What To Consider When Choosing A Staff Attack System For Care Settings

With reports revealing up to 85% of care workers experience abuse each year and thousands of serious attacks on carers recorded, the need for reliable, efficient staff attack systems in care settings has never been greater.

Protecting care workers is vital for staff morale and productivity, but also patient care and long-term treatment outcomes.

Choosing the right staff alarm system, therefore, requires careful consideration, and the weighing up of the following factors.

Efficiency & Speed
Quick intervention is crucial when preventing a violent attack. In care settings, patients may become aggressive suddenly, with little to no warning.
The most effective staff attack systems work rapidly, allowing employees to summon assistance quickly and easily should they face abusive behaviour from a service user.

Precise
Equally, the accuracy of a staff safety system is a key consideration. When an alarm is triggered, the response team should be informed of the exact location of the call – allowing for rapid intervention and thus prevention of harm.

This is particularly true for large facilities with multiple floors and rooms, and in cases where multiple alarms have been activated simultaneously. Pinpoint’s latest P2 Graphical Display Unit, for example, clearly demonstrates the call level and precise location of incidents on rotation, enabling responders to allocate support as required.

User-friendly
Staff alarm systems for care workers should be simple-to-use and easily accessible. In the face of hostility or violence, carers should be able to activate their personal alarm quickly and without alerting the aggressor.

This was a key factor in the development of Pinpoint’s new P2 System, which benefits from a more sophisticated, discreet design. Worn on the staff member’s uniform, the P2 personal alarm is lightweight and easy to use. Employees simply press a button on the device to call for assistance and in more high-risk situations where a service user is becoming aggressive, the worker pulls a pin from the bottom of the device to sound an emergency alarm.

Robustness
Vandalism of safety systems is not uncommon in high-risk work settings, as service users can tamper with or abuse the devices out of frustration. Choosing a robust safety system is therefore an important and cost-effective measure for care homes.

Follow up support
When looking into staff attack systems, it’s wise to consider how much follow-up support is offered by the provider, the length of the warranty period available, and whether repairs or assistance with maintenance issues is available. Doing this from the outset will prevent problems later down the line!

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

Interested in learning more about Pinpoint’s P2 System? Visit www.pinpoint.ltd.uk/staff-safety-system