M&S introduces WalkSafe Pro app in support of colleague safety

Powered by location-based insights from the police service, local authorities and community partners, WalkSafe Pro – delivered in partnership with Mitie, which provides the app’s 24/7 monitoring and response capability – helps colleagues to make more informed journey decisions by providing information based on both police data and precautionary insights from other app users.

  Colleagues can share their live journey with trusted contacts, while SOS alerts connect directly to Mitie’s 24/7 Security Control Centre, enabling real-time monitoring, assessment and a co-ordinated response where and when required. The app can also be used outside of work, ensuring that colleagues stay connected to help should they need it.

 Over time, M&S stores will also be marked as designated ‘Safe Spaces’ within the app, supported by colleague training to ensure a consistent and confident response for the wider community. This means that end users will be able to identify nearby stores as a place to step inside, feel reassured and seek support if they feel unsafe during a journey.

Investment in security

Thinus Keeve, retail director at M&S, observed: “Our colleagues’ need for safety doesn’t stop when a shift ends. They’ve told us that travelling to and from work can be the time when they feel most vulnerable. WalkSafe is a simple, but powerful way in which we’re responding. It’s another way in which we’re continuing to invest in security by helping our people to stay connected and supported wherever they are.”

Keeve added: “Our stores will become WalkSafe ‘Safe Spaces’. We’re looking to extend our role into the communities we serve, in turn helping to create safer environments for everyone.”

Jason Towse, managing director of the Business Services division at Mitie, noted: “Everyone deserves to feel safe, whether they’re at work, travelling home or they’re out and about in their own time. Our partnership with M&S is a fantastic example of how we can work together to better support colleagues in those moments where they feel most vulnerable.”

In addition, Towse commented: “This is an important step towards building safer communities and helping people to feel more confident wherever they are. By combining WalkSafe’s technology with Mitie’s front line expertise, 24/7 monitoring and response capability, we’re able to provide practical and real-time support when it’s most needed.”

Lived experience

Emma Kay, founder of WalkSafe, explained: “WalkSafe was created to address a simple, but important problem: too many people don’t feel safe when travelling alone, particularly so after dark. Built from lived experience, it brings together real-time information and practical tools to help people better understand their surroundings and take control of their personal safety.”

Kay concluded: “Through partnerships such as this one with M&S, we’re extending that support further, helping organisations to play a more active role in affording colleagues and local communities greater confidence, reassurance and access to help when they need it.”

*Further information is available online at www.mitie.com