US firm launches panic button for staff cars in Kerala

American tech firm UST Global, the largest employer of IT professionals in Kerala, has installed GPS tracking mechanisms and panic buttons on its company's cabs for its centre here, an official said.

The move is an effort by the company to ensure the safety and security of its employees travelling in the company's cabs.

UST Global employs around 6,600 employees in Kerala, with 5,000 of them working from the Technopark campus here and the rest in Kochi.

All company cabs are tracked in real-time using GPS. In case of an emergency situation, employees can press the panic button - fitted to the back seat of the cabs - which would trigger an automated SMS to the company's Real Estate and Facility Management (REFM), which is behind this new development, and alert them.

In case of over-speeding too (above 80 km per hour) by cab drivers, an automated message will be triggered to the team.

"In addition to making our employees feel secure, we are also ensuring adherence to traffic rules by our cab drivers," said Hema Menon, centre head of UST Global here.

Headquartered in Aliso Viejo in California, UST Global has operations also in the US, Mexico, Spain, Britain, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.