The Industrial Design Consultancy, or IDC has been working on the development of a new seat to be used in prisons. The Government has been putting a great deal of investment into prison accommodation, and the IDC has been working to create a chair that is suicide and vandal resistant.
Suicide is thought to be a major issue in the prison service. Those thought to be at high risk of causing injury to themselves are housed in a space that is tailored to prevent this. The chairs that were designed by the IDC needed to be suicide and vandal resistant as well as fire retardant and cost-effective. As well as these requirements, the chair had to be difficult to hold or throw to prevent it being used as a weapon.
The IDC has used their world leading product development knowledge in order to create the best possible product that suits the brief while offering the best profits for the client. The IDC has a wealth of creativity, insight, experience and expertise as well as a range of experts in research, design, mechanical and electronics engineering and rapid prototyping. This wealth of experience and knowledge has been put to use by the organisation in order to create a new ergonomic and cost effective chair to be used across HM Prison Service.
Thousands of the chairs have been installed in prisons around the country and they are now available to order from the IDC website. The chair has a simple design and has been molded from 5mm thick fire retardant MDPE plastic, The IDC designed the chair to be safer for use, with smooth surfaces and ligature points to protect against suicide. The new chair is also able to withstand the impact of an abrasive attack and complies to strict regulations for fire, smoke and toxicity.
