Realtor safety concern addressed by my-eforce
The tragic death of a member of the Toronto Real Estate Board, killed in Markham, Ont., is a tough reminder of the risks realtors face when conducting home tours, an essential part of their job.
The Calgary Real Estate Board has announced a system of realtor safety it has offered to all of its members that will ensure quick reaction to any type of problem.
In partnership with Calgary-based my-eforce — the company that taps into essential data points to ensure workers are connected and protected at every moment — CREB is providing the advanced service to better protect its realtors whether showing a house, meeting clients or even going to the lake for a weekend.
It was founded by Brennan Lewis and Justin Barber with a clear mission: to save one more life, my-eforce emerged after noticing a significant gap in current safety technologies. They were effective in knowing “where” you are, but fell short in knowing “how” you are.
Its patent-pending software analyzes individual location and vital signs in real-time directly from the world’s best smartwatches. Due to the nature of the job, realtors don’t have direct employers and no governing body responsible for their safety, which is why CREB has taken action to provide this advanced service.
CREB president Alan Tennant says his organization can keep pushing out reminders about being careful — checking identities in advance, making others aware of where you are going, using a buddy system — but there are too many cases of realtor/client relationship problems and the my-eforce platform is a valuable tool that will initiate emergency response.
Realtors will often rely on a company receptionist or friend with instruction to sound an alarm if they don’t get a call at a certain time. But emergency response is not their job and they are not trained to react.
“CREB has 8,300 member realtors and they cover large territories,” Tennant says. “We want to lead the way in ensuring they feel safe at all times and have the comfort of knowing should they be in difficulty, they are provided with an immediate response.” They can now carry a safety belt that is a real alarm that says “I’m in trouble,” tele-connected through a third-party 24/7/365 monitoring company that knows exactly where they are and will initiate emergency response.
In a situation — such as a car crash — where an alert button could not be reached, my-eforce also connects sound, so trouble can be shared by voice.
The cloud-based software ecosystem will not only give a person’s whereabouts, but also monitor and analyze vital signs directly through a smartwatch. By comparison, a phone will give location but not the current state of health.
No special hardware is needed, as my-eforce has sought the approval of leading brands Apple, Google and Samsung smartwatches that are all software compatible.
CREB is concerned about the well-being of its members as they carry out their duties representing clients; the my-eforce platform has been created as another tool — offered free of charge — to protect them. Presentations on the new safety platform were overwhelmingly well received by members who see the benefits of the system that sends clear messages through sound clips, change of heart rate or a fall alert to notify and verify an emergency situation.
Tennant says the partnership is now working on making the system available to member families and an ability to SOS directly to STARS Air Ambulance.
Notes:
This lovely beginning of fall weather is an added bonus for Benjamin Urban, CEO of DIRTT, who will be showing off Calgary to some 400 construction industry leaders he has invited here to attend a two-day event at the Telus Convention Centre, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The first gathering of the DIRTT partner network in five years, the DIRTT Partner Camp will bring together businessmen from around the globe, including South Africa, the U.K., Singapore, Mexico and 200 from the U.S. to share best practices, company strategies and celebrate wins at a time of continued growth for the Calgary-based company. DIRTT is committed to innovation, and its products and processes are focused on solving challenges from the environmental effects of construction to creating innovative products that directly address specific sector needs.
David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622.