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When University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust conducted a thorough review of working practices in 2021, it became clear an overhaul was required of certain employee safety systems. One priority was improvements to lone worker security and safety.

As a result, the IT department identified concerns about lone worker employee safety in the central core IT rooms containing servers (cold aisle containment facilities), along with an opportunity to drive regulatory compliance and operational efficiency within the unit.

And so, Layer One Installations – an existing contractor to the Hospital Trust – was asked to assess requirements and quote for installing a video surveillance solution that would improve lone worker operating practices in the IT department.

The overall objective of this exercise was aligned with the Hospital Trust’s commitment to employee safety, risk management, regulatory compliance, incidence response and operational excellence.

Read on for more details.

The Norbain Festival 2023: The After-film! Our second annual Norfest went down a treat with suppliers, customers, and our staff! Keep your eyes peeled for Norbain Festival 2024 tickets!

Norbain's Customer Satisfaction Survey results. Find out what our customers said (about us), their needs, their frustrations, and the trends they see ahead.

Increasingly in the UK, security solutions are being employed to fulfill requirements other than security. This is a trend that provides interesting opportunities for installers with plenty of potential for revenue growth and increased customer satisfaction.

Technology and applications are advancing at such a pace that it is now possible to employ a security system to carry out a raft of functions. It could help you maintain health and safety while improving operational efficiency while still delivering security.

In particular, video surveillance as well as intruder solutions are no longer being employed solely to protect people and property. To a lesser but still notable extent, access control applications are also evolving.

The security solutions industry can be a complex one, with a supply chain made up of multiple different parts. Distribution companies within this sector continue to play a pivotal role in helping the industry adapt to both changing customer needs and supply chain disruption.

Norbain is one of the UK’s most successful distributors of IP Video, CCTV, Access Control, and Intruder Detection solutions. We spoke to their Managing Director, Mark Field, who took over the reins almost 3 years ago now, to find out Norbain’s views on the complexities and opportunities for the distribution landscape.

Intruder alarms are graded according to their level of security and reliability. The grading system is most commonly used in the UK and Europe and is outlined in the European Standard EN 50131. There are four main grades to help users and installers select an appropriate level of security for a given application.  

It’s almost 30 years since Axis Communication invented the world’s first network video surveillance camera. To many in the security solutions industry, this signaled the beginning of the end for analogue CCTV systems.

There was a seemingly better way – superior image quality and coverage, coupled with reduced cabling and wireless capability, saw the industry embracing IP digital video surveillance solutions and hanging up on their analogue devices. But analogue refused to die.

So, answering the question ‘Which security system is a better option?’ doesn’t always have a straightforward answer. Let’s discuss further...

The initial financial outlay of home security systems can sometimes be enough to cast a little doubt in the mind as to whether they really are worth it. Yes, the technology can be expensive and installing it can be a bit of a nuisance, but is it all worth it for the peace of mind? Can you really put a price on the safety of your home, your contents and your family? We have taken a look at some of the facts, products and systems that will answer that question, "are home alarms systems a real deterrent to burglars?".

The Norbain Festival 2023: The After-film! Our second annual Norfest went down a treat with suppliers, customers, and our staff! Keep your eyes peeled for Norbain Festival 2024 tickets!

Picture this, you’re in your local supermarket, you’ve just spotted yourself on a little monitor, you're thinking "what on earth is that?" Well, it’s a public viewing monitor, or PVM for short. PVMs are used in a variety of applications but are most commonly used in supermarkets to monitor self-service areas and sometimes even above shop aisles.