This page answers some of the more frequently asked questions regarding the Gold Medal Safety Padding product, installation techniques, specification of the product etc.

If you would like us to answer your questions please contact us throught the contacts page on this site.

Q – Can beds be incorporated into the Gold Medal room ?

• A – Yes. This is the simple answer. We frequently clad beds with the Gold Medal Safety Padding product. In most cases seclusion room beds are a steel frame which is fixed to the floor and side wall with expanding bolts. We then clad the bed in one layer of plywood, approx 18mmm thick, and then we install the Gold Medal Safety Padding material over the ply with the installation methods as shown in the Sample Installation Drawings pages of our site.
• In some rooms a foam bed with a welded / heat sealed vinyl outer cover has been used. If possible it is prefereable to fix the bed into position with a further strong, heavy duty vynil outer cover with welded or heat sealed edges. This can be done with anti-tamper srews that go directly in to the concrete.
  This style of bed is only suitable in milder type of environment as the covering material of the bed could be prone to ripping. If the bed is not directly fixed to the floor, so it cant be moved, it could be used as a barracade against an inward opening door.
  The top of  the beds are to be 18 inches off the floor.

Q – What Warranty Does Gold Medal Safety Padding Offer ?

• A – Gold Medal Safety Padding carries a 2 year manufacturers warranty and we offer a 2 year installation warranty.
• Every job, wherever the location, is signed off upon completion by an experienced member of our team. Once the room has been thoroughly inspected it will be declared as ’safe for use’ and handed over to the customer, at this point the warranty starts.

Q – Do You Always Pad The Whole Room ?

• A - No, not always. The amount of the room padded depends on the level of protection needed to be provided within the room. We have installed the Gold Medal Safety Padding product to just the doors in a site in London, the main issue in this location was people charging at the door.
  Commonly throughout Australia and New Zealand the Police authorities pad the floors, doors and a bed areas only to safely house people under the influence of drink and or drugs – ‘Drunk Tanks’ or Detox Suites. Padding the floor will prevent injury if someone should fall, padding the bed area will provide a safe and comfortable area for the detainee to lie or sit down. The more surfaces that are padded the higher the protection the room or suite can provide, we would be happy to discuss your requirements with you and provide you with the appropriate specifications for your facility.

Q – Do You Have A U.K. Representative ?

• A – Yes, we cover the United Kingdom from our offices in Ireland. We are frequently in the UK to perform site measures and attend meetings etc. We will visit the UK to attend any meetings that we are asked to with or without firm orders or contracts.
  There is no cost to potential customers for meetings,  or for providing specification to architects, health authorities, government bodies etc. We also do not charge for site measures and or any technical information leading from site meetings and measures.
• We also will attend any meetings with potential customers throughout all European countries.
  There is local representation in America, Australia and Asia. If you are based outside of Europe please feel to contact us directly and we will forward your details to the appropriate people or alternatively please see our links page on this site.
  

Fitness Functions Ltd completed another project for a school to provide a time-out room where children can be looked after while ensuring that the child will not be able to inflict an injury on themselves should they seek to do so.

The design and installation of the room has been completely handled in-house to ensure that the maximum level of protection can be offered at all times.

Our ‘Safe Mat’ system was used in this instance as the key objective was to provide maximum protection to the child should they become violent. Wilful damage will not be an issue in this type of environment and as such the Safe Mat system was the preferred type of product.

While not as hard wearing or highly specified as the Gold Medal Safety Padding product the Safe Mat system provides a good depth of padding with high shock absorbancy that is easy to install and easy to maintain.
The Safe Mat sytem is ideal for padding out a complete room  in special schools, Autistic units, etc or the product can be used for;
                                                Doors and door frames 
                                                Floors only, walls only 
                                                Colums, posts and poles,
                                                Gymnasium walls
                                                Muster Rooms C & R Rooms and Dojos
                                                Can be used indoors or outdoors and manufactured to any size.

The Safe Mat system comprises of 25mm lightweight foam with heat welded corners. The matting can be held in place on the walls with an industrial Velcro or have hidden fixings. The method for fitting the floor is the same as above but the floor is then covered with a vinyl sheet wear layer which allows for easy cleaning. All matting is cut exactly to size allowing for windows and doors to be easily incorporated allowing for all surface to be fully padded. 

Source – Irish Independent

Tuesday December 06 2005

It will result in 33 safety and close observation cells being installed in ten jails. Already, 20 of the cells have been built.

