Creating Ligature Resistant Products; What Works

Synopsis

The presentation will identify key components in selecting products when creating ligature safe environments. All care environments present opportunities to attach ligatures e.g., doors and windows even though technological advancements in product design have advanced. Nevertheless there are no set standards when considering ligature resistance for most products and manufacturers can specify products as “Anti-Ligature”, without fully understanding the complex dynamics of introducing products within a room and the interplay between products within a given space.

Moreover if manufacturers don’t understand the complexities of developing ligature resistant products how can those clinical staff undertaking the environmental suicide risk assessment begin to fully understand the risks posed when examining the environment. All to often the risk assessment is reduced to a formalised actuarial approach in which the assessor is no more enlightened regarding the environmental risks.

After examining hundreds of hospital environments and testing thousands of products over the last eight years emergent themes have arisen. There is a need to examine an environment from a patients perspective.. Patients don’t just observe an environment with a clipboard and pen they physically interact with it.

The presentation will look at key principles in procurement and product selection, These themes include:

• Is the product ligature resistant – how has it been tested (e.g. BRE, ‘Informed Choices)
• If it can be broken you can probably attach a ligature – products must be robust
• Ligature attachment points include trapping items –
• Does the product work as a product – a coat hook must hold a coat
• What planned preventative maintenance is required and at what cost / frequency
• Is there a need for the product
• Is the product a fire risk
• is the product a health and safety risk

Finally the product should have clear fitting instructions as over 80% of products fitted are not fitted in accordance with manufacturers instructions. The presentation will use product type examples to illustrate positive aspects and examples of product types which fail short to illustrate the issues discussed. We believe that using these principles when procuring products will greatly enhance decision making.