Tracking device safeguard for rescue workers

Rapid Innovations, an IT and software company based in Bingley, West Yorkshire, joined forces with telecommunications giant Nokia to create the device, which has been used in the aftermath of the earthquakes in Japan, New Zealand and Haiti.

LoneResQ was designed for workers in vulnerable situations, such as entering collapsed buildings, to keep them safe.

When they are in distress, rescue staff can trigger colour-coded alert.

It has also been used by NHS staff who may be at risk of attack when they are working in patients’ homes as part of community care, and in corporates and SMEs where staff spend time working on their own.

LoneResQ, developed over the last 18 months, was created for Nokia smart phones using global positioning system (GPS) technology and was designed for firms in Britain and abroad.

It was supplied free to Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service’s ubran search-and-rescue team, which is a leader in high-tech equipment and is part of United Kingdom International Search and Rescue, and was used in the rescue efforts after earthquakes in New Zealand, in February, as well as the recent disaster in Fukushima, in Japan, and in Haiti last year.

The New Zealand earthquake was the country’s worst natural disaster for 80 years, killing people and devastating property, including causing severe damage to Christchurch’s landmark Anglican cathedral.

Eight members of the Hampshire team were sent to Christchurch and used LoneResQ, with their movements tracked and monitored by a control centre in Britain.

Peter Maddocks, commercial director of Rapid Innovations, said its tecnology was picked up by (UKISAR) after staff met at an industry sports event. UKISAR is on call every day of the year to respond to international humanitarian disasters.

LoneResQ technology was cheaper than some of the camera technologies used in rescues and could perform most of the same functions, he said.

Keith Bellamy, Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service’s urban search-and-rescue section leader, said: “Giving the task force the exact GPS location of the incident, saves precious minutes and, therefore, ensures that our rescue team are deployed as effectively and safely as possible.”

Rapid Innovations is also working with communications company O2 and Microsoft to develop new products linked to personal safety and protection.

In the public sector, it has a partnership in the NHS with security firm Reliance, which has previously stewarded Madonna concerts and the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations.

It has a panic button so that lone workers in people’s homes can alert a 24-hour-a-day control centre, based in Pontefract, if they find themselves in a dangerous situation.

Mr Maddocks said: “The technology we are involved with is expanding rapidly. We see our product expanding outside the UK. We are talking to a mobile network about using LoneResQ in Europe and Africa and we have an operation setting up in Nigeria.”

The Nigerian venture involves a partnership with security business ICA which was designed to stop kidnappings, a common problem in the African nation where oil and gas workers and schoolchildren have all been targeted by terrorists or criminals seeking ranson payments.

Now Rapid Innovations is also in talks with the Nigerian police about taking on its technology.

Foreign expansion means Rapid Innovations, which has 20 staff and is part of GNP Group, is set to grow this year. The group is on course to turn over £3m this year, up five to 10 per cent on 2010.

GNP also makes Envision, a mobile tracking technology which enables employers to trace the progress of staff around the country.

“The person is the most important asset, not a piece of tin,” Mr Maddocks said.

“You can micromanage your people whether they are in a car, on a motorbike or in a plane.”

Tried-and-tested technology

THE use of Rapid Innovations’ technology could provide a platform for long-term expansion.

Gary Whitaker, one of the directors, said it showed the LoneResQ technology had been tried and tested.

“The work we are doing with the international team will do us a lot of good.

“When customers come to us and know it has been used by UKISAR, it gives us greater credibility.

Rapid Innovations is part of GNP Group, which is based in Bingley and owned by Mr Whitaker, Neil Andrews and Peter Maddocks.

“We are keeping secure the people who keep us secure,” Mr Whitaker added.