Installing anti-ligature devices like the Acudor Anti Ligature Access Door in high-risk environments such as psychiatric wards, mental institutions, correctional facilities, and prisons are extremely important, as they help prevent patients or prisoners from self-harm.
In this blog post, you will learn why anti-ligature access doors are necessary in high-risk environments.
Which areas and items in the building are at high-risk?
Before buying anti-ligature access doors, you should identify the high-risk areas in your building and their ligature points to limit patients and prisoners. Here are examples of high-risk areas and conditions that can contribute to self-harm or aggression:
- High areas: Rooftops, balconies, windows
- Access to ligature points: Loose electrical wires, exposed plumbing fixtures, HVAC, doorknobs, window handles, wall-mounted devices, shoelaces, doors, blanket/bed sheets, and many more.
- Unfinished Construction Sites: Scattered construction materials and equipment
How to reduce ligature risk
Ligature translates to an item or device that you can bind something with tightly, like a rope, wire, or blanket. Mental healthcare and correctional facilities install various products to prevent harm, and aside from installing anti-ligature devices to address this, there are other steps that you can take to reduce ligature danger.
Step 1: Pinpoint high-risk ligature areas
The first step in ligature risk assessment is identifying which rooms and furniture threaten a patient’s safety. Check and assess ceilings, walls, doors, tables, and appliances, and change old items showing wear and tear.
Step 2: Observe which patients or prisoners are at high-risk
Observing people susceptible to self-harm or can be a danger to others is an effective way of mitigating ligature danger. Install security cameras all over the building and hire guards that can immediately intervene should a problem arise.
Step 3: Resident rooms should be ligature-resistant
Although staff and cameras are everywhere to monitor, there would still be instances when more is necessary. But if you create anti-ligature resident rooms, you can effectively ensure their safety.
Step 4: Furnish the rooms with anti-ligature furniture
Installing furniture and instruments with anti-ligature features is highly beneficial for everyone. These include beds, chairs, tables, shelves, and desks.
Step 5: Comply with anti-ligature regulations
The NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, is the occupational safety standard for new and existing buildings. The code pertains to the required provisions, such as locks to stop the patient when they become a threat.
If you’re running a prison, behavioral healthcare, and correctional facility, creating a safe environment for everyone is imperative. Installing an anti-ligature access door is a good way as these products can protect them from inflicting harm to others and from themselves. It helps create a ligature-free atmosphere, such as the absence of crevices, holes, openings, or lips, to prevent at-risk people from harming themselves.
Would installing an anti-ligature access door help?
Anti-ligatured furniture, beds, and doors are necessary for mental health, behavioral healthcare, and rehabilitation facilities. Their primary purpose is to mitigate risks and protect everyone, but these high-risk environments still require the usual maintenance and repair services. How can maintenance specialists and repair team access hidden components in an anti-ligature-filled building? The solution is anti-ligature access doors.
Anti-ligature access doors prevent ligature attachment with their fully gasketed fit, fully welded frame flange with radius corners, and a concealed hinge for a smooth installation. In addition, it’s built with no doorknobs or levers, holes, or openings to prevent ligature attachment, creating a safe environment for at-risk and vulnerable people. It’s your effective access solution in high-risk areas!
Benefits of Anti-Ligature Products
Anti-ligature products also possess other benefits other than the protection and safety of vulnerable people. There are also benefits given to the mental health establishment. Here are those benefits:
Aesthetics
Mental health facilities must create their interior design to form a calming environment for their patients. Anti-ligature products are modern, making a stale room relaxing and calming. There are a variety of colors available for these products, so you can customize the space however you want to.
Cost-Saving Products
Dealing with vulnerable patients sometimes leads to the destruction and vandalism of the furniture inside mental health facilities. Purchasing anti-ligature products can save you money on re-buying the same table all over again, as these products possess super durability as these are for vulnerable people.
Final Thoughts
Mental health problems are as severe as any health problems a human can get, as they might lead to self-harm. Still, anti-ligature furniture or devices such as anti-ligature access doors are there to prevent horrible things from happening. These are just little doors that provide a large amount of help.
