Max-Secure Blog

How Anti-Ligature Furniture Can Help Improve Your Facility

Furnishing behavioral health and correctional facilities presents an unique challenge and requires a fine attention to detail. Some of the seemingly small details can end up having a large impact on your facility.

What to Consider when Choosing Institutional Furniture

It may seem like a simple feature, or a last minute decision, but choosing the right institutional furniture can have a big impact on your facility! From resident safety to putting money back in the budget, taking your time to choose the right pieces can make a big impact!

3 Pieces of Anti-Ligature Furniture for the Common Areas in your Facility

The importance of anti-ligature furniture in resident rooms is well known. Even in areas where 1:1 supervision is more accessible, however, anti-ligature furniture is a must. The design and manufacturing of anti-ligature furniture makes it the safest option for the vulnerable populations housed in correctional and behavioral healthcare facilities.

The Benefits of an Anti-Ligature Bunk Bed

For more than 40 years Max-Secure® has been developing industry-leading anti-ligature furniture for every room in your facility. We know behavioral healthcare and correctional facilities demand safe, practical, and durable furniture, which is why we work to create furniture that out lasts even the most intensive use from demanding, and challenging environments.

Unlike any other institutional furniture supplier, Max-Secure® offers a true anti-ligature double bunk system, to meet the needs of your facility, without sacrificing safety.

The Must-Haves for a Safe Resident Room

Resident focused facilities, such as correctional and behavioral healthcare facilities may often present a challenging, or demanding environment, requiring stringent safety guidelines. As residents of such facilities may be experiencing higher stress or anxiety levels, along with a myriad of other heightened emotions, promoting resident safety in every aspect of the facility is a must.

Although an effective safety measure, 1:1 monitoring isn’t always possible, especially in more private areas, such as resident rooms, making the implementation safety precautions in these areas vital.

5 Ways to Reduce Ligature Danger in your Facility

Residents of behavioral healthcare facilities may be in a vulnerable state of mind and could be at a higher risk of harming themselves, or others.

 

This unique situation, in what could be a challenging environment, calls for tested and reliable ways to enhance the overall safety of the facility and reduce the potential for ligature danger. Starting with these five tips, you can reduce the ligature danger in your facility, creating a safer, more rehabilitative environment for residents.

5 Pieces of Max-Secure Anti-Ligature Furniture Every Facility Should Have

Prioritizing the health, safety, and well-being of vulnerable populations in correctional and behavioral healthcare facilities should be seen in every aspect of the facility, including the furnishings.

While choosing furniture can seem like a simple after thought, Max-Secure® knows even the smallest details can make the biggest difference. For over 40 years we have been working to provide anti-ligature furniture that not only prioritizes resident safety but contributes to an overall more rehabilitative facility. These five pieces of Max-Secure® institutional furniture provide a safe and comfortable environment that every facility should strive to foster.

A Guide to Creating a Rehabilitative Environment in any Facility, using Anti-Ligature Furniture

Even the smallest details can make the biggest differences, and this remains true in correctional and behavioral healthcare facilities.  From the paint on the walls to the furnishings in resident rooms, the seemingly minute or unimportant details can have a meaningful impact on the overall facility.

Where the harsh look and feel of traditional institutional furniture can contribute to a stressful environment, the use of anti-ligature furniture can help foster an environment of rehabilitation in any facility.  

Why Suicide Resistant Furniture is Key to Safe Facility

Caring for vulnerable populations, such as folks staying in behavioral healthcare or correctional facilities requires extra care and attention to even the smallest details. Even the furnishings you chose for your facility can have an impact on the overall atmosphere and resident well-being, so opting for the best in safety features is critical!

Deciding to install suicide resistant furniture in your facility is not only vital for resident safety, but will provide a myriad of key benefits to ensure a facility that puts resident safety first and enhances rehabilitation. 

What Your Facility Is Missing Out on by Not Using Anti-Ligature Furniture

Sometimes pushed aside as an afterthought, furnishing a facility has further reaching effects than what you may think, and choosing the wrong furniture may actually end up costing your facility down the line! Choosing the right furniture, however, can enhance your facility, from entrance to exit.

What You Need to Know About Anti-Ligature Furniture

The intensive, everyday use of institutional furniture in demanding environments, such as correctional and behavioral healthcare facilities demand a safe, long-lasting solution. Choosing anti-ligature furniture for these environments is a must, and whether you’re furnishing a facility for the first time, or renovating the space, here is what you need to know about anti-ligature furniture.

5 Benefits of Plastic Molded Institutional Furniture

Although rigid, steel has often been the first choice for institutional furniture. While durable, steel is not always the best choice for intensive use in challenging environments. FRP composite molded furniture, however, provides many benefits over traditional materials, and is quickly becoming the standard for anti-ligature furniture!

