What it’s like to work in an alarm receiving centre

Andreas works at our alarm receiving centre in Malmö. He was asked to share what it’s like to work as an alarm operator as well as a dramatic case that he handled a few weeks ago.

My name is Andreas, I am 25 and I work at Careium’s alarm center in Sweden.

I started my job as an alarm operator in 2020. Doing this job is something special, you get the opportunity to impact positively on someone’s life when the need arises.  One of the best things is to hear the gratitude from the customer when you’ve been able to help them; for many we are their only security and we have so many customers who really appreciate that we exist, for them we are their everyday heroes.

I started my new role as shift leader in 2021. My job is to make sure that everything flows in the operation, from planning breaks to handing out tasks and delegating and redirecting the operation depending on the level of pressure we have. I am also available to answer questions and often must act as a problem solver, across an ever changing and developing environment.

I am also involved in team building and helping to teach and develop new operators. Other opportunities as a shift leader are to work with the staff and solve crew problems. As a shift leader you and your boss are responsible for the further development of your team. I thrive because I can still work as an operator and at the same time be responsible for the operation, so I recommend everyone who gets the opportunity to work as a shift leader takes it. 

I would like to share a dramatic case that I handled a few weeks ago. We offer our customers a GPS watch called 480, where it is possible to track the customer if they disappear. Usually, the customer is found quickly but not in this case. I got the alarm late at night just before I was about to finish work. The staff member called in, completely desperate and could not find a lady who was normally in bed in the evenings. The tracking program showed immediately that the customer was far away from their home at a nature reserve along a lake. The carer went to the approximate location, but the problem was that there were no roads or landmarks to follow. The staff member was completely desperate as it was almost 22.00, dark and the temperature was almost at zero.

I guided the staff around the path that I saw the customer on and at this moment the customer has started circulating around the lake. As an operator, I am involved from start to finish to ensure that the customer is found and to be able to reassure the staff. We had a tough time at the end of the conversation, the staff’s mobile had almost died, so suddenly the staff disappeared off the phone and became completely silent, then I heard a huge scream mixed with joy and fear and immediately understood that we finally found the customer safe.

Before the conversation ends, I get a big thank you and feel a great sense of relief. I think to myself what would have happened if the customer didn’t have this watch? It is solutions like this that we offer, that many may not know about, that do so incredibly much for both customer and relatives and make them feel safe in their homes through extra security.

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