As Your Partner in Patient Safety, at Kingsway Group we work with you to minimize risk within the most challenging behavioral healthcare environments.
Through user-centered, ligature-resistant design, we’re able to deliver solutions that contribute to safer spaces for patients and ensure the risk of self-harm and loss of life is reduced. In addition to this, it is equally important to ensure staff are kept safe when caring for patients within these environments, and minimizing the risk of weaponization plays an important role in achieving this.
When it came to designing our new Ligature-Resistant SHOWER Door System for behavioral health bathrooms, it was critical to develop a solution that could preserve patient privacy and dignity in washroom facilities while making sure the risks posed to staff are kept to a minimum.
To achieve this, it was important to consider how elements of a design can pose a risk of weaponization against behavioral health staff members or other patients. For example, detachable style bathroom doors perform well in reducing ligature points, however their easy-to-detach nature can present a weaponization risk, particularly if any solid latching points are utilized in an aggressive manner.
Designing the SHOWER Door
To minimize the risk of weaponization, we set about designing a fixed-to-the-frame bathroom door solution that would prevent patients from being able to detach the door and wield it as a weapon, all the while crucially protecting patient privacy and reducing the ligature risks present.
For a fixed solution to be successful in achieving this, it would require exceptional strength and ligature-resistance, and it was therefore crucial to ensure our new SHOWER Door System was designed with these factors at its core.
This led to the creation of our new MegaHinge; a continuous ligature-resistant hinge system designed exclusively for the new SHOWER Door System, capable of withstanding and performing under extreme force. With specially formed end caps and continuous, rounded surfaces, the MegaHinge successfully reduces the risk of ligature attachment while providing an ultra-robust foundation for the doorset.
Combined with the MegaHinge, SHOWER’s high-strength EnduraFlex panel protects patient privacy while providing a high-strength, shatterproof, and ligature-resistant solution to reduce the risk of patient self-harm. The fixed nature of the EnduraFlex panel also helps to provide patients with emotional reassurance in its ability to preserve their privacy; as, as a fixed solution, it isn’t going to unintentionally detach during use and expose the user. The fixed nature of the SHOWER Door System also eliminates the possibility of the assembly detaching and presenting a trip hazard, a factor to be considered for patients with reduced mobility.
Through extensive research & development, SHOWER successfully meets its design brief, delivering independently verified strength and ligature-resistance, achieving the highest grade ligature resistance (B4) in third-party testing to the Door and Hardware Federation’s TS001:2013 and comfortably withstanding over 3kN force during independent robustness testing.
For further information on the extensive testing carried out on the SHOWER Door System, please get in touch and we will be happy to provide the information you need.
If you’d like to learn more about our ligature-resistant products, why not book an online demonstration?
We’ll provide you with live 1-to-1 demonstrations remotely at a time of your convenience and answer any questions you may have. Simply request a demo below and we’ll be in touch!
Request an online live demonstration