When it comes to designing behavioral healthcare environments, many factors need to be considered to successfully create a space which is therapeutic, safe and conducive to the well-being of patients and staff.
A seemingly indistinct detail to the untrained eye, doors are a principal consideration within behavioral health facilities and require rigorous attention to detail to make sure the risk of loss-of-life is minimized.
It’s because of this that we introduced the complete doorset solution, taking ownership of the entire door-related facet to ensure every element of the door is done right; from its ligature-resistant design through to smoke compliance and finish.
As such, our expertise in ligature-resistant best practice has been sought in over 10,000 risk-reducing projects, and our behavioral health door systems are improving safety in facilities throughout the US on a day-to-day basis.
Arriving onsite pre-assembled, pre-tested and pre-certificated, the ‘complete’ nature of Kingsway’s ligature-resistant door systems sets them apart from others in the market. However, it is the individual components that make this possible; the sum of which result in tried and tested systems that are proven to perform.
To achieve this, each component must be subjected to the same rigorous attention down to the finest of details.
This includes the hinge; one of the most important parts of any door. The hinge allows the door to open and close and provides the anchor point that holds the door securely in place. In challenging environments, the hinge has the additional responsibility of minimizing the self-harm risk, and as such, Kingsway’s hinges are ligature-resistant by design to make sure the potential of affixing a ligature to the hinge is reduced.
Having a door system that is both robust and durable is a necessity in high risk environments, and strengthening the anchor point between the door leaf and frame is one way this can be achieved. To do so, Kingsway Complete Door Systems utilize continuous style hinges; these run the full length of the door leaf and provide a continuous anchor point between the leaf and frame.
This continuous anchor point distributes the weight of the door more effectively and reduces stress on the frame and the hinge, thus increasing the lifespan of the hinge itself and adding to the strength of the overall doorset. The result is a highly secure and durable hinge system that’s finely suited to high-traffic areas and capable of withstanding impacts.
The continuous hinge system brings further benefits when implemented in challenging environments, offering enhanced strength over alternative solutions such as pivot or butt hinges and reducing the likelihood of the door leaf splitting at the fixing point when subjected to strenuous physical abuse.
In addition to reducing the risk of ligature incidents, in challenging environments there is also the risk of a patient barricading a door closed. For this reason, it is important that a hinge is capable of opening in both directions, known as ‘anti-barricade‘.
To overcome this, we designed the unique ‘SwingHinge’ and ‘SwitchHinge’ systems; ligature-resistant, anti-barricade and continuous by design, these innovative hinge systems benefit from the advantages of continuous style hinges while making sure staff can open the door away from a service user barricade during an emergency situation.
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!
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