriticalArc Pty Ltd (www.criticalarc.com) announced today that it has launched SafeZone, its unique campus safety solution at four more universities in Australia. Only a little more than 18 months after SafeZone was first released, 15% of Australian universities are now using SafeZone.

Deakin University, RMIT University, University of South Australia and Queensland University of Technology have joined the University of Wollongong and Curtin University in offering SafeZone to more than a quarter of a million students, staff and visitors for the 2014 academic year.

Providing the safest possible environment is a challenge for all universities worldwide. CriticalArc’s cloud-based SafeZone system meets this challenge, by providing the response team with unparalleled ability to see what’s happening and coordinate resources to achieve the best resolution.

The free SafeZone app makes it easy for students and staff to get help with a single tap on their phone. Once signed up for their university, users can send a location-based alert directly to all response team members when they need help. Within seconds the security team, also using Smartphones, receives each alert. With a clear map view of the situation, including locations of other team members, the team can coordinate a quick and effective response to any user’s need.

SafeZone complements its incident response capabilities with fast, cost-effective mass notifications and a unique Lone Worker feature for proactive safety management for those working alone.

“We’re very pleased to be launching SafeZone”, said Kean Selway, Deakin University’s Vice-President (Enterprise), “The introduction of this service is an important element of a broader strategy to ensure the security, safety and wellbeing of students, staff and visitors to our Campuses.”

“At UniSA, our campuses have diverse environments, ranging from busy CBD campuses adjacent vibrant entertainment precincts, to large urban campuses as well as regional and remote locations,” said Dominic Marafioti, Campus Facilities Manager at the University of South Australia. “SafeZone gives us the opportunity to improve safety and security service provision, improving incident detection as well as response capabilities without the need to invest in complicated communications solutions. Our students and staff now can have a Help Point in their pocket whilst utilising our facilities, and our security team members have control room functionality on their belts” Mr Marafioti added.

“SafeZone’s broad adoption across Australian universities reinforces the higher education sector’s ongoing commitment to Safety and Security”, stated Glenn Farrant, CriticalArc CEO.  “Across more than 30 campuses, from the most sophisticated inner-city high rise environments to far flung rural campuses, SafeZone is providing totally new and proactive capabilities for dealing with safety and security scenarios that were previously unmanageable – saving time and money while reducing risk.”

About CriticalArc
CriticalArc (www.criticalarc.com) is a leading security technology company that has revolutionised the way safety and security is managed in universities. CriticalArc’s “SafeZone” allows all stakeholders to communicate and coordinate in response to any incident. SafeZone is backed by a powerful, easy to use command and control system that extends the Security Team's view of any situation, and lets students and staff request help quickly and easily with their Smartphone.

Managing safety in critical situations more effectively and economically than is possible by using traditional methods, SafeZone is currently used by universities with a combined student and staff population of over 250,000.

Visit www.safezoneapp.com for links to app stores and more information.