Most airlines carry restraint kits that include a range o different restraint tools, as well as medical scissors an witness report pads (Credit: Green Light Ltd.)
form the cuffs) which read INSERT HERE; clear instructions which aircrew can follow easily even in a high stress situation. They are easily assembled and readily applied. The holes are nice and big and once in your hands it is quite obvious as to how they work. This means that the training time is shorter and refresher training, whilst always important, is not as much of an issue as with the speed cuff. There is some concern that the plastic handcuffs can damage the nerve endings in the wrist. As with all risks, the key is to negating this issue is through training. Procedures that enforce the constant monitoring of the cuffed individual, and the associated checking for over tightness, will help the airline steer clear of subsequent litigation.
Front or Rear
Another issue often discussed is that of whether a passenger should be restrained to the front or to the rear – with the hands handcuffed in front of their body or behind their back. Law enforcement officers practice both techniques and which they opt for in the reality of an actual arrest will depend upon the degree to which the person being arrested is compliant and whether the arresting officer is working solo or in a team. Regardless, three fundamental factors differentiate law enforcement personnel from aircrew. The former are given plenty of training, have a security mindset and are guaranteed to make multiple arrests during their career; the latter are given limited instruction - often measured in minutes, have joined their employers as customer service professionals and are extremely unlikely ever to put into use the restraint techniques they have been taught. Walking up to a person from the
front with a handcuff at the ready will do two things - alert the passenger as to what is about to happen and, in most cases, like a cornered snake, provoke an attack. Whilst some would argue that restraining to the front reduces the likelihood of the passenger dying as a result of positional asphyxia (perceived as a risk of restraint to the rear), that only becomes a factor if the person is taken to the floor and then
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left unattended. The inability to use your diaphragm efficiently whilst lying on your front with your hands behind your back is a fact, but your being restrained to the rear, placed upright in a seat and then being constantly monitored will not invoke positional asphyxia. It’s all a question of training. Restraining a passenger to the
rear allows for the element of surprise. It is also better for a group
of people to control someone first and only then to apply the handcuff, as opposed to using the handcuff as the primary control tool – and that is more easily achieved behind the person’s back, out of their line of sight. For airlines opting to use speed cuffs, with the more complex application procedures, having the person effectively restrained before the application of handcuffs is a pre-
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