University of York was one of the first UK universities to recogniZe SafeZone’s potential to bring existing security and other services together onto one simple platform. The app is now used widely by the university community and accepted as part of everyday life.
University of York is a member of the elite Russell Group of universities and has carved out a reputation as an academic powerhouse offering the very best research, teaching and learning experiences. It has a large dispersed campus with several satellite buildings within the city, 24/7 chemistry and biology labs, and also offers its 18K students and 3.5K staff a wide range of international research and study opportunities.
SafeZone was launched by the university in January 2014 with a top-down commitment across multiple departments to make it a resounding success. Four years later and the university has become a beacon of best practice use: the app is being used to support multiple business objectives; user numbers are growing year on year; almost one third of term-time first-aid and emergency calls come via SafeZone. Due to their success, York is regularly visited by other organizations keen to learn from its experiences.
SafeZone is mandatory for all University of York security staff and some potential high-risk groups, such as welfare officers or receptionists who use Bluetooth wearables so they can discretely raise an alarm. But for everyone else, the security team has worked intensively to fully exploit the system’s features and built-in flexibility to make it as easy as possible for staff and students to engage with it.