Longhurst Group is one of the leading housing groups and care and support services in the Midlands and East of England, providing much-needed homes and vital support services with a vision to improve the lives of its customers and communities. With high service delivery levels, the Group owns and manage over 23,500 homes and operate in 50 local authority areas, supporting 1,200 colleagues and over 80 care and support locations.

Over the years, Reliance Protect has supplied lone worker safety solutions to a number of housing associations within the Group. As the Group expanded its operations, in order to streamline and standardise structures and processes and create an efficient supply chain, they wanted to select one sole provider to oversee their entire lone worker safety requirements.

Reliance Protect now supports and safeguards their lone working staff across the Group. Together Reliance and the Group are committed to protecting the team’s health, wellbeing, and safety.

Going above and beyond

Following a rigorous tender process against leading security competitors, Reliance Protect was successful in its bid and began working with the Group in early 2021 to support their entire lone worker team.

'During the years, we have merged with different housing associations, all with various suppliers, what we needed was for one organisation to run with this and manage our lone worker teams and devices all under one supplier, Reliance went above and beyond to provide this service.'

Guiseppe Forcellati, Environmental H&S Officer

Upgrading to the latest lone worker technology

The Group is familiar with lone worker devices, however, the business had been using outdated technology for some time. These older devices relied on previous generation GPS technologies. 

The natural progression for the Group was to choose a device that incorporates dual locating technologies, employing both WiFi and GPS, with the benefit of accurate location positions even when a user is indoors. Reliance’s ID Ultra model, which recently won ‘Best Use Of Technology’ at the British Security Industry Association Awards 2021 was the first lone worker device to utilise WiFi for indoor locating and remains the most discreet option to raise alarms for people at risk of aggression from others. 

The device’s waterproof IP67 rating, fall and impact detection and enhanced timer-based check-in and out capability make it a great choice for the team when working in isolated environments presenting risks associated with challenging behaviour. 

Flexibility

As organisations grow and evolve, so must their lone worker safety solutions requirements. It is a common theme that as organisations expand their reach their supply chain also grows, taking out multiple lone worker solution contracts with different contract expiry dates. Reliance Protect simplified this process for the Group by offering a flexible approach in which the organisation could scale up whilst remaining under the one fixed contract with a clear end date. This additional benefit for the Group was a major factor in Reliance Protect obtaining the supplier rights to roll out across the entire group, reducing the level of administrative duties for their team.

Seamless Onboarding

Following the issuing of the devices and with Covid-19 restrictions firmly in place, all lone worker training was completed quickly and remotely through Reliance Protect’s Focus Customer Portal elearning courses and virtual calls delivered by the Reliance Protect training team. Focus also delivers full day to day administration tools and extensive and powerful reporting.

In addition to the online and virtual training Ian Waring, National Trainer, visited the central contract team to ensure the smooth deployment and set up of the devices, and provided an in-depth demonstration on reporting and data analytics to ensure Longhurst Group fully maximised the benefits that Focus can deliver.

'From the word go the service we have received has been to the highest of standards. Any queries we have had have been responded to, quickly and efficiently.'

Guiseppe Forcellati, Environmental H&S Officer

Customer Satisfaction with Outstanding Results 

The Group was extremely satisfied with the smooth and seamless transfer from the previous supplier. The reduced costs, latest technology lone worker devices, enhanced standards of customer service and the knowledge that Reliance Protect was acting as an extension of their team to safeguard colleagues provided peace of mind for the Group.

Following the Covid- 19 restrictions being lifted, the team of Careworkers, Survivors, Scheme Managers, and Mental Health practitioners have been on-site utilising their devices. The team now have the reassurance and confidence knowing when out on their visits they can feel safe and secure with their lone worker devices.

Reliance Protect currently provides over 350 devices to the Group with this number growing.