Author: Mark Dawes
ISBN No:
Review date: 16/12/2025
No of pages:
Publisher:
Publisher URL:
http://www.nfps.info
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
A new book – What is Physical Intervention? – written by Mark Dawes, an expert witness, trainer and consultant, provides evidence that many common physical intervention skills being taught today do not work because they are systematically designed with failure built-in. Here is what he says. Visit also www.nfps.info.
These failures increase the risk to the person being restrained and also to the staff that are taught to use them which can result in a lack of safety in the workplace and even people being unnecessarily injured and even killed. Using proven HSE models on human factors and evidence on the characteristics of skill performance Mark provides an intriguing insight into why these failures occur and why ‘off-the-shelf / one-size fits all’ training fails, a fact that was highlighted in the case of Jimmy Mubenga who died whilst being restrained on a flight out of Heathrow in October 2010 and attributed by Lady Nuala O’Loan as being due to “inadequate management of the use of force by the private sector companies”. And now company management need to be more aware of their legal liability and culpability. The recent inclusion of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and the recent amendment to the Work Related Deaths Protocol are going to have a dramatic effect on the liability and culpability of those who teach physical intervention and who commission physical intervention training. Especially in light of the recent amendment to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which came into effect in September 2011 which extends the law to cover all deaths in police, prison and immigration custody and private metal health and young offender facilities and possibly even privately run care homes.This means that prosecutions will take place if it can be proved that the way the facilities are managed or organised caused a death and amounted to a breach of the duty of care owed to the victim. The penalty for organisations convicted is a fine with no maximum limit and the Crown Prosecution Service guidance says that the fines are likely to be in the many millions of pounds.Yet still today, despite the risk of injury and even death, and the potential risk of prosecution under the new laws, some training providers are still teaching techniques that Coroners have advised should not be used and which have also been banned by various Government Departments (such as the Department for Health, Department for Education and the Youth Justice Board which can often leave un-answered questions around how to restrain pupils and youths). Leaving you open to prosecution with very little defence if and when a serious injury or death occurs.So why is this still going on? One reason is that many organisations and training providers believe that they are protected from prosecution because they have been accredited by what they believe is a recognised and approved form of accreditation that has the support of Government. As such they believe that this offers them some form of safeguard or personal safety. But they are wrong. It isn’t and it doesn’t. Yet raise this with a Government Minister and they will tell you that the responsibility (and accountability) lies with the person who commissions the training. What that means is that the accreditation counts for nothing anyway!Find out more here about ‘What is Physical Intervention?’.
