Mark Dawes' Podcasts

Someone contacted me today stating that they work in a hospital that has a mental health unit in it and that they are becoming increasingly concerned about the high levels of violence that are allegedly on the increase. This person stated that they have asked for more training in more restrictive techniques and equipment (handcuffs and possibly belts) but have been told they can't have them because the patients are ill and it's not their fault.

Where does an organisation stand if they take certain physical skills out of a physical restraint or defensive training programme (so that staff are no longer taught them) and then a member of staff gets injured during a restraint / assault at work that could have been prevented had the skill / or technique been left in? 

Could the company / training organisation be held liable for negligence under an act or omission for the injury sustained on the basis of the defendants claim that they were denied using a skill which, if applied correctly, in line with the training given and as part of a tactical hierarchy of response options, would have prevented the injury from being sustained?

Is there any law in Scotland that prohibits non-police staff, primarily security or door supervisor staff, carrying or using handcuffs to reduce the risk of violence or to detain a person lawfully arrested if they are properly trained to do so?

This was a question I was asked some time ago and this podcast answers that specific question with a response I received from a Scottish Lawyer. 

In addition I'm also going to briefly talk about the NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) guidance on the use of handcuffs.

Finally, if any of you are interested my good friend Trevel Henry and I will be hosting a Free webinar about this on Friday 3rd July at 6pm and here's the link to reserve your space before they all go - https://trx4yef5.pages.infusionsoft.net/ 

Following on from my podcast yesterday "Do You Have A License To Carry Handcuffs?" we've had some interesting responses on the threads on LInkedIn and Facebook, so I thought I'd clarify a couple of things for you and, if you are interested, I'll even put a webinar on next week if there is enough interest and I'll show you all of the correspondence I have, some of it dating back to 1999!

Let me know if that appeals to you.

Recently a security officer who at the time working for a local authority on a subcontracted basis, intervened in an incident and possibly saved a man's life by restraining him and using handcuffs to control him. 

The police were called and took the man away and didn't have any issue with the fact he'd used handcuffs.

A short while later a safeguarding officer for the local authority he was working for investigated the incident and said that they were reporting him to the SIA for professional misconduct as because he handcuffed the male, after the SIA allegedly told the council handcuffs were a breach of his licence.

Then a police officer said that he wanted to see his license to carry handcuffs.

I think you'll find this podcast interesting.

I have just had a response to a Freedom of Information Request that I put into Social Work England about what training social services inspectors get on the use of force/physical restraint etc.

As you can guess, they don't get any training at all. 

I'd be interested in your comments.

In this episode I look at the issue of Safeguarding under Regulation 13 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and the possible implications of how leaving out certain techniques that leave vulnerable service users at risk may leave an organisation open to prosecution under the Sections 20 – 25 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 and Health & Safety legislation.

And if a death were to occur that could have been prevented by staff being given the right degree of training then there is the potential for prosecution for breach of Article 2(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998 and The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Enjoy!

We will be launching this new online course on Friday and we are expecting a massive take up on it because of the amount of value in it and the fact that it comes with 2 x BTEC Level 3 Unit Certificates.

However, we do have a capacity model for this course and once it is reached it will be closed so if you want to invest in your cpd and you don't want your competitors to have an unfair advantage over you then go to www.nfps.info/urf and register your interest now.

In this podcast I talk about the three levels of training needs that organisations need to consider when purchasing training.

This is important for all training providers to understand so that you know what level to pitch your training at.