When considering strategies to level up the safety of your healthcare facility, you should ensure you are implementing a layered approach when it comes to technology. While each individual tool can be powerful on its own, a combination is what will enable you to most effectively prevent and deter violence. Consider implementing a variety of the following tools depending on your facility’s specific needs.

License Plate Recognition (LPR) Cameras

Implementing LPR cameras around the perimeter of your hospital campus is an effective way to enhance situational awareness when it comes to your facilities. 

Flock Safety Falcon® LPR cameras not only catalog the vehicles entering and exiting the area but also provide real-time alerts to in-house security when vehicles of concern enter the premises.

As the most common assailants of healthcare workers are patients (80%) – many of whom are well-known, repeat offenders – ensuring your security team is aware when these individuals are in the vicinity allows you to prevent violence. Having LPR cameras as your first line of defense is an effective way to proactively mitigate workplace violence as you can intercept a threat before it escalates.

Wearable Technology 

Another technology to consider is wearable tech, such as panic buttons. By equipping nurses and other medical staff with the ability to quickly call for help in the event of violence, you can ensure that security is promptly alerted and can take swift action to prevent escalation of the incident.

Additionally, providing such technology will likely give staff peace of mind knowing that if something happens, they can take action and call for help.

Visitor Management Systems

According to the 2023 IAHSS Foundation Crime Survey, more than half of hospital respondents report that they utilize a visitor management system. These systems play a crucial role in maintaining security, efficiency, and organization within a medical facility. 

With many individuals coming and going at any given time, having an updated visitor management system in place is vital. In addition to making sure the technology is up to par with industry standards, it’s also important to make sure your staff is aware of the expectations associated with visitation hours and how to effectively manage the system.

Beyond just understanding the technical aspects of the system, staff should be made aware of the importance of adhering to visitation policies and how to effectively communicate these policies to visitors. Regular trainings should also be incorporated to keep staff up to date on any changes in the system or visitation guidelines.

Live Video

While most facilities likely have video cameras incorporated in some capacity, it’s important to assess the technology. Ensure it’s placed strategically both in and around the exterior of your facilities and consider how it integrates with your other systems.

‍Flock Safety Condor™ is a subscription-based live and recorded video solution that seamlessly integrates with Flock LPR cameras, allowing your in-house security team to supplement video footage with clear images of license plates and other vehicle details, as well as helps reduce the amount of time spent manually reviewing footage.

Audio detection

An unfortunate reality is that gun violence is taking place in and around medical facilities. Although you never want to need it, a final and potentially life-saving layer of security to consider is audio detection.

The Flock Safety Raven® audio detection device has the ability to alert in-house security and law enforcement in less than 60 seconds when a gunshot is detected, improving your ability to prevent gun-related crimes. When layered with the Flock Safety Falcon® LPR suite, Raven can help narrow down vehicles in the vicinity at the time of the shooting, making it easier to find fleeing suspects with these powerful combinations of proactive safety technology.

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By layering your technology solutions, you can proactively boost safety by ensuring workplace violence doesn’t happen in the first place. Discover how Flock Safety can help—schedule time with a safety consultant today.

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Read more: Better Protect Your Healthcare Campus with Multiple Layers of Technology