“SafeZone has allowed us to add significant value to what we do and provide a much better service. We’ve made it much easier for students and staff who needs support to reach out to us, and we’ve improved our ability to respond. We also feel better resourced and better prepared for any situation we have to deal with.”
– Oliver Curran, Security Manager, UCL
University College London (UCL) is ranked in the top 10 universities globally and is the UK’s second-largest university by enrollment. With 55,000 students and 13,000 staff to protect, the security department was looking for a personal duress alert technology that could be offered to anyone with particular safety concerns; but SafeZone® proved to be a much more capable and function-rich solution, one that has now enabled a wider transformation of safeguarding services at UCL.
London’s UCL is one of the world’s leading multi-disciplinary research institutions, attracting students, postgrads, and academics from over 150 countries. To keep this community safe in a busy city environment, and to provide reassurance to those with heightened risk factors, the security department had previously relied on a traditional personal alarm system – however, the technology had limited functionality and low user appeal. Now, as part of a wider upgrade of security team capabilities, this system was replaced by SafeZone, a multi-function solution that promised much wider benefits. The successful implementation of this initiative was driven by Sophie Bimson, Crime Prevention and Personal Safety Advisor, and Raza Khan, Control Room & SCC / Security Compliance Manager, both employees of UCL.
SafeZone was rolled out in stages, being offered first to any student or staff with particular personal safety concerns – for example, those with medical conditions, those at risk from stalking or harassment, or those who requested additional support, including students from overseas. It was also offered to staff and students working alone or out of hours. UCL’s dedicated crime prevention team began a twice-weekly programme of community engagement, introducing SafeZone and explaining its benefits. Word soon spread and the number of users steadily increased as awareness of the technology grew, along with confidence around how well it worked.
Within 18 months, SafeZone was being used extensively at UCL. The innovative platform enables any community member to request immediate assistance, at the touch of a button using the SafeZone app, or a dedicated wearable duress device. In the university’s security control room, the monitoring team has complete visibility over the precise current locations of all checked-in users calling for assistance, and the locations of all available officers, allowing the fastest and most appropriate response. SafeZone’s geofenced protection area was expanded to cover not just university buildings, but residences, satellite sites, and walkways between.
Improved personal safety was just the start. Along with better team coordination, SafeZone enhances the UCL security operations with multiple functions including mass communications and targeted communications, tip reporting and response, and improved preparedness and incident management.
SafeZone has also catalysed closer engagement between officers and students and is helping to address a wider set of challenges. In particular, the platform enables improved 24/7 support for those with mental well-being problems, making it easy for students and staff to access support services, without having to navigate complex web portals or find the right number to call. The UCL security team upskilled, adding mental health first aid to their capabilities to allow them to respond confidently out of hours.
In addition, SafeZone has proved popular as an efficient channel for reporting maintenance issues affecting facilities, including off-campus student accommodation – anything from power failures to floods in bathrooms – allowing rapid, 24-hour support services.
SafeZone is not only helping UCL students to stay safe, it is giving them the reassurance of feeling safe and the knowledge that they can access support whenever they need it, allowing them to make the most of their time in higher education.
System benefits include:
- Boosting UCL’s global reputation for positive student experiences, further supporting recruitment and retention.
- Increasing the security department’s capabilities within existing resources, enabling enhanced services and wellbeing support.
- Improving preparedness and ability to respond to incidents, with robust mass communications, two-way targeted communications, and responder coordination tools.
- Adding value to the security function, streamlining collaboration with key stakeholders including facilities maintenance, student services, academic departments, and external
Posted 18th Dec 2025
