UQ's personal safety program goes nation-wide

The University of Queensland's personal safety awareness program, UniSafe, may expand to yet another Australian campus following licensing enquiries from a leading university.

UQ launched UniSafe 10 years ago to complement its 24-hour, 365-days-a-year Security Service. The program is the first known such initiative in Australia and has been so successful that seven other universities have licensed it for use on their own campuses.

They include James Cook University of North Queensland, the Australian National University and the Universities of Sydney, Canberra, South Australia, Northern Territory and Central Queensland.

UniSafe uses the Web and other strategies to spread the word on how to recognise, avoid and report potential problems.

And it backs its educational campaign with practical measures such as emergency call points, a free-call telephone number for Security, safety path advice, regular safety audits, and a free Escort service for people on campus at night.

A free evening Safety Bus service also runs between buildings, carparks and public transport on the St Lucia campus where hundreds of students are involved each night in late classes, computer-lab and library work.

UniSafe helps make UQ Ipswich one of the safest sites in the country, according to Security Manager Warren Collyer.

"We have a round-the-clock security presence on all our three major campuses," Mr Collyer said, "and we use a huge amount of electronic gear at UQ Ipswich to keep the whole place under constant surveillance.

"This is linked to a Central Monitoring Station at St Lucia staffed by an officer trained to deal with emergencies. He or she can instantly coordinate and communicate with all available resources (including an Emergency Response Vehicle) to converge on any trouble spot - and to contact Police if necessary.

"As for physical features, UQ Ipswich is a very safe campus. A UniSafe-coordinated Safety Audit last year generated some very positive comments on our open, well-lit pathways, carparks and grounds."

For more information contact Douglas Porter, Secretary and Registrar (telephone 3365 1311), Warren Collyer, Security manager (telephone 3365 2335) or UniSafe chair Moya Pennell, UQ Communications (telephone 3365 2846).