Vaping in boarding house bathrooms and dorms is one of the hardest things for staff to catch. Smoke alarms don’t register it, cameras can’t go where it happens, and by the time a houseparent notices, the moment has passed and nobody knows who was there.
Apex Secure Tech, a BSA Group Certified Supplier and the vape detection partner of the Australian Boarding Schools Association, has developed the Sentinel S1 for exactly those spaces. The ceiling-mounted detector reads the air using multiple sensors and alerts duty staff on their phones, typically within 30 seconds, naming the location. It picks up cigarette smoke as well as vape, and it is tuned to tell the difference between a vape and shower steam or deodorant, so staff aren’t chasing false alarms.
Privacy is built in. There is no camera, no audio recording and no student identification. The detector reports air quality for a location, never a person, which keeps it comfortably within a school’s safeguarding and data protection obligations. Staff respond to a place, then handle the conversation the way they would any other pastoral matter.
Installation is straightforward: a power point or PoE port, a Wi-Fi network, and the detector is paired to the Apex app in minutes. Each unit covers a typical bathroom or dorm, and alerts, readings and history are available to the staff a school chooses, with access levels set per boarding house.
Pricing is published openly on the Apex website, with no quotes or sales calls required, so bursars can budget with confidence.
To find out more or arrange a trial unit, contact Max Turner at contact@apexsecuretech.com or visit apexsecuretech.com.
Categories: Sector News
