HALO: Health, Safety & Vape Building Automation
Prevent vaping while detecting CO2, bullying, and gunshots. This is not the future. It’s the now and our resident HALO Smart Sensors expert, Shannon Davis, with nearly 30 years of experience recently chimed in on the ongoing school and hospital safety conversation.
Q: What is HALO Smart Sensor?
A: These IoT sensors monitor much more than vaping. They can detect/measure aggression/violence, particulate concentrations, humidity, temperature, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon dioxide (CO2) carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air.
Q: In English, please?
A: Detect and measure things such as:
- Vape and vape masking detection
- Smoke detection
- THC detection (the only vape detector that can detect THC oil)
- Gunshot detection
- 911 via spoken keyword
- Aggression detection (emergency keyword alerting & audible alerting when there is shouting or fighting)
- Building health monitoring/health index
- Disease prevention via indoor air quality monitoring
- Vandalism and trespassing alerts via light/occupancy detection
- Emergency lighting to navigate the building safely during a lockdown
- Temperature, humidity & pressure alerting
- HVAC energy costs
Q: Are you saying HALO not only detects vapors but also sounds?
A: Yes, it is able to understand preprogrammed keywords (bullying, fighting, etc.), shots fired, and other forms of aggression or violence without breaking any laws as there are no recordings.
Q: What are the best applications for HALO?
A: Institutions seeking security and air quality measures favor HALO for its emergency management and building automation but there are many applications for it. A few industries that have benefited are:
- College campuses
- K 1-2 schools
- Preschools and daycares
- Other types of classrooms and learning facilities
- Hospitals
- Apartment complexes
- Assisted living facilities
- Hospitality/hotels
- Break rooms
- Bathrooms
- Commercial buildings and office spaces
Q: What have the schools you’ve worked with been saying?
A: Some school districts currently require monitored bathroom breaks. This either means that the teacher stops class to accompany students to the bathroom (waiting outside) or another paid employee goes. It’s not a great system and it costs them both money and time.
HALO helps save on these precious resources but, more importantly, protects minors from harmful substances. By placing the HALO Smart Sensor in the center of each bathroom with security cameras just outside the bathroom doors (so you can see who is going in and out), schools are able to significantly reduce campus-wide vaping issues. Even if your students exhale into their jackets or a bottle or if they spray cologne or air freshener, HALO will detect all vape fumes.
Q: What else are you hearing?
A: Schools and hospitals are loving the aggression detection feature. For obvious reasons, you can’t have cameras in the bathrooms and it’s illegal to record conversations in most states, however, there is no recording with HALO. It merely detects abnormal sounds and loud noises and sends an alert in real-time.
Another perk for schools is that when kids start getting tired or checked out during the school day, it’s often because the CO2 levels are too high, stealing their oxygen. The air quality monitoring not only helps put fresh air back but mitigates airborne bacteria and viruses, keeping your students and staff healthy. This is accomplished by the HALO devices notifying the HVAC system.
It’s just an added bonus that these institutions are also saving money by using their efficient HVAC systems! HVAC + HELP = HALO
Q: What kind of alerts and tracking can I get with HALO?
A: HALO Cloud is used to manage multiple devices, receive real-time health index and AQI alerts and reporting 24/7, and see alerts and historical data to document your building’s health status and trouble areas.
Shannon cannot recommend this product enough. Not only that, they will be releasing their third generation and it just keeps getting better. For more information, reach out to your sales rep to see what HALO’s vape sensing system can do for you. For more information on our life safety integration solutions, contact us here or request a free quote here.
“The device has been extremely accurate and has helped school leadership deal with the vaping issue effectively by identifying when and where our students have been vaping. In addition, it has given our school the ability to differentiate from typical vaping to those that have THC in it.” KRISTOPHER HARRISON ED.D., SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, IRVINGTON UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT