The Hutt City Council has signed on to Kordia’s new, integrated digital two-way radio network: KorKor™.

After completing their annual risk assessment, Hut City Council identified Health and Safety as a major area of concern.

Field staff members – primarily Animal Control and Parking Services teams – were often facing aggressive and violent situations. The Council needed a means of tracking staff members, who in turn needed a means of alerting the Police if they were threatened or assaulted.

Geoff Stuart, the Divisional Manager of Hutt City Council Inspections, explains: “We went through a self-awareness and self protection course, and looked into various solutions. It was when we investigated the panic alarm button that we came across the Kordia solution.

KorKor™ was much better value than the other offerings and it included the panic button, tracking, RT and cell phone functionality. For us, the tracking and emergency button are crucial.”

KorKor™ was selected because it enhanced the Health & Safety of Council field staff through its integrated GPS tracking and emergency alert features; available in both the portable and in-vehicle radio units. The small size and ruggedness of the portable radios, digital call clarity and the ability to reduce the number of mobile phones were also seen as key benefits.

The full set of KorKor™ features (including radio push-to-talk; GPS tracking; telephony; seamless roaming; emergency man-down button; security and privacy; short data service; and open calling talk groups) has been enabled under the premium plan for nearly all the portable radios, supplemented with two office-based terminals.

Hutt City Council has been operating KorKor™’s digital radio network for just a few weeks, and already its advanced functionality has been utilised. “A parking warden was recently assaulted and she pushed the panic button. We had staff there within one and a half minutes”, Geoff maintains. “Then the police arrived and the aggressor was arrested. When the emergency button is pushed, the police are alerted, which really improves response times.”

In the future plan, Hutt City Council will connect KorKor™ to other existing radio networks using Motobridge (a Motorola interoperability product).  This will enable them to connect to civil emergency groups or any other radio networks that need to communicate with the Council in case of civil emergencies.

“We have 23 handsets currently and we will most likely roll it out to more staff working on their own and all of our night staff.”