A Guide to Reduce Ligature Danger in Your Facility

Often times when a patient comes to a behavorial healthcare facility, they are in a vulnerable state of mind and may have ideas of harming themselves, or possibly others. In many cases this may result in ligature danger.

A ligature risk is any point in which a patient could attach a cord, rope, bed sheet or other material to be looped or tied to create a point of attachment, that may be used for hanging or strangulation.

Why You Should Install Desks in Resident Rooms

The environment inside correctional facilities and detention centers is unlike any other, and the isolation felt inside can often lead inmates to feeling bored or frustrated, which may contribute to unwanted behaviours.  

Providing a positive outlet, however, can help alleviate boredom and even enhance engagement which may lead to a more positive environment overall. Simply choosing the right pieces of anti-ligature furniture for your resident rooms can put your facility on track to becoming a more supportive environment.

3 Reasons you Should Always Furnish a Behavioral Healthcare Facility with Anti-Ligature Furniture

When it comes time to furnish a behavioral healthcare facility, whether it be a new build or a newly renovated space, finding the right pieces of furniture that can serve a wide variety of patients, with differing needs and abilities can be a task unlike any other.

To take some pressure off of the decision-making process, ensure all the pieces of furniture you’re considering for you facility are anti-ligature, meaning they cannot be used to cause harm to oneself or others.

3 Pieces of Anti-Ligature Furniture that Make for A Safer Facility

In any high-demand, challenging environment, such as correctional and behavioral healthcare facilities, anti-ligature furniture is a must! Without any tie down points or exposed fasteners, anti-ligature furniture helps to reduce the risk of residents causing harm to themselves or others.

Choosing to install anti-ligature furniture can help to create a safer facility, and the benefits of installing these three pieces of institutional furniture can be felt throughout the whole facility.

Essential Tips for Furnishing a Behavioral Healthcare Facility

Unlike a correctional facility or other areas institutional furniture may be used, behavioral healthcare centers are focused on healing and rehabilitation, and every aspect of the facility should work to meet that goal, including the furniture.

For successful treatment, patients must feel comfortable and at ease, which can be difficult for any person in a new setting, especially an unfamiliar place such as a behavioral healthcare facility. The stress and anxiety felt in a new environment can be worsened by rigid and unwelcoming look of traditional institutional furniture.

A Simple Guide to Anti-Ligature Furniture

Behavioral healthcare and correctional facilities demand well-built, long-lasting and exceptionally safe furniture. Whether you’re furnishing a facility for the first time, or looking for ways to improve your facility, this blog provides a simple guide to anti-ligature furniture, and why it is the top choice for demanding environments.

Increase Your ROI and Choose the Right Institutional Furniture

Sometimes glossed over, the choice of institutional furniture can have reaching effects on your facility, felt by both staff and residents. Experienced administrators will come to know the importance of anti-ligature furniture, and which features of institutional furniture provide long-lasting benefits to any facility.

Why is Anti-Ligature Furniture Crucial to a Safe Facility?

Furnishing a behavioral healthcare or correctional facility is a task unlike any other. With a variety of unique and specific needs to take into consideration, finding the right pieces can be a challenge. The selection of furniture for your facility, however, cannot be glazed over or pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. The institutional furniture you chose can have wide-reaching effects on the whole facility, so making the right choice is crucial.

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Furnishing Your Facility

Finding the right institutional furniture for your facility can be overwhelming! With so many factors to consider, buying the tight pieces is no easy task. Avoiding these 5 mistakes, however, can make the process of furnishing your facility practically painless.

How Choosing the Right Detention Furniture Manufacturer Improves Your Facility

Ensuring everything in your facility is running smoothly on a daily basis can seem like a never-ending task. With a variety of roles and responsibilities coming together it can become difficult to ensure every aspect of your facility is receiving the time and attention it needs, and tasks like sourcing the right detention furniture often fall to the bottom of the list. Choosing the right institutional furniture, however, can noticeably affect the overall atmosphere of your facility as well as the residents, visitors and staff.

5 Things You May Not Know About Max-Secure

Max-Secure has been providing institutional furniture for over 40 decades and has quickly become an industry leader. Our quality of furniture is unmatched and can be seen installed in correctional and behavioral healthcare facilities across North America.

Although a first choice for many professionals, there may be some things you don’t know about Max-Secure’s institutional furniture. To help you make the best choice when it comes to furnishing your facility, here are 5 things you may not know about our institutional furniture.

What to Consider When Choosing Institutional Furniture

Although no two facilities are alike, behavioral healthcare and correctional facilities face many of the same challenges when it comes to furnishings. Because of the intensive use of furniture in these sometimes-challenging environments, making the right choice is imperative to resident’s safety and comfort.

