The new SoloProtect headquarters were opened last Friday in Sheffield with a mixture of customers and friends celebrating the opening of Suzy Lamplugh House.
Joining the opening of the new headquarters were Clive Betts MP for Sheffield South East, Sir Keith Povey, President BSIA and Rachel Griffin, director of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
The day featured a range of industry presentations to guests, lunch and networking, plus a full guided tour of SoloProtect’s brand new Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) facility. The premises are based close to the Meadowhall roundabout on Sheffield Road in Tinsley, Sheffield.
The ARC will begin handling SoloProtect customer Red Alerts from 2016, will imminently be audited in order to be the first dedicated Lone Worker ARC to receive accreditation against BS 8591 and the European Standard EN 50518 (both standards relate to ARC’s).
Craig Swallow, Managing Director of SoloProtect UK comments: “Our goal is to deliver the quickest response to our customers with the most qualified staff today and in the future.”
Through the recent expansion, SoloProtect has added 14 new full time positions to its growing UK operation; all of which are based in Sheffield.
This year SoloProtect introduced a formal living wage policy, raising the company’s lowest wage to a minimum wage of £11 an hour, significantly above the UK threshold of the national £7.85 per hour outside of London (£9.15 in the Capital).
The building is named after Suzy Lamplugh, SoloProtect’s nominated charity is the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Craig Swallow developed the idea for the ‘Identicom’ after attending a Suzy Lamplugh Trust event about personal safety in 2002. The device was designed to look like an ID badge and be discreet and wearable.
SoloProtect and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust officially announced a new strategic partnership in June 2015. This partnership sees SoloProtect give ongoing support to Suzy Lamplugh Trust part of the new building being made available to the trust to deliver safety training. The opening day of that Suzy Lamplugh House also featured a prize draw in aid of the Trust, which managed to raise just under £300.
SoloProtect’s Identicom is used by more than 150 000 lone workers worldwide and used by organisations such as the NHS, Hilti, Sky, Domino’S Pizza and Family Mosaic to provide protection to their lone workers – It remains the most widely used dedicated lone worker device in the United Kingdom.
SoloProtect’s acquisition by American company Kings III Emergency Communications in 2013 helped expansion with the solution now available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Germany and France direct to market. “We truly take lone worker protection and lone worker safety passionately. It drives everything that we do.” Commented John Broady, CEO SoloProtect.
