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Maintaining Safety during a Crisis

Safety must be emphasized during restraint training

We believe that physical intervention techniques should be used only to maintain safety when safety is indeed compromised. Physical intervention techniques alone are insufficient for addressing the emotional and educational needs of those in crisis. Proactive crisis management is the safest and most effective way to manage the liabilities of physical intervention.

  • Safest, most non-aversive techniques available
  • Widest range of intervention techniques

PHYSICAL INTERVENTION only occurs when prevention, de-escalation and postvention strategies have failed to protect the individuals involved from harm. Physical intervention strategies are used to maintain safety when an individual’s behavior puts himself or others in imminent danger.

We must balance the safety of the situation with the rights and needs of those involved.

One must always weigh the risk to the individual of performing a physical intervention with the risk of failing to perform a physical intervention, since there is always a risk of injuring the person while performing the physical intervention. Additionally, we risk escalating the crisis or endangering ourselves when using physical intervention.

Use the least intrusive method which will keep people safe. Physical restraint can actually increase the risk of injury.

When intrusiveness increases, so does the risk of injury to those involved. Thus, we should use only the least intrusive intervention necessary to keep people safe and only use more intrusive interventions as needed to keep the situation safe.

Always try to avoid physical contact Release yourself from a hair pull as soon as possible to limit your injury

Our physical interventions have been designed to be non-aversive and to minimize the common risks of injury to all involved. Considerations have been made for the impacts of intrusiveness, height and weight ratios of responders and the importance of maintaining holds in a flexible fashion which reduces risks of injury.

We teach the following Physical Intervention Techniques (in order of intrusiveness)

  • Basic Position/Movements
  • Avoidance
  • Repelling
  • Protection
  • Non-Aversive Releases
  • 1-, 2- and 3-person escorts
  • 1-, 2- and 3-person holds

Can we help you maintain a safer environment?
Let us know now. 1-800-896-9234