6 Ways to Use Vector LiveSafe on Campus

6 Ways to Use Vector LiveSafe on Campus
Resources

August 4, 2021

Resource: Blog Industry: Education, Higher Education
Tags: Higher Education, Prevention, Vector LiveSafe

All students, faculty, and staff face safety risks on campus. These risks may include: facility hazards, accidents or injuries, robberies, assaults, mental health concerns, drug or alcohol abuse, hazing, and more. Deploying a safety communications platform and mobile app such as Vector LiveSafe is an effective way to facilitate a safer campus community by putting health and safety tools into the hands of your students, faculty, and staff.

Below, we present six ways that students, faculty, and staff can use a safety communications platform such as Vector LiveSafe to foster safety on campus:

1) Receive Regular Campus Updates

Targeted mass notifications are a key feature of Vector LiveSafe. In addition to using mass alerts to share emergency warnings and guidance, research into best practices has demonstrated that sharing routine updates is a crucial way to build user trust and engagement. These notifications can include updates about school closures, road closures, weather conditions, any emerging safety issues, and general updates about happenings around campus. These regular notifications help students, faculty, and staff grow familiar with your safety communications platform while also demonstrating your institution’s commitment to campus safety and health.

Routine updates may discuss:

  • Upcoming campus events or holidays.
  • Weather warnings and nearby road closures.
  • Operational changes (ex: IT service repair).
  • Facility or building concerns or repairs (ex: notice of a broken elevator).
  • Local area updates or concerns (ex: nearby protest activity).
LiveSafe Broadcast and Check In

2) Report Incidents, Questions, or Concerns

Campus members can quickly report tips or incidents, anonymously or not, through the Vector LiveSafe Mobile App, which are then routed to designated campus officials. These reports can include attached photos, videos, or voice recordings, and users can choose to attach a location. This reliable, intuitive reporting process provides users with rapid concern resolution and enables institutions to gain insight into the risks facing their campus. Understanding concerns can help institutions improve overall campus safety, avoid preventable injuries or illnesses, avoid emergency crises, and know what is going on around campus.

Campus tip submissions often include the following:

online questionaire for suspicous activity
  • Suspicious activity reports (ex: suspicious person roaming a building).
  • Threats (ex: assaults, active shooters, hazing, alcohol or drug misuse, sexual violence).
  • Requests for assistance for themselves or someone they know (ex: mental health support).
  • Information about a facility’s hazards (ex: chemical spill in a chem lab, broken elevators in dormitories).
  • Questions about policies.
  • Observed local area concerns (ex: nearby road closures or protests taking place).

3) Access Campus Policies and Other Resources

Vector LiveSafe allows institutions to share policies, procedures, and other resources with their students, faculty, and staff. Within the resources section, institutions can upload any information that they want their community to have access to, whether that be institution-specific policies and resources, campus or community maps, campus officials contact information, or local resources. These resources can be uploaded both in PDF or URL formats, and PDFs are accessible with or without internet connection.

Common information to upload includes:

  • Policies and procedures.
  • Health and safety guidance.
  • Campus or local maps.
  • Emergency response resources (ex: evacuation plans, lockdown procedures, etc.).
  • Mental health resources.
  • Contact information for campus officials.
vector livesafe home screen

4) Receive Instant Support and Guidance

Instant two-way messaging and one-touch emergency access enable students, faculty, or staff to receive immediate support whenever they need it. After submitting a question or concern, they can engage in real-time two-way messaging with relevant institution team members (ex: a student service employee or campus security teams). This enables them to receive rapid, reliable guidance. For example, if a student is walking home alone at night and feels like a suspicious person is following them, they may want to report their concern and provide ongoing location insights or identifying information. Or if someone is concerned about their own mental health, they can engage in two-way messaging with someone from the school’s student services department to get the help they need. In the event of an emergency, Vector LiveSafe also offers one-touch access to 911 and your local law enforcement department.

Common uses of two-way messaging and one-touch emergency access include:

two-way communication
  • Clarifying a campus policy.
  • Engaging in conversation about a submitted tip (ex: providing follow-up information).
  • Discussing a facility hazard, such as a broken elevator or chemical spill.
  • Calling 911 in the event of a medical emergency.
  • Calling security if there is an incident that requires investigation or intervention.

5) Identify Relevant Locations

Vector LiveSafe’s customizable safety map allows users to easily access local and campus-specific geographic information. This can include individual locations, such as academic buildings on campus, or geofenced areas, such as an entire local neighborhood that has been impacted by inclement weather and should be avoided. This feature can be particularly useful for users that commute from another area and who may be unfamiliar with the area they are in, or for students studying abroad in different countries that need information about nearby resources and local law enforcement locations.

Common locations shown on the safety map include:

  • Buildings on campus.
  • Health and safety resources (fire stations, police stations, health centers, etc.).
  • COVID-19 testing locations and vaccination pharmacies.
  • Helpful resources in cities that students are studying in (ex: local law enforcement. locations, embassies, safety resources, etc.).
  • Unsafe or high-risk areas.
online mobile safety map

6) Ensure Safe Commutes with SafeWalk

The SafeWalk feature can help campus members, especially students, remain safe as they commute to or from classes and other campus activities, whether they are walking or driving. With SafeWalk, a user’s selected friends and family members will be notified when the user reaches their destination or, if the user desires, can track their location in real time and ensure safe arrival. This can be helpful when a student is commuting in the early morning or late evening, is walking through a deserted garage or on an empty street to reach their parked car, or feels unsafe during a commute due to suspicious behavior, inclement weather, or other concerns. SafeWalk is particularly helpful for users who may be walking alone or are in unfamiliar areas.

Students, faculty, and staff can use SafeWalk in a variety of situations, such as:

LiveSafe online mobile safety alert
  • While walking to their car in the parking garage after class.
  • Driving to or from class each day.
  • Commuting during inclement weather, before sunrise or after sunset, or in an unsafe situation.
  • While walking or driving in an unfamiliar location.

How Vector Solutions Can Help

Vector LiveSafe is a powerful safety communications platform and mobile app that empowers faculty, staff, and students to play a role in their institution's safety and security efforts.

Vector LiveSafe is equipped to protect your institution from safety and security threats, facilitate incident prevention and response, and remind students, faculty, and staff that safety is your top priority.

With features like:

  • Broadcast Alerts
  • Tip Submission
  • Customizable Resources
  • Two-Way Messaging
  • SafeWalk
  • And more!
LiveSafe dashboard and mobile app
Learn More

Want to Know More?

Reach out and a Vector Solutions representative will respond back to help answer any questions you might have.

Contact Us