An evolution of previous iterations of Pinpoint’s staff safety alarms, our P2 System is one of the most cutting-edge designs available in today’s market. 

We sat down with one of the men behind the design and functionality of the P2 System, Allan Aikman, who kindly talked us through his vision and the inspiration behind the innovative safety alarm system. 

• What originally motivated you to redesign Pinpoint’s alarm system?

Some of it was value design – I felt like we could offer a better product for roughly the same price by utilising new technologies and manufacturing ethos. 

We run our own repair process through PPS and our transmitter repair service, so we can observe the modes of failure and spot where improvements can be made. This offered us a pretty good kick-off point. Once you’re there you have a list of “wants” that can be folded in at the same time.

• What inspirations did you draw from for the system?

As a designer, it's important to look at the environment in which the equipment exists and what its use cases are. We often find ourselves in hospital/medical environments, so I wanted it to fit in with this setting – but I also wanted the system to feel less utilitarian. 

It was important to me that the system could blend into a home and didn’t overtly stand out. We must remember that often service users are residents – this is their home – and having something on the wall that reminds them that they are in a hospital may not be helpful to their recovery.

On the other side of this, you have the staff that you are protecting who want the system to be durable and easy to use. I’m spoiled in that both my wife and mother are users of the system – so having users to talk to in-person 24/7 is an advantage not many designers have.

• What were the biggest challenges you faced when developing the system?

There were many. It’s tempting to want to re-design the wheel. The P2 system as a whole is an evolution - not a revolution. It is built upon technology that has been built and tested over 30 years and over millions of hours of live service. It was important that we bring features and improvements without altering the foundations of the product too much so as to not invalidate all of that data. 

In terms of product, I would say probably the P2 PIT was the biggest challenge. We really went back to basics with this and looked at all new shapes and methods of activation. The P2 PIT may look similar to the older generations but it really has been rebuilt from the ground up.

• Did you use any prototypes while developing the system? Were there any features/ideas that didn’t make it past this stage?

Of course. It's almost impossible to get things right the first time. Personally, I’ve always found it easier with certain people when you can physically put something in their hand or even say “try using this” and then watch how they react and use it. 

Seeing a render on a screen is fine – we can all agree it looks nice (or maybe not). But what happens when you try to hold it? What happens when someone uses a different dominant hand to operate it? What happens if someone tries to use it in a way other than intended?

So yes, there are boxes and boxes of prototypes and sketch models in and around my office – some of those form the test system we have in the head office still.

• Was there any community input/feedback involved in the process of designing the system?

Of course. The decision to update the system to become remote was developed in response to large amounts of feedback we had received which then highlighted that a change needed to be made. The thing about having a product out there already is that you gain a wealth of feedback from users. They offer feedback such as: “This part works – but I’d prefer if we could do it this way” or “have you ever thought about this”. 

Personally, this is why I attend the ‘Design in Mental Health’ conference every year because it is a vital opportunity for me to talk to the current users of the system and get feedback from them. Even when we unveiled the new P2 system it was a massive opportunity for us to display it and let potential future users try the product and offer feedback while it was still in development, which we could fold back into the design process.

• What do you believe sets the P2 System apart from other safety alarm systems on the market?

I’m biased but I think the design, manufacturing, and maintenance give our products longevity that is hard to match.

Thank you to Allan Aikman for enlightening us and sharing your thoughts and inspirations behind the design process of the Pinpoint P2 System. 

If you are interested in finding out more about Pinpoint’s innovative P2 Staff Safety System, click here.