From serving a specific role to adding to the overall look and feel of your facility, institutional furniture plays a large role in your facility, and considering the following will help you find the right furnishings for every room.

The Best Pieces Of Institutional Furniture For Every Room In Your Facility

Furnishing a correctional or behavioural healthcare facility is unlike any other building. Prioritizing the health and well-being of vulnerable populations presents unique challenges, and the surroundings these populations are placed in can have a large impact on their moods and behaviors. 

Although seemingly simple, choosing the institutional furniture for your facility can have a large impact on residents, staff, and visitors! From keeping residents safe to lowering maintenance costs, here are the best pieces of institutional furniture for every room in your facility.

Molded Furniture Vs. Steel Furniture: Why Molded Furniture is the Right Choice for your Facility

For many years steel was the popular choice for constructing institutional furniture. The rigid material was thought to be the ideal choice for intensive use in challenging environments. With the increasing popularity of FRP composite molded furniture however, many correctional and behavioural healthcare facilities are starting to make the switch to molded anti-ligature furniture, and for good reason!

The Must Haves for a Safe Restraint Bed

In some behavioral healthcare settings, a restraint bed may be necessary for the safety of patients and staff members. Not all restraint beds, however, are made alike! Although restraining a patient should not be the first step of de-escalation, it can sometimes be the necessary step to ensure the safety of both the patient as well as staff members.

There are many restraint beds available but finding the one that puts patient safety above all else is crucial for a safe and humanizing environment in your facility.

3 Ways Anti-Ligature Furniture Fosters A Rehabilitative Atmosphere In Your Facility

The traditional institutional, look and feel of correctional and behavioural healthcare facilities can often make patients or inmates feel stressed or anxious. Combined with the stress of being in a new, and oftentimes, challenging environment a resident’s progress towards rehabilitation can be slow or even stalled.

Our surroundings can play a large role in how we feel, which effects how we act. Working to create an environment that helps residents feel more at ease not only fosters rehabilitation but has positive impacts that can be felt throughout the whole facility.

How to Furnish the Resident Rooms in Your Facility

The safety of residents, staff and visitors is paramount in any facility, and in areas which typically have less supervision, resident safety becomes the number one priority.

In some cases, residents may be spending a majority of their time in their rooms, so creating an atmosphere that will keep them safe while promoting healing and rehabilitation is a fine balance.

The 5 Immediate Benefits Of Installing Anti-Ligature Furniture

Behavioral healthcare and correctional facilities alike can benefit from both the immediate and long-term benefits of choosing anti-ligature furniture. These high-stress, challenging environments demand furnishings that are comfortable, durable and above all, safe. Residents and staff alike are sure to benefit from the use of Max-Secure’s anti-ligature furniture!

Furnishing Correctional Centers: Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions

To help you make the right decisions for your facility, we have outlined our top 10 most frequently asked questions. If any of your questions are not answered, please contact us to find the right institutional furniture pieces for your facility. 

Furnishing a Behavioral Healthcare Center for Success

Being away from home in an unknown, intense environment can leave any one of us feeling stressed or anxious, and behavioral healthcare facilities are certainly no exception! Residents of these facilities have come looking for support and healing, so creating an environment that minimizes stress and anxiety is essential.

Traditionally, behavioral health furniture mimics the look and feel of prison furniture, which can cause an already stressful environment to feel even more unsettling for residents.

The Benefits of Installing Games Tables in Your Facility

Unlike any other, the environment inside correctional facilities and detention centers can present unique challenges, including resident isolation and boredom. These products of the environment can contribute to inmate behavior.

Something as simple as a piece of institutional furniture, however, can help to negate the negative effects of inmate boredom and isolation.

Prisons all around the world are beginning to introduce chess programs as a way to alleviate boredom and encourage learning and critical thinking skills.

How to Furnish Your Facility’s Common Areas?

Many would argue that our surroundings play a large role in our mood and actions.  The same could be stated for behavioral healthcare facilities and correctional facilities! The look and feel of an institution can be a large contributing factor to the overall mood and activities inside the facility.

Providing a sense of normalcy and humanization can promote a stress-free feeling in these sometimes-challenging environments. The design, layout and furnishings can all play a role in making residents feel at ease. Creating a space where residents can come together safely to socialize, share meals together, spend time with visitors and even watch TV can provide a number of benefits to your facility.

5 Things to consider when choosing an Anti-ligature Bed

Like any large facility, the idea of furnishing a prison or behavioural healthcare facility can feel like a daunting task. Just like any other facility, however, these challenging environments need to be comfortably furnished with safe, and practical institutional furniture .

Every room in your facility serves a unique purpose, and should be furnished as such, in order to best enhance the experience of patients, residents, visitors and staff members.

