Door Opening Solutions for Behavioral Health

Behavioral health environments require thoughtful and deliberate planning, and door opening solutions are a key part of ensuring safety within your facility. There are many options to consider when selecting the combination of hardware to reduce risk of harm.

What is Behavioral Health Hardware?
Behavioral health hardware is designed to protect patients and staff from harm in behavioral health facilities. Because a patient may have access to an entire opening, anything applied to a door or door frame needs to be carefully considered to avoid presenting undue danger. This is especially important in high-risk areas, such as patient bedrooms, bathrooms, and seclusion rooms where patients might find themselves unsupervised or alone.

The New York Office of Mental Health states: “Principles that support patient safety strategies avoid systems, assemblies and materials that can be weaponized, yield sharp edges, or provide ligature points in all locations accessible to patients.” This includes door hinges, door closers, handles, levers, door stops, weatherstripping, and more.

ASSA ABLOY provides door opening solutions from hinges to gasketing that reduce risk within behavioral health environments.
Refer to the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) Patient Safety Standards for current product compliance.

Anti-Barricade Rescue Hardware

Anti-barricade rescue hardware is the optimum solution to provide a safe way to rescue

someone in the event the door is barricaded and cannot open. Behavioral health facilities can pair a double swing hinge with an emergency release stop to create a complete anti-barricade solution.

Double Swing Continuous Hinge

Hinges inherently carry risk due to multiple joints between moving parts, and extremely low acceptable tolerances. The double swing continuous hinge creates a solution to this problem by offering a swing of 100-degrees in either direction, allowing the door to swing in the non-traditional direction in an emergency situation.

In the event that a patient suffers an injury and falls, blocking the door, or if something else barricades the door, the Double Swing Hinge allows staff to open that door from the outside by disengaging an emergency release stop.

ASSA ABLOY offers a pin-and-barrel style double swing hinge (Markar DSH1000). The Markar DSH1000’s pin-and-barrel design supports door weights of up to 600 pounds, and has a hinge frame and door leaf offset of 3/32”, which helps to reduce ligature points at the top of the opening.

Benefits of the Double Swing Continuous Hinge:

• Wide opening in either direction to allow access for equipment and gurneys

• Prevents finger punching

• Provides concealed wire transfer to power electrified hardware

• Adds privacy while maintaining safety and security

• Eliminates ligature points across the top of the hinge

• Provides proper alignment and weight distribution while extending the life of the door

Emergency Release Stop

ASSA ABLOY currently offers two styles of emergency release stops: the Pemko ERS is a flush-bolt locking behavioral health hinge, and the Pemko ERSMP is a multipoint locking behavioral health hinge.

During an emergency, the flush bolt (ERS) or multi-point latch (ERSMP) can be released to allow the double swing hinge to swing in the opposite direction from the traditional swing. The stop is unlocked by a torx key and swings open with an integrated grab handle.

Behavioral Health Door Accessories

ASSA ABLOY offers a variety of ligature-resistant products that are free from sharp edges or potential catch points. ​​Ligature resistant door hardware features rounded surfaces and low profiles that are designed to secure rooms without presenting potential safety hazards.

Heavy Duty Door Stops

Rockwood heavy duty door stops protect walls from collisions with doorknobs, levers, and other door hardware that can cause scuffs and holes in the walls. Door stops mount to a floor, wall, or door to combine durability and safety with a non-institutional aesthetic.

Features of Rockwood heavy duty door stops include:

Flame-resistant molded rubber bumper

• Prevents door from hitting the wall

• Vandal resistant

• No exposed fasteners

• Suitable for floor or wall mounting

• Reduces costly wall and door damage caused by banging doors

• Resists patient tampering

• Withstands abuse due to thick rubber bumper and screw length in floor and bumper

Wall Stops

The design of the Rockwood wall stops prevents damage to doors and hardware while minimizing the risk of patient tampering.

Features of the Rockwood wall stops include:

• Bumper made of resilient rubber

• Sloped design with no pinch points

• Concealed mounting

• Back plate prevents damage to wall

• Available in stainless steel

• Tamper-proof TORX security fasteners optional

Perimeter Gaskets

Pemko soffit-mounted perimeter gaskets are tear resistant and interact with their high quality aluminum retainer to firmly secure the gasket to the opening for a behavioral health environment.

Benefits of Pemko perimeter gaskets include:

• High tear resistant gasket material

• Resistant against patient tampering

• Fire-rated up to 3 hours, depending on door construction

• Contributes to an energy-efficient opening

• Option with PemkoPrene® ("PK") is ideal for exterior applications

Not sure which products you require? Learn more by viewing our Behavioral Health Catalog, or contact an ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions Representative to discuss what type of hardware you will need to ensure safety in your facility.