For ligature-resistant healthcare washrooms where compliance is determined by the room, not just the products.
Just because a room passes individual product inspections does not mean it will pass as a room in totality. This is an issue that occurs during installation, not on a datasheet, and it is one of the more frequent issues on mental health and secure unit projects where the space planning problem is due to the wrong thinking applied from the beginning.
Individual anti-ligature fixtures are just the beginning. The position of the fixtures to one another, the door swing, what is seen or not seen from the doorway, the amount of unobstructed floor space surrounding each fixture, will all determine whether or not the space can work in a safe manner. HTM 64 defines everything — clearances, minimums, ranges, acceptable layouts. The specification is long and tedious and pertains to design, and gets very granular.
We provide space planning on healthcare washroom projects where anti-ligature compliance is applicable. The work runs alongside product specificity, but it can be done in isolation if the only thing needed is a layout review.
Most layouts run into problems at the line of sight. Mental health units and secure wards may have challenges in washroom designs linked to observation problems — a staff member may need to watch the room from the doorway without having to enter. The positioning of a cistern housing, a basin shroud, or even a door swing can create blind spots that require a redesign once flagged during review.
Most architects would expect HTM 64 to be less prescriptive in the measurement of floor space. When it comes to the clearances around fixtures, these are not recommendations — they are interlocking fixed measurements. A room may have all the required fixtures yet be found inadequate once proper consideration is given to the desired spacing in-between them.
Ceiling height and the use of ceiling-mounted fixtures — showers in particular — also need to be worked through at the layout stage. Ceiling-mounted shower heads are generally considered the most appropriate option, however, they have their own set of spatial requirements that dictate the planning of the rest of the room.
Space design is a consideration of the balance of safety and the overall feeling of the space. If a room is built to only consider the observation angles and clearance dimensions, it will feel like the space is designed to feel like the kind of environment the products are meant to combat. Finding the balance can be done if both design and feeling are considered.
As early as possible in the design process is best. A review at concept or detailed design stage is going to be simple and cost-effective.
Changes to the layout once a specification has been signed off take up time. Catching issues before this point saves significant effort.
If you are trying to work with an existing layout and you want a second opinion before anything is ordered, that is a reasonable starting point as well.
Changes to the layout after things have been installed cost a lot more. Avoid reaching this stage without a proper review.
Send us the details of your project, and we will take it from there.
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