In an exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Jason D Reid, President and Senior Advisor at National Life Safety Group and Co-Founder of Safe Buildings, shares a front-line perspective on one of the most overlooked risks facing modern cities: the lack of reliable building intelligence during emergencies. Drawing on decades of experience working alongside police, fire, and EMS teams, Jason explains why information gaps—not preparedness—often create the greatest danger when seconds matter most.
Interview By Maheen Bari
Jason Reid is the co-founder of Safe Buildings Tech, a Canadian technology company he founded alongside Aamer Merchant to strengthen community safety by connecting building owners with police, fire, and EMS through a shared digital safety platform. Their collective work centres on eliminating the information gaps that routinely slow emergency response in complex buildings.
With nearly 25 years in fire safety and emergency management, Jason brings deep operational experience to the design of practical safety technology. He is also a Senior Advisor with National Life Safety Group, where he has led fire and emergency management consulting for more than a decade, advising on risk, compliance, and emergency planning for high-rise buildings, mass venues, and critical infrastructure.
Working in partnership with public safety agencies and industry stakeholders, Jason and Aamer lead a team advancing the Safe Buildings; Building Access Program, enabling secure, real-time access to critical building information during emergencies.
You’ve spent more than two decades in fire safety and emergency management, across malls, airports, and critical infrastructure. From your perspective, what is the single biggest challenge first responders face when they arrive at an emergency in a building, and how did those gaps lead you to co‑found Safe Buildings?
Across every sector I’ve worked in — malls, airports, high-rises, critical infrastructure — the biggest challenge is the same: first responders are forced to make high-risk decisions without reliable, real-time building information. Police, fire, and EMS arrive prepared, but they’re often missing floor plans, access details, hazard locations, or even a current contact list. Too often, that information exists only on paper, is outdated, or can’t be located when it matters most.
That gap has shown up in countless incident reviews, and it costs time, safety, and sometimes lives. Safe Buildings was born out of that reality. The idea was simple: put critical building intelligence into a secure digital system that first responders can trust and access instantly, while also helping owners actively manage their responsibilities, to prevent those emergencies. It’s about closing a gap the industry has lived with for far too long.
For readers who are new to the concept, how would you describe Safe Buildings in plain language, and what specific problem does it solve for both building owners and frontline police, fire, and EMS teams?
Safe Buildings is a secure mobile application that equips building owners and emergency services to work from the same, trusted information during an emergency. In plain terms, it replaces binders, spreadsheets, and fragmented records with a single, live source of building safety data.
For building owners and managers, it streamlines inspections, safety plans, compliance tracking, and incident reporting using real-time updates, time-stamped photos, and NFC technology. It reduces administrative burden while improving accountability. For police, fire, and EMS, it provides immediate access to critical details like floor plans, access points, emergency contacts, and key infrastructure — before or as they arrive on scene.
The problem it solves is speed and certainty. Instead of searching for information or relying on assumptions, responders have what they need to make informed decisions quickly. At the same time, owners gain a cost-effective way to meet their obligations and actively contribute to community safety. Everyone operates from the same playbook.
The Building Access Program with Peel Regional Police has been called a breakthrough in how building information is shared during emergencies. How did that partnership come together, and what concrete differences are officers and building owners seeing on the ground so far?
Peel Regional Police identified a real operational challenge: officers were routinely delayed by locked lobbies, outdated emergency information, and inaccessible records, particularly in high-rise and complex residential buildings. Rather than accepting those delays as inevitable, they looked for a solution aligned with their Community Safety and Wellbeing objectives and their broader commitment to innovation and collaboration.
Safe Buildings became the technology partner that helped turn that vision into a practical, scalable program. The Building Access Program allows building owners to securely share critical, verified building information with police, fire, and EMS, without compromising privacy or control. Delivered at no cost to building owners in the region, it removes financial barriers while strengthening public-private collaboration.
The benefits are shared across three groups. Frontline officers gain faster access and improved situational awareness. Building owners benefit from clearer expectations, streamlined coordination, and the confidence that they are actively supporting emergency response. Most importantly, occupants benefit from quicker, safer, and more informed emergency interventions in the buildings they live or work in. Together, the program strengthens trust, reduces risk, and improves outcomes for the entire community.
You’ve deliberately designed and priced Safe Buildings so that even the most challenged properties can participate. Why was that accessibility so important to you, and how does making this kind of infrastructure available beyond premium buildings change community safety overall?
Emergencies don’t distinguish between premium properties and under-resourced buildings, and neither should the systems designed to support police, fire, and EMS. If this technology only worked for high-end developments, we would still be leaving large portions of our communities exposed to the same preventable risks.
From the outset, Safe Buildings was deliberately designed and priced to remove barriers to participation. We focused on affordability, ease of use, and scalability so that even the most challenged properties could access the same tools and support as premium buildings. That decision wasn’t just ethical — it was practical. First responders operate across entire communities, not individual properties, and consistency in building information directly improves response effectiveness.
When this kind of infrastructure is widely available, community safety improves at scale. Police, fire, and EMS encounter fewer information gaps. Building owners gain a clear, cost-effective way to meet their responsibilities. Most importantly, residents benefit from faster, more informed emergency response, regardless of where they live. Making safety accessible doesn’t lower the standard — it raises it for everyone.
We intentionally designed and priced the Safe Buildings technology so that everyone, even the most challenged buildings could participate. If we want safer communities, the solution has to be accessible to all.
Looking ahead, what do you hope programs like Safe Buildings and the Building Access Program will achieve over the next few years, and what advice would you share with Canadian SMEs and property leaders who want to turn risk into resilience in their own operations?
I believe hope is the foundation of any meaningful vision, but real impact comes from the commitment to make that vision a reality. Looking ahead, my hope is that Safe Buildings and the Building Access Program continue to scale and become a recognized standard of care for buildings across Canada, supported by a combination of policy, insurance incentives, and government legislation. Community safety should never be optional. At Safe Buildings, our guiding principle is safety through technology. We are working alongside forward-thinking Canadian SMEs, property leaders, and public-sector partners to deliver a mobile-first, community-focused solution that strengthens prevention, emergency response, and accountability.
As a Canadian technology company, we are proud to contribute to a national environment that values leadership in safety and well-being. My advice to Canadian SMEs and property leaders is simple: don’t wait for regulation or crisis to force change. Turning risk into resilience starts with treating safety as a core operational function, not a compliance checkbox. The technology to do this is already here—it is affordable, mobile, and fast to implement. Solutions like Safe Buildings, including recent advancements such as Kera Insights and Kera AI, provide real-time intelligence that helps organizations identify gaps, plan effectively, and operate with confidence in an increasingly digital world. Like any meaningful change, it may feel unfamiliar at first, but once it is in place, it becomes hard to imagine operating without it.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CanadianSME Small Business Magazine. Our platform is dedicated to fostering dialogue and sharing insights that inspire and empower small and medium-sized businesses across Canada.
