News

This past weekend saw the latest review of Skyguard’s International service hit the national pages, adding to the wealth of coverage given to this unique and exclusive personal safety service.

The 7th January 2012 issue of Financial Times’ luxury magazine, How to Spend It, gives equal billing to Skyguard’s service alongside Sony’s latest hardware and a new, innovative Dyson product as this month’s must-have technology.

Describing the MySOS personal alarm as a simple to use, all-purpose emergency button aimed at business travellers and tourists, reviewer and gadget lover, Jonathan Margolis goes on to explain how Skyguard alerts the local police, paramedics or fire units to get to you “pronto” in an emergency.

View Article

Skyguard is delighted to have been awarded Best Practice UK magazine’s ‘Company of the Year 2011’.

Describing the award, Best Practice “takes huge pleasure in dedicating the highly impressive and industry recognised Company of the Year feature to Skyguard.”

The reasons stated for awarding this accolade were given because of “their hard work and enthusiasm in offering a vast array of protection methods in order to assist vulnerable lone workers.”

View Article

On November 14, the Home Office launched an online consultation asking for views on how best to tackle this crime and provide protection for victims. The Government is asking whether specific offences of 'stalking' and 'cyber stalking' should be added to existing harassment laws and what training and guidance is needed for police and prosecutors.

The Home Office said that they are particularly interested in hearing from those with direct experience - victims, police and the courts.

Home Secretary Theresa May said, “I have been clear that ending violence against women and girls is a personal priority for me and this government.

“I am determined to ensure that victims of stalking have the protection and support they need. That’s why we are listening to victims and looking at the legislation to make sure we have got it right.

View Article

NHS Protect has signed a three-way agreement with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to curb violence and anti-social behaviour in the NHS. The Joint Working Agreement will promote and support local arrangements and seek to implement best practice.

Tackling violence and antisocial behaviour in the NHS will help the three organisations to develop closer working relationships and solutions at a local level, to target local issues. It will also enhance communication between them.

NHS Protect, ACPO and CPS agree that there is strong public interest in prosecuting those who assault NHS staff or commit offences that disrupt NHS services. NHS staff should not have to face violence and abuse at work. All parties will encourage individual police services, CPS areas and NHS bodies to seek the strongest possible action against offenders.

Richard Hampton, Head of Local Support and Development Services at NHS Protect, said today: “This welcome agreement ensures that the commitment made at the top of our three organisations is put into practice locally, so that we act together to support NHS staff, who have a right to a safe and secure working environment. Violence and abuse against them is highly disruptive for the delivery of treatment to patients and cannot be tolerated.”

View Article

ONE million Britons experienced workplace violence in the last two years, according to new research carried out by Plymouth and Cardiff Universities.

The report; "Insight into ill-treatment in the workplace: patterns, causes and solutions", is based on data from the British Workplace Behaviour Survey, gathered in 2008 from interviews by the market research company TNS Global.

Plymouth Business School and Cardiff's School of Social Sciences analysed the results of face-to-face interviews with nearly 4,000 employees, representative of the British workforce.

They found 4.9 per cent had suffered violence in the workplace – the equivalent of more than one million workers – with 3.8 per cent injured. 22.3% of those interviewed said they were treated in a disrespectful or rude way.

View Article

Skyguard were privileged to be featured on the BBC 6 o’clock national news on Wednesday 7th September 2011 as part of a counter terror item from distinguished BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner OBE.

The BBC’s flagship news programme, typically broadcast to over 4 million viewers, briefly showcased our Incident Management Centre, The MySOS – the UK’s smallest personal safety device and how our service worked in the event of a kidnapping or assault.

Frank and his BBC crew were warmly welcomed by all and took a genuine interest in how Skyguard can aid those who find themselves in trouble. Frank and his team were particularly impressed at how our controllers track the device via GPS whilst keeping the Police informed at all times.

Referring to a kidnap situation, Frank Gardner summed up part of Skyguard’s service simply but effectively. “The alarm gets raised, the client gets tracked and the police are alerted.”

View Article

Skyguard’s Mobile GPS application has been awarded Best Business App of the Week by Shortlist magazine.

