Safety can mean so many different things – safety in traffic, against burglary, preventions for children or the elderly, against infections, or dangerous chemicals…
Now it´s time for our 3rd concept – SAFE INTERIOR PRODUCTS – in our series of a total of 10 concepts that we highlight during our 10th anniversary.
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SAFE INTERIOR PRODUCTS – Security for patients and staff
Safety can mean so many different things – safety in traffic, against burglary, preventions for children or the elderly, against infections or dangerous chemicals. For Healsafe Interiör who design, develop and offer interior products to environments with special requirements, safety means minimizing the risk of injury to patients, clients or staff, and above all avoiding the risk of self-harm and suicide attempts.
In challenging environments – e.g., in mental health, youth homes and prison care – there are important and high safety demands to follow. Designing and furnishing these environments in a safe and caring way can be a challenge. But there are good alternatives. To give a few examples:
- Ordinary curtain rails pose a serious risk of suicide by strangulation (hanging). However, the J-trac curtain rail system is designed so that it is not possible to attach a string, sheet, or cable to the rail. Nor is it possible to remove the rail for the purpose of injuring oneself or others. However, safety aspects are mutually important when choosing curtains. The curtains we have selected are tearproof- and flame resistant. And we all know how much nicer a room becomes with curtains, right?
- Armchairs or other furniture that can be picked up and thrown around can impose a risk of injury to a person. However, a soft cube or cylinder that functions as a stool or bedside table stool built on a core of foam weighs only a few kilos, and it can be thrown around without the risk of injury. But there are other ways too to minimize risk. It is possible to secure furniture to the floor or wall, though, this is not to prefer unless the risk is substantial due to the limitation to autonomy for the person living in such an environment. It is therefore, preferable to make the furniture so heavy that it is difficult to lift. This can be done by, for example, filling with bags of sand in its cavities or constructing it in solid heavy material. Furthermore, designing furniture with soft rounded shapes minimizes the risk of damage and injury as well.
- A particularly challenging interior design task are en suite bathrooms. The patient’s need for privacy comes with limited access to supervision which means there is need for increased safety measures. An important aid can therefore be to create a safer environment with ligature resistant and self-harm resistant products: ligature-resistant hook to hang the towel on. An unbreakable mirror to avoid the risk of cutting. A toothbrush that is short and in a soft flexible material to avoid weaponizing. These are just a few examples of bathroom products designed to avoid the risk of self-harm.
- Having meals together in challenging environments can pose a risk if plates, glasses, or cutlery can be broken and used to harm oneself or others. With unbreakable plates and glasses, the risk is minimized. Likewise with cutlery that is designed to minimize risk. An example where we have succeeded to combine normalized design with safety is our unbreakable coffee mug that we developed in an unique and ultra-strong flexible material.
Our mission is to save lives and reduce self-harm. By offering safe interior products that contribute to healing environment, you can furnish and equip for daily needs without reducing the environment to a safe minimum of objects. Our goal is to create environments where all users; patients, clients and staff, can feel safe.
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