In a previous blog, we talked about what industries are more concerned about returning to work, finding that education is in the top 3. Beyond all questions that teachers have on how safety measures will take place regarding COVID-19, the educational industry has other issues around safety: sexual aggression, bullying and shootings. The last one has become a cruel reality for the American society.
A CNN article says that there are more public mass shootings in the United States than in any other country in the world. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, since 2013 there were at least 591 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 215 deaths and 422 injuries, including 34 suicides and 7 self-harm injuries respectively.
In February 2018, a 19 year old male opened fire at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Unfortunately, 17 teens and adults were killed. Investigations showed that many safety and security procedures went missed, allowing the shooter to continue moving across the floors and classrooms of the building freely.
From this tragic accident arose Alyssa’s Law, which’s main goal is to address the law enforcement response time during life-threatening emergencies occurring at schools. This legislation requires all public schools to install mobile panic emergency alarms, which need to be linked with the law enforcement and first responders in order to act quickly and save time.
This legislation, named after one of the victims in the attack at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is active in New Jersey and recently in Florida. It is currently in progress in states like New York, Nebraska and at a federal level.
With the installation of the panic button alarms, it is expected to empower students, teachers and staff in order to respond more appropriately at any active shooting or emergency, in order to help create and maintain a safe school environment by increasing vigilance and safety awareness.
No school should be a place that threatens the life and well-being of children and educators. We believe that an extensive approach to school safety is needed by developing threat assessments programs, emergency response preparedness and adopting safety alarms systems that can help prevent and deescalate these incidents.
Kwema helps build safer schools by providing discreet devices that activate an emergency protocol in just 3 seconds. With our wearable technology, students and teachers can quickly alert at any incident, maximizing response time and containing any escalation. Moreover, our devices are designed to avoid adoption and training costs.
Watch how Kwema is disrupting workplace safety
Foto de Arthur Krijgsman en Pexels
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