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The Future’s Bright at the University of North Tees Hospital

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Raytec were an IFSEC Awards finalist in the “Security Project or Installation of the Year” category, for their recent LED lighting installation at the University of North Tees Hospital, in the UK.

The ground breaking, multi-purpose White-Light project is the first large scale NHS LED lighting project of its kind in the UK. RAYLUX White-Light illuminators from Raytec including the new RAYLUX Urban, replace old style inefficient lighting to deliver lighting for not only surveillance but safer environments, revealing the potential for significant energy, CO2 and cost-savings in the public sector.

RAYLUX Urban provides crystal clear White-Light for safer environments when lighting is required not just for cameras, but also for people. Urban LED illuminators provide significant energy savings compared to traditional lighting and have an attractive design making them suitable for down-lighting applications including car parks, schools, colleges, hospitals and pathways.

Illuminating the University Hospital of North Tees is one of the first examples of the security industry diversifying and identifying opportunity to provide lighting for cameras and lighting for pedestrians, all on the same project.

Having already supplied North Tees Hospital with Raytec IR lighting, security installer Visual Security Systems saw the potential to deploy Raytec White-Light to save energy and money whilst improving the performance of the site’s exterior lighting. The NHS Trust for North Tees and Hartlepool wanted to reduce the high running and maintenance costs from their 95 old external lights, which were not only energy hungry but highly unreliable. The 250W and 400W metal halide car park lighting had a high rate of failure and the 70W sodium lighting surrounding the hospital ring roads had poor, dull colour rendition and was very slow to start.

RAYLUX Urban units were installed to down light the hospital ring roads and pathways, whilst Raytec’s conventional RAYLUX White-Light illuminators were used to cover large car park areas across the site. The illuminators are energy efficient, quick-start and reliable, delivering a safer, more evenly lit environment for people and vehicles on site, whilst the accurate colour rendition of the units allows the site camera system to achieve better surveillance images during the hours of darkness.

As well as highlighting best practice for multi-purpose site lighting, this project leads the way from a green perspective. Based on power consumption and life time of the products, the Trust is set to significantly reduce carbon emissions and save 40 tonnes of CO2 per year. With 70% power savings, the trust will also save up to £8000 a year on running costs and maintenance. Over the ten year life of the installation, the savings are expected to total up to £80,000.

The project highlights new opportunities for all security installers to diversify by leveraging existing contacts and provide multi-purpose lighting solutions not only for surveillance, but also for safer environments. This has always been a missed opportunity for security installers, especially when you consider that the same facility manager responsible for CCTV lighting is also responsible for general site lighting.

“We are delighted to be leading the way and we hope that others will follow,” says Richard Speight, the Trust’s Head of Facility Management. “We have made these savings without any compromise on quality. We provide acute services to more than 40,000 people living in Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, East Durham and parts of Sedgefield and as a 24-hour-a-day operation it is essential that we provide good quality lighting that won’t fail.

“We also have a duty not to waste public money – which is why we’re investing in this smarter lighting technology which will deliver substantial ongoing savings.”

Given this phenomenal success NHS Trust for North Tees and Hartlepool plans to extend the Raytec lighting scheme across all of its premises to further reduce bills and improve performance.

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Working Alone Should Not Increase Risk

Monday, March 21st, 2011

In the current economic climate more and more businesses are reviewing staffing levels and this is leading to more people becoming lone workers. The Health & Safety Executive defines lone workers as those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision.

Employers have responsibilities for the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees and the health and safety of those affected by the work e.g. contractors and self-employed people who companies may engage.  According to the 2008/9 British Crime Survey, there were approximately 305,000 threats of violence and 321,000 physical assaults by member of the public on British workers during the 12-months prior to the survey.

A lone worker should not be at more risk than any other employee and precautions should be put into place to account for normal work and foreseeable emergencies such as illness, accidents and workplace violence.

Employers should identify potential risk such as:

  • Does the workplace present a special risk to the lone worker?
  • Is there risk of violence?
  • Are women staff especially at risk?
  • Can the lone worker summon help in the event of an emergency?

These responsibilities cannot be negated or transferred to people who work alone. The Health and Safety Executive says: “It is the employer’s duty to assess risks to lone workers and take steps to avoid or control risk where necessary.”

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act added another layer of liability for organisations and, importantly, managers. An employer’s duty of care is not only a legal requirement but now it must be seen to be demonstrated that a company or organisation is doing everything practicable to protect the health and safety of employees. As a result many more UK businesses are adding ‘lone working’ to their risk register and taking the matter more seriously.

Lone workers are by definition more vulnerable to accident and aggression than most other employees and therefore it is vitally important that their employers develop long-term strategies in order to protect their safety.
The Health and Safety Executive estimates that it costs approximately £19,000 just to investigate a physical assault. The cost of preventing an assault is considerably less.

One way of protecting lone workers is through a dedicated alarm system. With the increasing number of personal attack alarms now on the market, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has reviewed its position on their use and been instrumental in helping define British Standard BS8484 for Lone Working. BS8484 defines Lone Worker Devices (LWD) and Alarm-Receiving Centre (ARC) compliance as well as calling for sound financial grounding, secure data protection, quality training and full audit capability from the supplier of a lone worker solution.

The introduction of the standard sets a benchmark against which LWDs and services can be measured. It has been driven by ACPO and the security industry to promote best practice for lone workers and to reduce the high number of false alarms being received and responded to by the emergency services.

LWDs are now specifically required to possess the functionality to initiate an audio connection to the ARC and to have the capability to automatically retry that connection until an acknowledgement is received. They must also be able to receive a discreet signal from an ARC controller to acknowledge audio connection, have the capacity to be remotely accessed by a controller and contain an automated low battery warning facility.

ARCs must have the ability to locate the lone worker and obtain their position remotely in the event of an incident. The device must also enable the ARC to dial into the LWD, listen discreetly to what is happening and initiate an appropriate response should a previously raised alarm be dropped unexpectedly.

Lone worker technology can play an integral part in improving the personal safety of staff but only if it is introduced as part of an overall personal safety strategy.

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