Anti Ligature Washroom Fixtures


By Patricia Holland

Anti ligature washroom fixtures minimize the risk of violence in correctional facilities and patient care facilities. Fixtures are designed with a minimum number of ligature points for patient safety. Areas where ligature devices could be suspended are rounded, or they are designed with breakaway fail safes to keep individuals from using them for hanging. Sharp edges are beveled or rounded. This prevents the creation of cutting tools.

Anti ligature washroom products and accessories include a broad spectrum of products. Hand washing fixtures, showers and valves, and washroom accessories are all designed in compliance with suicide resistant codes written in the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines and the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems guidelines.

Anti ligature washroom fixtures for hand washing are made with contoured edges. Spray heads are mounted flush to basin. Many models have infrared activated faucets so that there is no handle to remove. Basins have contoured edges as well. Terreon material used to make handwash fountains is vandal resistant. This makes the basin very difficult to break into pieces with sharp edges.

If the material is chipped or scraped, repair kits are available to restore its condition.

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Anti ligature washroom fixtures for showers include both showers and valves. Shower design must minimize any protuberance that could be used to hand a ligature cord, or that could be broken off to create a sharp edge.

Shower valves feature a design that is rounded and flush mounted to the wall. This prevents attempt at hanging shoe laces, bed sheets, or other ligature devices from their surface. Contoured handles also minimize ligature points with edges too rounded and smooth for inmates or patients to tie ligature cords. Many shower models use hemispherical pushbuttons to minimize ligature points.

Features such as sloped tops on valve covers, breakaway towel hooks that release under excess weight, and other contoured shower surfaces are designed to prevent a number of self-inflicted injuries and weapons manufacture. Without sharp edges, handles cannot easily be turned into knives.

Breakaway hooks prevent attempts at hanging because they give way under excess weight. Sloped tops on valves are another way of minimizing the risk of ligature tie off. Showers mount to the wall extremely flush because they are manufactured with beveled edges. This makes it extremely difficult to remove the fixture from the wall.

The smaller anti ligature washroom fixtures are also designed to prevent self injury or the making of weapons. Accessories such as mirrors are made of shiny stainless steel so they cannot be shattered and turned into sharp weapons. Toilet tissue dispensers are recessed mounted into walls. Security screws that can only be taken out with certain equipment are used to hold the dispensers in place. Commonplace objects or bare hands are not enough to budge either the dispenser or these screws from their place.

Other smaller anti ligature washroom fixtures include grab bars and soap dishes designed to resist attempts at pulling them from the wall. Grab bars feature a welded plat that fills the cavity between the bar and the wall to give them extra strength.

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