UNT Health Fort Worth Advances Campus Safety and Emergency Preparedness with CriticalArc’s SafeZone®

UNT Health Fort Worth strengthens campus safety and emergency readiness through cross-campus collaboration and advanced use of CriticalArc’s SafeZone platform.

FORT WORTH, TX, UNITED STATES, January 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- CriticalArc, the leading provider of critical incident management solutions, is proud to highlight UNT Health Fort Worth for its continued leadership in campus safety and emergency preparedness through the effective use of the SafeZone platform. As a long-standing CriticalArc customer, UNT Health is focused on driving campus-wide adoption of SafeZone while strengthening operational coordination and readiness across its campus, supporting approximately 2,500 students and 1,900 faculty and staff.

As part of the UNT System, UNT Health aligns with peer institutions that also prioritize modern safety technology, including UNT Denton, a current SafeZone customer, and UNT Dallas, which is preparing to deploy the platform. Together, these campuses demonstrate a shared commitment to enhancing duty of care and improving emergency response through collaboration and innovation.

SafeZone at UNT Health supports the campus and reflects strong collaboration across departments. Campus police, IT, student services, emergency management, and marketing and communications all played key roles in the successful implementation and ongoing adoption of the platform. Contributors included Police Chief Richard McKee, Lt. Richie Miller, Emergency Management Administrator Raul Cantu and Paula Cobler, Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

UNT Health’s environment presents unique safety and operational considerations, blending healthcare delivery, academic instruction, research, and community access within a single campus.

“We’re both a healthcare institution and an academic center. We have students, staff, faculty, a research arm, and a seven-story medical clinic that brings in the local community,” Miller said. “All these groups add layers of complexity to us providing exceptional service to everyone who comes through our doors.”

Because the UNT Health Pavilion generates the majority of calls for service, accurate location information is essential for effective response. The seven-story facility combined with a parking garage that is partially underground adds complexity during emergency situations where information from a phone call alone may be incomplete or unclear. SafeZone’s indoor positioning capability allows responders to see precisely where help is needed, enabling them to arrive quickly, assess the situation, and take appropriate action without delay.

SafeZone supports a range of day-to-day and critical incident needs across the campus, including medical emergencies, campus escort requests, suspicious activity reporting, and response to severe weather or facility incidents. These use cases help ensure the campus community can quickly connect with help when it matters most, while also improving operational visibility and coordination for responders.

Leadership support has been central to the program’s success. McKee and Cantu have served as the strongest advocates for SafeZone, helping to drive engagement and promote its value across the campus community. Their shared focus is on achieving broad adoption among students, faculty, and staff while improving daily operations and emergency response coordination in a complex environment.

SafeZone is actively supporting emergency preparedness and training efforts, demonstrating immediate ROI. During a tabletop exercise led by Cantu, the platform played an active role in simulating incident response. Using SafeZone during the exercise helped increase engagement among participants and provided a realistic view of how an emergency operations center functions during a critical incident.

“SafeZone gives us a practical, hands-on way to engage our campus community and leadership in emergency preparedness,” Cantu said. “Using the platform during tabletop exercises allowed participants to experience what a real emergency operations environment feels like, which strengthens readiness and confidence. As adoption grows, SafeZone will play a key role in improving coordination, communication, and overall campus safety.”

UNT Health is particularly focused on expanding SafeZone use among students and faculty, empowering them with direct access to safety assistance, real-time communication, and streamlined incident reporting.

“UNT Health Fort Worth exemplifies how committed leadership and cross-department collaboration can drive meaningful improvements in campus safety,” said Darren Chalmers-Stevens, Group COO at CriticalArc. “Their ongoing work with SafeZone, from emergency preparedness exercises to campus-wide engagement, demonstrates what is possible when technology is fully embraced as part of daily operations. We value our partnership with UNT Health and are proud to support their continued efforts to strengthen safety, preparedness, and duty of care across the campus.”

Sienna Kozin
SafeZone by CriticalArc
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