N La profesionalidad y la función del cuidado N de los menores

The cross-sharing of lessons with other stakeholder and practitioner groups may help raise understanding, minimise deaths in custody, and reduce the occurrence of successful interventions. Liaison with local stakeholder groups should be considered through the regional custody network and notified to the National Custody Forum. Lessons learned are shown on the Home Office webpage at http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-

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11

BUILDINGS AND

FACILITIES

Contents

11.1 Health and Safety 11.1.1 Definition 11.1.2 Ligature Points 11.1.3 First-Aid Equipment 11.1.4 Suicide Intervention kit 11.1.5 Cell Call systems

11.1.6 Entry to the Custody Suit 11.1.7 Holding Areas

11.1.8 Cell Corridors 11.1.9 Alarm Systems

11.2 Maintenance of a Custody Suite 11.2.1 Cells

11.2.2 Hatches 11.2.3 Doors

11.2.4 Booking-In Area 11.2.5 The Exercise Yard 11.2.6 Cleaning

11.3 Fire Safety 11.4 CCTV

11.4.1 Planning

11.4.2 Responsibility for the CCTV System

11.4.3 CCTV Signs

11.4.4 Use and Monitoring of CCTV 11.4.5 Access to Images

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11.1 HEALTH AND SAFETY

Owing to the specialist and safety critical nature of police custody facilities, products, materials and specifications used should be tried and tested within the police custody market. Appropriate effective design and planning, building and maintenance of police custody suites, minimises risk.

All new custody suites should be built in accordance with the Home Office (2010) Police Buildings Design Guide (HOPBDG) Custody Chapter 10, which provides essential guidance. Additional information is contained the National Police Estate Group (NPEG) (forthcoming) Custody Best Practice document.

Where alterations or maintenance works are carried out, contractors should be told of the specifications required. The completed work should be inspected by a person who is competent to ensure that it conforms to those specifications. To avoid operational disruption, access to mains services such as gas, water and electricity, and meter switchgear should, wherever possible, not be sited within the operational areas of a custody suite.

Custody suites at non-designated stations must meet the same health and safety standards and be fit for purpose. Where existing buildings cannot reasonably be modified to fully meet new built standards, improvement to existing facilities should be carried out within available resources. Risk assessment should be carried out and appropriate control measures engaged. Where appropriate, Standard Operating Procedures should be put into place.

11.1.1 DEFINITION

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines a hazard as ‘anything that may cause harm’, and a risk as ‘the chance, high or low, of somebody being harmed by the hazard, and how serious the harm could be’. All employees have a responsibility under Health and Safety legislation to identify hazards and risks.

Risk management, as set out in Health and Safety legislation, must be used when assessing possible hazards. Further information is available from the HSE website: http://www.hse.gov.uk

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11.1.2 LIGATURE POINTS

The most innocuous fixture, fitting or space can provide a ligature point for a person intending to self-harm or take their own life. Previous deaths in custody and near misses have involved ligature points in, on or surrounding the following places within cells or detention rooms:

• Old wooden benches;

• Ventilation or heating grilles where they are poorly positioned or the grille apertures are too large;

• Toilets with filler or sealant missing between the junctions with walls and floors;

• Washbasin tap fittings or plug holes;

• Welding around doors that creates points, blade edges or provides gaps between steel sections;

• Poorly fitting doors providing means of wedging a ligature; • Cell hatches which are defective or do not shut properly and

can be opened by the detainee from inside the cell, thereby providing a gap into which a ligature can be lodged;

• Unsuitable door handles, for example, ‘T’ handles;

• Light fittings that provide any means of attaching a ligature, accessing the fitment internally or shattering the lens; • Walls or tiles with render or grout missing;

• Smoke detectors which provide a potential means of ligature attachment;

• Cell call buzzers or toilet flush mechanisms that have not been fitted or bedded flat to walls or have in any way come loose; • Cell door spy glass (loose, cracked or otherwise defective glass

lenses or casings);

• Cell window fixing points;

• Cracks or gaps between cell fittings and walls, floors or ceilings;

• Crack or gaps that have been improperly filled with a soft mastic;

• Floor drainage grilles;

• Half height privacy walls which provide access to high level fittings or themselves provide a climbing self-harm aid;

• Hand wash unit drain points and hand wash units that allow a shoe or similar item to be lodged within them.

People who are determined to self-harm may go to extreme lengths to do so. Detainees can and will be ingenious in the methods they use. Items such as the mattress, blanket and pillow (if provided)

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To take their own life using a ligature, a person requires both the means of forming the ligature and the means of attachment, normally to a structure. Removing one or, preferably, both opportunities minimises the risk.

Staff who inspect cells must be aware that ligature points can be found at high and low levels. They can take any form, eg, cracks, gaps in benches, any pipe, tube, bar or similar fittings. Inspections should be conducted methodically, working from the ceiling to ground level. This is not just a problem in older custody suites, but can equally occur in new buildings.

Poor repair work can create ligature points. Repairs must be undertaken professionally, with material appropriate to the specific situation. The higher initial cost of safer materials will be offset by their longevity and safety.

If a potential ligature point is identified, the detainee should either be removed from the cell or the risk effectively managed. Where the ligature point has been caused by damage or wear, remedial work should be carried out as soon as is practicable. The custody officer will be required to constantly manage the risks associated with that cell when it is in use until it has been fixed/improved, inspected, and declared safe for normal operational use, see 11.2 Maintenance of a Custody Suite.