PRODUCT PERFORMANCE TESTING
The BRE has a number of purpose-designed testing facilities on its Science Park in Watford.
manager, Nick Sutton, by ‘Teams’ recently, how the business first got involved in the scheme’s development, and how – keen to find out what the formal testing would entail – it took the new window to the BRE Science Park facility in Watford for pre-testing earlier this year, the aim subsequently being to get the window, and a number of its other products, fully tested, graded, and certified, under the new DiMHN / BRE scheme. He said: “We have used the guidance in Annex B of the Department of Health’s Environmental Design Guide: Adult Medium Secure Services for some years. Annex B focuses heavily on the attack resistance of products, but especially in recent years – with the increasing focus on suicide and self-harm prevention, the ability to test and compare products for ligature risk has become ever-more important.
Dated existing guidance “While the guidance in Annex B has been widely used,” he continued, “it is now quite dated, with the emphasis very much on products’ robustness. The guidance recommends testing for products’ and their fixings’ ability to withstand attack and abuse using both a series of implements such as bits of wood, a rubber mallet, and paving maul, which simulate kicking, punching, and running at the object, as well as items such as a metal teaspoon, parts of a zip, and the metal components of a pair of headphones. We have carried
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Nick Sutton examining the Polar NE Humber Two window in the testing rig.
out such testing on our mental healthcare windows and doors at our test set-up here in Middlesbrough, to ensure that the products are sufficiently robust for the intended application, for some years. We also regularly bring customer Trust and contractor personnel here to see testing in progress.” He continued: “When we first heard
that the DiMHN was working with the BRE to develop a more comprehensive standard, however, we were keen to be involved, particularly as we knew that the ligature resistance of products specified for mental healthcare use was becoming a more and more important consideration for healthcare estates and clinical staff in the sector.”
Equal emphasis on creating a homely, non-institutional setting “At the same time as making products robust, secure, and safe,” explained Nick Sutton, “we are always conscious of the need to create as homely, comfortable, and non-institutional a recovery setting as possible for service-users. This also means product designers and architects thinking about aspects such as sound within, say, an inpatient unit – a good example being the noise when doors and windows are closed, which – especially for agitated or noise-sensitive service-users – can be distressing distracting, and annoying, and go directly against the aim of creating a calming, therapeutic care setting. There
are also considerations such as ensuring sufficient air flow through our windows. Clearly, we don’t want service-users to be able to abscond, but at the same time, we don’t want to imprison them; we want to support and help them with recovery. Creating products that meet all these criteria, but which also reduce ligature opportunity to as low a level as possible, is the ultimate goal for all suppliers. The Annex B guidance was quite specific on attack resistance, but said very little about ligature risk, or, for instance, sound or ventilation.”
Early intentions set out He continued: “When we first heard about plans for the DiMHN and BRE testing scheme from the Network’s Chair, Philip Ross, we were keen to be involved, and in October 2018 our then Design manager and I travelled down to the BRE site in Watford, along with a number of others from NHS Trusts and contractors or suppliers. At this, and a series of other workshop sessions, participants ‘brainstormed,’ and discussed in some detail what the new testing standard and guidance should cover. These discussions guided the test standard’s creation, with the published version emerging in 2021, and we can already see the positive impact the scheme will have in helping many suppliers learn more about these environments, and tailor their product design accordingly.”
MAY 2023 | THE NETWORK
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