Best practice for handling vaping alerts
We recognise that detecting vaping is just the beginning of addressing this growing challenge among students. Drawing on insights from our experience with hundreds of schools and millions of recorded incidents, we offer practical, evidence-based advice to help you manage and reduce vaping in your school community. Read on to learn more.
- How to receive & assign alerts
- Attending or actioning alerts
- Handling incidents
How the technology works
The basics
Sensor takes readings
System analysis
Notification
Types of alerts available
App
The VapeGuardian app is available for download on both iOS and Android devices. Once signed in, you can receive alerts directly through the app, similar to notifications from WhatsApp or Facebook.
Within seconds of someone vaping, an email alert can be sent directly to your inbox, providing precise details about the location and time of the incident.
SMS
Alerts via text message can also be sent out to your phone number. With all of the same information as the app or email alerts. SMS is the only means of alert that incurs an extra expense – at a cost of £0.02 p/message.
Display
Android enabled smart screens can display alerts in real-time, room-by-room, via the VapeGuardian TV app. Alerts will show up over the app, detailing which device has been triggered.
Checklist
Before a plan is put in place for how to deal with incidents, we need to make sure that a few key principles are in place and that your organisation is prepared.
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The system is set up
This means the devices are installed, added to the network, rooms created in the system and alerts have been tested
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Members of staff are added
Staff can be added by the "manager". And each member of staff can chose their prefered alert type from within their own account. If emails are selected, ensure alerts don't automatically go to Junk.
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Testing
Someone needs to ensure that every device is sending notifcations as it should. This can be done by vaping in the room where each device is installed and waiting to see if the correct notifications arrive.
Frequently asked questions
Vaping and vape detection is an always developing landscape. Here are some answers to commonly asked questions on the topic
No. Unfortunately, smoke detectors are only equipped to detect smoke. Vaping doesn’t produce smoke and therefore renders smoke alarms ineffective.
This depends on the area you are wanting to cover. Each sensor has an effective range of 12×12′ (based on an 9′ high ceiling). We recommend purchasing one every 12′ squared of floor space.
Notifications are sent within seconds of vaping being detected via SMS, email, the VapeGuardian apps (Android or iOS) or the web-app.
Unlimited. Our system can notify you of vaping on an unlimited number of sensors. So, no matter how large your organisation, you can ensure that vaping is not permitted anywhere.
We also only charge £16.99 per month for all the sensors you need (when sensors are purchased upfront).
Unlimited. The main admin (we call them a “Manager”) user will be able to assign an unlimited number of users (we call them “staff”) to the account.
We are a UK start-up that specialises in vape detection. It’s all we do, and we do it very well. We have chosen to work on smaller margins to help schools to be able to afford our system and in-turn better serve the cause of putting an end to vaping.
We work with hundreds of different types of firewalls and types of network security. If the standard specs that we send out aren’t sufficient for getting you connected, then our specialist team will work with your IT team to find a solution.