Wihkum

An Australian Principal Occupational Health Safety and Wellbeing Survey released in 2019 reported that over the last 9 years, an increasing percentage of school leaders have been exposed to physical violence, with 27.3% (7 times the general population rate) being exposed to physical violence in 2011 to 42.4% (10.8 times the population rate) being exposed in 2019.

Equally the U.S. Department of Education, from 2011-12 published that approximately:
• 9% of teaching staff reported being physically threatened.
• 5% of teaching staff reported being physically attacked in schools.

The effect of these worrying statistics is the human capital costs (both noticeable and hidden) – include:

•   Lost Wages,
•   Lost day of work,
•   Medical and psychological care,
•   Increased workers’ compensation claims,
•   Training and replacement of teachers leaving the school or profession,
•   Student disciplinary proceedings, and
•   Detention of perpetrators.

Teachers (especially K-12) are vitally important to our society providing the second largest source of growth and development of our children behind parents. We need to look after them and protect them so they can bring out the best in our children and stay within the profession.

Ensuring the safety and security of staff and students is a top priority for any school. Meeting these needs and mitigating risks is an ongoing challenge, until now.

Introducing the Wihkum:School Safety Solution

Wihkum:School is a smart phone-based app which enables teaching staff and school leaders to swiftly call for help or assistance in a variety of situations. There is no need to remember names or numbers, Wihkum:School provides a simple user interface. Using our proprietary algorithm it works out in seconds who are the closest peers (trained/school nominated) to provide assistance immediately as responders.

Alerts sent to the closest peers will "siren" – even if the phone is on silent or do not disturb, therefore, always capturing the attention so help and assistance can be delivered quickly.

So that peers know where to provide help and assistance Wihkum:School utilises GPS technology to give peered respondents a satellite map view of where to go on school grounds. If help or assistance is required off school grounds – no issue – Wihkum:School works off school grounds when attending an excursion, camp or carnival.

Common situations where Wihkum:School is used but certainly not limited to are:

•   Violence – between teacher and student or between students’
•   Medical – result of an impact injury on playground or food allergy reaction
•   Lockdown – Unauthorised person on school grounds
•   Evacuation – Bushfire close to school grounds

Wihkum:School is new technology that may help your school comply with the Department of Education’s Occupational Safety and Health Policies in your region to reduce hazards, risks, and continually improve safety and health in the workplace.

For a free demonstration of the Wihkum:School app please contact our friendly Safe Watch Global team to book an appointment. Contact Us via https://safewatchglobal.com/contactus or click on Submit Application below.

How it Works

How does it work?

Wihkum:School allows teachers to receive help at the push of a button if they feel unsafe or physically threatened while on school grounds. When activated within designated hours, the app alerts the closest trained staff member and other nominated responders who’ll be able to render immediate assistance.
Wihkum:School is a vital personal security tool, helping to establish safer schools and giving teachers greater peace of mind in the classroom.

GPS

How does the app track my location?

Wihkum:School uses mobile GPS technology to identify a teacher’s location while they are on school grounds. Nominated responders can only see your location once the safety assistance feature has been activated. At all other times your location remains confidential and inaccessible from colleagues, your principal, Safe Watch Global or any external party.
Location services are common to many apps already installed on your smartphone and other devices. The technology works by transmitting a signal to a secure server. In the case of Wihkum:School, this data is “fetched” only when requested – i.e. once the safety assistance feature has been activated.

Afterhours

Is my location still tracked on weekends and outside of school hours?

Like all apps that require location services, Wihkum:School works by continually sending location data to a secure server. This feature is active in the background of your digital device, however, it does not mean that others – including colleagues, principals or any third-party group - can see your whereabouts.
Your location is only made visible to chosen first responders once the emergency assistance call is activated.

As a further safeguard, schools have the option to designate which hours the emergency call feature is able to be used. Most schools choose to activate this during regular teaching hours on Monday-Friday. Hours can be altered to allow for non-routine activities such as camps and excursions, providing even greater security and peace of mind. Outside of these times, the emergency activation button does not appear, meaning it can’t accidentally be used on weekends, holidays and at other times when you’re offsite.

Users can manually deactivate location services on Wihkum:School, however, doing so is not recommended as it will delay response times in the event of a serious incident.

Data

How is my data stored?

All data is transmitted to a secure server and visible only to nominated responders when the Wihkum:School safety feature is activated. Your data is secured by sophisticated encryption methods and inaccessible to colleagues, other external parties and even to us at Safe Watch Global. The only reason data is collected is so that we can provide nominated responders with your location if and when it’s needed.

Third-Parties

Is my data sold to third-party companies?

Unlike Google, Facebook and other apps which use location services, Safe Watch Global does not ever, nor will ever, sell or provide data to third parties. You can have confidence that the Wihkum:School app exists only to help keep you, your students and the school community safe in situations when it’s most needed.

Should you require any further assistance or information about Wihkum:School and the measures we at Safe Watch Global take to protect your privacy and security, please contact us directly.