Have you or your staff ever felt scared, afraid or threatened when going out and about in their working day?
I know I have and I know my team have too – and that’s a difficult thing to deal with.
Did you know that I have invested in the safety of my team – and myself – using the Hollie Guard Extra app?
Why? Because in our business sector, as with many, lone workers are often out late at night, and they can feel threatened when faced with aggressive or threatening clients or even random people as they try to carry out their professional tasks.
Having this amazing app gives them some security in knowing once they have activated it, it provides a safety net and if necessary, evidence, in terms of picture and sound and communicates location immediately.
Ten things you need to know about the Hollie Guard App.
Why was Hollie Guard set up?
It’s one outcome following the setting up of The Hollie Gazzard Trust by the parents of Hollie Gazzard, Nick and Mandy and her sister, Chloe, after Hollie was murdered by an abusive, violent and co-ercive ex-partner who is now in prison for life. Nick’s aim for the Trust, is, “We work to save lives by building individual and community resilience to abuse.”
What is Hollie Guard App?
It is a smartphone app that provides enhanced levels of protection. Once an alert has been raised, the app will update your precise location every five seconds to identify where you are.
As well as being a personal alarm, it is also an evidence catcher and deterrent.
How it works:
Once you have the free app on your phone, if you feel threatened, to raise an alert you can either shake your phone, or press the icon tile button. The phone shows no obvious evidence that there is anything ‘unusual’ on its home screen. The app works in the background.
The app then pin points your location. It activates your phone’s camera and microphone to capture evidence, and any other relevant information.
Your Alert will be sent via SMS to your chosen Emergency Contacts. They receive a secure web link with your location and the evidence your phone is sharing. There are also quick links to contact you to see if you require further help.
Hollie Guard Extra
– is the paid version of the app and suitable for businesses where staff are at risk.
The only difference with this is, the alerts are sent to a 24/7 police approved monitoring centre too.
Other features of the app:
- Meeting timer – this is useful when you are going to a potentially dangerous meeting, or performing a dangerous task. There is a user set timer that counts down until deactivated, knowing that the user is safe, otherwise, it raises an alert.
- Evidence Gathering – when you raise an alert, the app captures the real-time evidence (on your camera and microphone), and your emergency contacts can evidence this in real-time too. This information is automatically saved to the Cloud for future use. This is extremely useful to create a log of events, which can be used as evidence if required.
- Journey – you can set a start and end point when you are travelling alone. The app monitors your journey and alerts nominated contacts or your safe arrival, or triggers an alert.
- Man Down- when enabled, this allows the app to automatically detect if you have a sudden fall or stop moving for a period of time. This is particularly useful if you walk the dog, or go out for a run alone, or are working at heights.
The app is a great safety feature for lone workers. There are many people who are self-employed, so don’t have a large team working with them, and their work can take them out all times of the day and night, and to be walking alone on a dark night, can be scary, for both men and women. The app provides a feeling of security.
It is just as useful for people going out to meet friends socially, for a night out, and knowing that they are having to catch a bus, or are returning late from a rail journey, or walking back to their car, parked in a dark, dingy place. Having the app gives you that extra piece of support, knowing that someone knows where you are, and can be contacted straight away.
For people who live alone, the app can be extremely helpful. Especially if the person is elderly, or has a disability which perhaps causes them to fall. The Man Down feature is perfect.
For businesses and organisations, like my own, purchasing the Hollie Guard Extra app for all of my employees is an obvious low cost investment in safety. We often work face to face with clients, at late hours, and on occasion have to face aggression or verbal abuse that could escalate into something physical – knowing that I can keep my staff safe.
It is the perfect gift to buy for teenagers, family members working late, and older family members living alone.
To find out more, and see where you can buy the app, visit the website: https://hollieguard.com