The expansion of the scheme was announced yesterday by Justice Minister Michael McDowell during a visit to Cloverhill jail in west Dublin to inspect the new cells in operation there.

Since his first visit to Mountjoy jail, shortly after being appointed, the minister has prioritised the replacement of the old padded cells. He said yesterday: “I was shocked at the conditions in which people were being detained and expressed my determination to eliminate them.

“When I first saw a prisoner in one of the old cells in Mountjoy, he was lying on the floor in his underpants in dark conditions.

Humane

“These new facilities are humane, hygienic and meet with international best practice,” he added.

He said safety cells were, unfortunately, a necessary part of the prison system to stop people hurting themselves but the emphasis now was on creating an atmosphere that helped them. A pilot project began in Cloverhill in August last year and an initial analysis showed that prisoners were held in the new cells on average for 1.7 days.

The new layout is aimed at helping to distract prisoners and avoids boredom and banging on doors. The occupants can watch what is happening outside while staff can use the glass doors for regular face to face contact with the prisoners.

The minister described one of the old cells in Mountjoy as equivalent to “an oversized telephone kiosk”.
The minister also said he was concerned about the high number of people with mental illnesses who were being sent to prison rather than psychiatric hospitals.

Outdated
Mr McDowell said he was in consultation with Tanaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney about replacing outdated legal provisions with new legislation. Six of the new cells are provided in Cloverhill, four in the Midlands jail in Portlaoise, four in Wheatfield, three in Limerick, two in Cork, and two in Castlerea and one in Arbour Hill.

Eleven other cells are being installed on a temporary basis for the next three years, pending the completion of the new jails campus in Thornton in north county Dublin and consequent developments.

In response to a frequently asked question below are some of the key areas where Gold Medal Safety Padding can be installed.

One of the main factors in establishing the suitability of this product is the terminoligy used to describe an environment where the Gold Medal product is appropriate, terminology of this type of room varies dramatically from country to country and even region to region.
The terms we are most used to using are Seclusion Room,  Safety observation areas, close supervision rooms.
If we use a term or a method of describing an area that you are uncomfortable with please do not be offended as we do work in many countries and as such we encounter many different terms for the same facility.

Seclusion Room
This is the most common term we encounter and as such the most common description we use.

Other terms are;
Safety Observation Rooms
Close Supervision Areas / Rooms
Time-Out Rooms (this term predominantly relates to adolescent facilities and special schools)
Restraint Rooms
Safe Custody Suites
Detox Suites (predominately relates to Police Custody Areas)
De-Escallation rooms
Emergeny rooms

Padded Surfaces.
The Gold Medal Product can be applied in such a manner to pad all surfaces such as;
                     Walls                    
                     Floors
                     Doors
                     Beds
                     Seating / Benches
                     Privicy walls

                   
Padded Cells.
This is an obsolete term in our area of the world and as such we do not recognise it.

If you should be a health-care professional involved in mental health, facilities management, work in Police Custody areas or correctional facilities please feel free to comment on this post.

Fitness Functions has now completed several installations of the Gold Medal product in the UK.

The success Fitness Functions Ltd has experienced with the Gold Medal product in various sectors in Ireland has given us a great platform to work from in approaching the UK market – our success in Ireland did however keep us flat out ‘working on our own patch’.
We have recently completed several installation in the UK and are looking forward to a long term relationship with these customers.

Recently Gold Medal Safety Padding has been specified by a body for multiple installations in the UK as a result of dealing with architects and Q.S’s for a significant period of time. This is great news for us as the exposure from this upcoming project, once completed, will bring the benefits of Gold Medal Safety Padding to health-care workers, hospital and secure facility managers on a much wider scale.
With great interest in Gold Medal Safety Pading from areas further-a-field we will be sure to update the news that we receive on our site.
We would greatly recive any input, comments, thoughts etc from staff and managers working in acute, secure or custodial environments.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new website.
We have given the layout, design and flexibility of our site a great deal of thought and as such it is now easier to contact us, get information on the Gold Medal product and for you to post us a message and ask any questions relating to the Gold Medal Product.

If you are an Architect, Planner, Facilities / Estates Manager, work in a Secure, Psychiatric or Custody environment please feel free to send us an email or make a post with any questions you may have and we will ensure that the best advice possible for your situation is provided to you.   

Please let us know if there are any topics within this field, or relevant areas that you would wish us to discuss further.

We look forward to hearing from you

Regards

Phil Kirkland
Director
Gold Medal Safety Padding
Fitness Functions Ltd