Customer: King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy
Location: Frankley, Rubery, Birmingham
Requirement: Students were identified as vaping in the toilets so the school needed a system to detect and alert staff so they could manage the problem and look to prevent this happening.
Solution: Ecl-ips has supplied and installed 12 Halo Smart Sensors, manufactured in the USA by Motorola Solutions. The devices are connected to Halo Cloud allowing for the school to view them in a single dashboard, see historical data and receive real-time alerts via email.
Services: We provided the Cat6 cabling for the Halo Smart Sensors, then installed the devices, which had been pre-staged. Ecl-ips provided training on Halo Cloud as needed.
Customer’s View: “I would recommend this system to any secondary school that believes they may have vaping onsite issues.”
Like many secondary schools in the UK the King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy identified that there were some pupils vaping in its toilets.
The school realised that they needed a system to detect and alert them when vaping was occurring so they could manage this and work to prevent it from happening.
They approached Ecl-ips after a recommendation from another King Edward VI academy trust school. This school had already installed Halo Smart Sensors and found the vape detector had helped to manage the challenge of vaping by students.
The HALO Smart Sensor is a power over ethernet (POE) device which means it receives its data and power over a single Cat6 ethernet cable. Ecl-ips has well-established expertise in data cabling so we can do this as well as the installation as we have done for Balaam Wood Academy.
However, if customers can do the cabling we can come and install the HALO Smart Sensor, or Ecl-ips will also supply only which means we can offer the devices across the UK. The Halo Smart Sensors at Balaam Wood Academy were installed in all of the student school toilets and the detectors were linked to its IT network system.
Ecl-ips will set up the HALO Smart Sensors, including ensuring the latest firmware is up to date and that all the requirements for detection are set up correctly. The HALO Smart Sensors are always providing vape detection with no delay in event notifications and alerts which can be received by email.
Additionally, if like Balaam School Academy, a school chooses to have Halo Cloud we will ensure that all the devices are properly connected. The school paid a one-off set up fee for Cloud and has a three-year plan to manage the cost. The advantage of the Cloud is that all the devices can be viewed and managed via a single dashboard and it is easier to track problem spots within a school. There is also the option to receive notifications on a mobile device via the Halo Cloud app.
Martin Hathaway, Estate Facilities and Sustainability Manager, at The Schools of King Edward VI Trust said:
“Whenever vape emissions are detected, the system sends an alert to our caretakers’ phones who immediately investigate, then the guilty students are managed to prevent it happening again.”
The sensor can also pick up if vaping is masked, for example by the use of aerosols. However, HALO Smart Sensors do not have to be managed via Halo Cloud and if a school only has a small number of detectors the real-time email alerts will be sufficient to help staff to manage vaping issues. Additionally, it is possible to access each device and to download a log of events that have occurred in the last 48 hours. This means that unlike similar vape detectors, the HALO does not necessarily require an ongoing subscription. Whatever a school decides, Ecl-ips can provide training; on-site if you are in the West Midlands, or remotely, as required, once the devices are installed.
As well as standard nicotine vapour, the HALO Smart Sensor can detect tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is found in cannabis. The sensor can also pick up if vaping is being masked, for example by the use of aerosols.
The HALO Smart Sensor has a tamper detection which will alert you to problems such as students trying to interfere with the device and has an IK10 vandal-resistance rating. Additionally, its aggression detection feature means the HALO detects abnormal noise levels. Separately, with five key words pre-programmed, the device can notify staff of calls for help. Schools can choose what they wish to be notified about.
Result: The school soon found that it is was not just the students who were breaking the school’s no vaping rules. The HALO Smart Sensors alerted staff to customers who had hired the sports hall in the evening and were vaping in the changing room toilets!
Benefit: The HALO Smart Sensors are supporting the school to identify those that are vaping and to take action against them.
“The system works. It does what it says – it detects vape emissions and alerts us in real time”
Download a copy of the King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy PDF