The downloadable application transforms mobile phones or PDAs into a fully functional personal safety device, connecting into Skyguard’s Incident Management Centre 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Describing the Skyguard mobile application, Shortlist’s article states “The (Mobile GPS application) is essentially a huge red panic button. Not as good as a burly bodyguard but definitely a close second.”

Shortlist is an influential weekly magazine which is designed for 18-35 year old men. It contains a mix of clever editorial features which cover a broad range of topics such as the latest news, sport, films, male grooming, new popular gadgets and fitness regimes. Shortlist is read by over half a million people a week.

View Article

Skyguard International creates instant back-up across 36 countries

From today, Skyguard launches the first-ever personal emergency service for British travellers and lone workers abroad.

Skyguard International gives travellers the power to summon help at the press of a button if they find themselves in trouble overseas. Initially the service is live across 34 European countries, the Russian Federation and South Africa.

The launch comes hot on the heels of the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s British Behaviour Abroad report, which revealed 19,228 Brits have needed assistance overseas during the past 12 months, with Spain producing the most incidents.

View Article

To show our appreciation to all of our customers who refer colleagues and friends to Skyguard, we have launched a Customer Referral Scheme designed to reward you for your recommendations. There is no better testament to the quality of our service than someone who has first-hand experience with the level of customer support and emergency response that Skyguard provides, and this is our way of thanking you.

View Article

Skyguard are pleased to announce the official launch of the latest accessory for the MySOS personal safety device – an identity badge holder.

The MySOS unit perfectly slots into the back of the identity badge holder, giving the user even more choice and flexibility in how to discretely carry 24/7 personal protection from Skyguard.

Weighing only 59 grams fully fitted with the device, the identity badge holder is lighter than the leading competitor. Coupled with the fact that the MySOS unit is the UK’s smallest safety device, it’s the perfect solution for any lone workers who wear an identity badge.

The accessory has already been well received amongst users and trials within the NHS have all been positive.

View Article

Skyguard is now accredited by NSI to all elements of BS 8484 - the code of practice for the provision of Lone Worker Device services, making it the only provider in the industry to offer a fully certified, wholly-owned solution.

On 14 April 2011, Skyguard was awarded the NSI Silver Lone Worker Services certificate for parts 4 and 5 of BS 8484. This award is in addition to the NSI ARC Gold certificate (which includes part 6 of BS 8484), that Skyguard’s Incident Management Centre was awarded in January 2010 - the first Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) of its type in the UK to receive the accreditation.

BS8484 sets the standard to which UK lone worker device service suppliers should achieve and can be measured against. It is important as a benchmark for employer’s sourcing a credible provider, as it enables the highest level of police response to an alarm.

View Article

Skyguard has announced it will showcase the UK’s smallest personal safety and tracking device at the 2011 Safety and Health Expo, held at Birmingham’s NEC between 17th and 19th May.

The "MySOS” key-fob sized device developed by Skyguard, weighs just 40 grams and is small enough to be conveniently and discretely worn as a pendant, or attached to a bunch of keys.

Certified to the code of practice for the provision of lone worker device services (BS 8484), the MySOS uses GPS and GPRS technologies to transmit it’s location to Skyguard’s Incident Management Centre (IMC) - the first single purpose Alarm Receiving Centre in the UK to be certified to the highest industry standards; BS 8484, BS 5979 (Cat II), and ISO 9001.

To initiate an alarm the user simply presses the SOS button, and within seconds the device will connect to Skyguard’s IMC. Here, trained controllers will have all the relevant details of the user; who they are, where they are, and what action to take in an emergency.

View Article

To mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Scottish Soroptimists launched the Tartan Ribbon Fund at Airth Castle, Falkirk on 20th March.

The fundraising lunch was organised by Soroptimists Brenda Kay and Janice Wilson, to increase awareness of violence against women and raise funds for Scottish Police Forces, to enable them to buy Skyguard personal safety alarms for women at risk from abuse.

Guest speakers at event included Rhoda Grant MSP, who introduced the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill at Holyrood; Assistant Chief Constable Angela Wilson from Tayside Police; and Patrick Dealtry, co-founder of Skyguard Ltd.

View Article