Phil Milward (left), Hannah Milward and Craig Shepherd are three of the co-founders of Verisafe. Photo/supplied
Phil Milward (left), Hannah Milward and Craig Shepherd are three of the co-founders of Verisafe. Photo/supplied
Seeing a colleague horrifically injured after a crash in an isolated Cambodian jungle has inspired a Wellington woman to create a safety tool for others in risky situations.
Hannah Milward said the man would have died alone in the jungle that day if she and others hadn't been following close behind him and witnessed the crash.
"His femur was literally sticking out of his thigh, it was bleeding out."
They had been riding through the jungle on motorbikes when Milward's team leader was hit head-on by a logging truck. The driver fled the scene.
The incident sparked an idea for an app that could provide help to people who might not be able to reach their phones.
Phil Milward (left), Hannah Milward and Craig Shepherd are three of the co-founders of Verisafe. Photo/supplied
"People die every day because they are working remote, alone and poorly supported," Milward said.
"There needed to be a solution that did not rely on my ability to make a call, or to even reach my phone."
The personal safety tool, a smartphone application called Verisafe, has landed the company a spot as a finalist in the Sustainable Business Network Awards, to be announced tomorrow.
Verisafe was co-founded by Milward, her father Phil Milward, Harbour City Security owner Craig Shepherd, and humanitarian Phil Crocker.
The app has three main features. It has a "help" button that can be pressed, which will immediately send an alert to the user's emergency contacts with information including their location.
There is also an "at risk" feature. A person who knows they may be heading into a risky situation, whether it be riding through a jungle or walking home late at night, can set check-in times on their phone.
When they begin the at risk period, the app will take snapshots of their location every 10 minutes and store these. If they fail to check in, this information will be sent to their emergency contacts.
The alert will still be sent even if the phone is dead, broken, or out of coverage.
The third feature is a "safety vault", which the user can put any information into they believe will be useful to their emergency contacts.
Milward is going to Cambodia next week so will enter her travel details, insurance information, a copy of her passport, information on the nearest New Zealand embassy, her landlord's details, and any instructions that could be useful if she were to get into trouble or go missing.
Someone going hiking could include a photo of the DoC map and information on where they were planning to walk to.
Verisafe also works with businesses, allowing them to provide an account for workers who may be going into risky situations.
"There was a couple of situations where I definitely would have used it myself and it was purely good luck rather than good management that got me out of some sticky situations," said Milward, who, as a former nurse, has spent much of her time carrying out humanitarian work in Asia.
She has also previously been in an abusive relationship, and experienced "the anxiety and fear, [and] sleepless nights that followed after building up the courage to leave".
"He was angry and was the type of person who would think nothing of asking a friend to mess me up. I wanted to create a tool that could discreetly 'have my back' when out and about in case someone with bad intentions started harassing or stalking me."
She hopes the tool can be helpful to other people who are in or who are escaping abusive, controlling relationships.
"It just gives people a layer of confidence.
"No one wants to think they're going to be facing these risks but the reality is we just can't plan for it.
"Being able to help some people, that's what drives me."
The tool could also be useful for people going on first dates with someone they didn't know well, people travelling, people on shift work, or anyone involved in a sport that meant they were alone and isolated.
Verisafe fully sponsors some non-profit organisations, and is being used by others such as Victim Support, the Palmerston North branch of Women's Refuge, several real estate agents, and a client in the UK carrying out property inspections.
They recently won an award in Sydney for their work in health and safety.
