Healthcare professionals frequently face aggression from patients and visitors, particularly in high-stress environments such as emergency departments and psychiatric units. Ensuring staff safety is a priority, but traditional security measures like CCTV have limitations. Bodycams provide a mobile, real-time security solution, improving incident response, deterring aggression, and ensuring a more comprehensive record of events.
The Advantages of Bodycams in Hospitals
A More Accurate and Complete Perspective
Unlike CCTV, which is typically mounted on walls or ceilings and records from a high angle, body cameras capture events from a first-person perspective. This provides:
- A clearer view of interactions at eye level rather than distant overhead footage.
- A more accurate depiction of events, reducing ambiguity in disputes.
- Detailed audio recording, adding context to verbal exchanges, which CCTV cannot provide.
Reducing Aggression and Improving Safety
- Research indicates that body cameras can deter aggressive behaviour. When aware of being recorded, individuals are less likely to engage in violence.
- Staff feel safer knowing they have an objective record of incidents, which increases their confidence in handling difficult situations.
- In the event of a dispute, footage provides clear, time-stamped evidence, protecting staff from false accusations.
Live Streaming for Faster Security Response
- Live video feeds from bodycams allow security teams to monitor situations in real-time, enabling rapid intervention.
- A security control room can assess an incident as it unfolds and deploy personnel more efficiently, reducing the risk of escalation.
Why Integrate Bodycams with Existing Hospital Security Systems?
Covering Surveillance Blind Spots
- CCTV cameras are fixed and may not cover corridors, patient rooms, or high-risk areas where incidents occur.
- Bodycams provide mobile coverage, ensuring that no critical moment is missed.
Consistent and Efficient Video Management
When body cameras are correctly integrated with a hospital’s existing video management system (VMS), security teams can:
- Store, retrieve, and (re)view bodycam footage alongside CCTV recordings using the same workflow.
- Improve security oversight with fixed and mobile footage, creating a complete picture of incidents.
- Ensure compliance with hospital policies and data protection regulations like GDPR.
What is Needed for Successful Integration?
To ensure seamless implementation, hospitals should use a bodycam system that:
- Is built with open architecture at its core by a company committed to an open platform, ensuring long-term compatibility and support.
- Features a robust API, enabling integration with security platforms like Milestone XProtect.
- Complies with modern CCTV standards for seamless interoperability.
- Provides flexible hosting options, including both on-premise and cloud storage.
The Role of System Integrators in Hospital Security
Many hospitals already work with system integrators for IT and security management. Adding bodycams to the existing infrastructure is a natural extension of this role because:
- Integrators ensure compatibility with hospital CCTV and security systems.
- Deployment is handled with minimal disruption to hospital operations.
- Ongoing maintenance and updates keep the system functioning optimally.
Proven Impact: How Bodycams Improve Hospital Security
Hospitals that have implemented bodycams report:
- A significant reduction in workplace aggression leads to improved staff safety and morale.
- Faster dispute resolution, as clear video and audio evidence simplify investigations.
- Stronger legal protection, reducing liability risks and ensuring compliance with security policies.
- The reduction in incidents and complaints could offset costs
Partnering with Hospitals for Safer Workplaces
Hospitals must prioritise the safety of staff and patients. Bodycams are essential to enhance security, deter aggression, and ensure clear incident documentation. Their ability to integrate with existing systems, capture events from a first-person perspective, and provide real-time insights makes them invaluable to hospital security operations.
ZEPCAM provides an industry-leading open bodycam platform for seamless integration, secure data management, and ease of use. Major healthcare institutions trust our technology, including NHS hospitals in the UK, Leiden University Medical Center (customer story), Maxima Medical Center (customer story study), and UMC Utrecht in the Netherlands. With a proven track record in hospital security, ZEPCAM ensures that healthcare professionals have the tools they need to work safely and confidently.
For more information on implementing bodycams in healthcare, contact ZEPCAM today.