What to look for in Institutional Furniture

Although furnishing needs may vary from institution to institution, all facilities can agree on the basics; institutional furniture needs to be durable and it needs to be safe, while remaining comfortable.

In high-use, challenging environments such as correctional centers or behavioral healthcare facilities, the furniture needs to be able to withstand constant wear and tear without sacrificing an ounce of safety. Additionally, when patients and residents are comfortable, there are many benefits, not only for the individual but for the whole facility.

Featured Installation: Broughton Hospital, North Carolina

Serving nearly 40% of North Carolina’s population, the Broughton Hospital needed an expansion to better serve more patients, and their families, experiencing mental illness.

Before the 2019 reopening, at full capacity the Broughton Hospital only had enough beds for 297 patients,  and served a total of 37 counties. After extensive renovations, updates and of course the much-needed expansion, the 477,000 square foot hospital can now welcome close to 400 patients! 

What is Monolithic Furniture?

As you put the finishing touches on your behavioral healthcare facility, or prepare to re-open after a remodel, the thought of furniture likely crosses your mind. You’re looking for something durable, slow to give into the effects of wear and tear and of course something that is totally safe. What are your options?

The safest furniture option for psychiatric hospitals and correctional facilities is anti-ligature furniture, which presents no opportunities to cause harm to oneself or to others. Aside from design, construction is regarded as one of the most important aspects of anti-ligature furniture. To be totally safe, and considered anti-ligature, the furniture must not have any tie-down points, be impenetrable and inflexible.

Furnishing Juvenile Justice Centers

In the United States, nearly half of released prisoners are re-arrested for the same or similar crimes, with the national recidivism rate sitting at over 40% , one of the highest in the world.  Nearly 44% of released prisoners return to jail within the first year of release. That number, however, nearly doubles before the 10-year mark.

Preventing recidivism should be approached as early as possible and these efforts are especially important throughout the juvenile justice system, to help keep young adults out of prison later in their lives.

Maintaining a Healthy Facility—Cleaning Institutional Furniture

Germs and viruses can spread quickly in any area where people are living in close proximity to one another, such as in correctional facilities, detention centers, psychiatric hospitals and other behavioral healthcare settings.

Jail furniture and anti-ligature furniture is built to withstand tough environments, yet remain easy to clean and maintain, which helps to minimize the spread germs within a facility. 

With the recent outbreaks of Covid-19, cleaning and disinfecting have become a much larger part of daily life. These practices are especially important in correctional and healthcare facilities, where viruses have been known to spread quickly and infect residents and staff.

3 Must Have Features for Correctional Facility Furniture

The design of correctional facility furniture and psychiatric furniture is extremely basic. There are many reasons for this, but mainly it is to ensure the safety of residents and staff. Although detention furniture has a simple appearance, it fulfills an important role.

Research and development teams around the world have been working to solve issues related to institutional and correctional facility furniture for many years. These furniture items must be durable enough to withstand constant use in challenging environments, comfortable enough to foster a rehabilitative environment, and of course must be designed with safety as the number one priority.

What role does color play in your facility?

Color is something that is always present around us, but have you ever thought about how it could be taken for granted? Now step inside a behavioral health facility, and the walls and furniture are monochromatic, drab, and you might feel your mood being affected negatively. The absence of color in a behavioral health facility may actually seem contradicting, considering the main goals of these facilities are to help and uplift their patients. If patients are not in an environment they feel comfortable and safe in, then their progress may be delayed. Further, there is no reasoning to restrict the use of color in these facilities….

What is Anti Ligature Furniture ?

Each day, in our everyday lives, we are surrounded by many potential dangerous items, which we may not even consider!

The environment in a mental health facility, or correctional facility, can often feel isolated and confined, leaving residents in a fragile state. In these environments, everyday items, even something like bed sheets, could be seen as a mean of harms, either to one’s self or to others.

That is what makes anti ligature furniture in correctional facilities, psychiatric facilities and behavioral health facilities critical. Anti ligature furniture is defined as a piece of furniture which eliminates any possibility of attaching wires or cords to the furniture, preventing the possibility of causing harm. Ligature resistant furniture does not contain any points where cords, ropes, or even bed sheets can be attached……

6 steps for a Safe Restraint

Entirely unpleasant, but unfortunately necessary in certain circumstances, physical institutional restraints serve a critical purpose in institutional environments such as jails, prisons, psychiatric centers, and juvenile detention centers. Restraint furniture in particular is often found in these institutions. 

According to a study conducted by Junrong Ye and Chen Wang, among others, titled “Physical restraint in mental health nursing: A concept analysis” and published in the July 10, 2019 edition of the International Journal of Nursing Sciences, physical restraint is not an ideal solution but does become useful once alternative methods break down………….