Stab Vests for Healthcare and Hospital Security

The personal safety of healthcare and hospital security professionals is being assessed with greater concern and in more detail than ever before. Stab vests have become essential PPE for these professionals, ensuring the safety of patients, visitors, and staff at all times.

Increased risks with upcoming events

With the Euros approaching and the summer season in full swing, the likelihood of encountering intoxicated and potentially aggressive individuals increases. This highlights the importance of equipping hospital and healthcare security teams with stab vests to handle these risks effectively.

Violence has become more and more common in healthcare facilities, particularly physical assaults on staff members are caused by patients, although many acts of violence are also committed by visitors, employees, and trespassers (e.g. stalking of a patient or employee, domestic violence or robbery).

Stab Vests for Hospital Security Professionals Can Help Mitigate a Major Risk

To combat violence in hospitals, employees are being trained in conflict management and conflict resolution, ‘zero violence policies’ are being implemented, and electronic access control, digital video surveillance, and body-worn video solutions are being installed or issued. While these measures are valuable, they can sometimes fail. It is crucial to recognise that an intoxicated or mentally ill person can easily overreact, leading to violence.

One of the most comprehensive articles ever written on ‘violence in hospitals’ was published on 24 May 2017 by the American ECRI Institute, titled “Violence in Healthcare Facilities”. It really is worth reading.

Legal and Safety Obligations

It is a legal obligation for employers to keep their workforce safe. Comments like “we don’t have a risk assessment for this role or for this type of PPE” are common. However, if the risk of assault is identified as realistic or reasonable, body armour is certainly worth considering.

Given the potential for violence, hospital security professionals are increasingly preparing for the worst. Many hospitals have now rightly decided to review their risk assessments and concluded their security teams must be issued with stab vests or body armour to reduce workplace violence-related injuries and improve the personal safety of their frontline staff.

Key Points to Consider

• Certification: Ensure the body armour is certified against realistic threats.
• Most Realistic Risks: In a hospital environment, there are three key risks: Blunt Force Trauma Injuries: The most common type of assaults hospital security professionals face involve punches, kicks, blows, or hard pushes, often resulting in blunt force trauma injuries. Certified blunt force trauma protection is essential in healthcare settings. Knives: Many individuals now carry blades for various reasons. Most body armour offers certified stab protection, but ensure it is indeed certified. Spikes/Needles: There is a significant difference between ‘claiming’ spike protection and having certified spike protection. Effective spike protection requires exceptional engineering and tough materials. Hospital security professionals are likely to encounter very pointed sharp weapons, shanks, spikes and sharpened screwdrivers making certified spike protection crucial.

Recent Statistics and Incidents

• In 2023, there were 49,489 police-recorded offences involving sharp instruments in England and Wales (The Ben Kinsella Trust).
• Hospital admissions due to assaults by sharp objects totalled 3,803 in the same period (The Ben Kinsella Trust).
• Notable incidents include attacks on hospital security staff and increasing confrontations with drug users, highlighting the need for protective gear.

In case you have any technical questions on stab vests for hospital security, please feel free to contact us or engage with Colin Mackinnon, my firm’s Technical Director. He has indisputably become one of this country’s leading experts on body armour. Following a 26-year career in law enforcement (counter terrorism, covert operations, surveillance, firearms etc.) Colin is attending all our commercial meetings, advising hospital security teams, government agencies, private security firms and other enforcement agencies on this subject matter.

About The Author

Robert Kaiser is the CEO and Founder of PPSS Group , a UK headquartered company specialised in design, production, and supply of high-performance body armour. Robert and his senior team all have significant level of operational experience in military, law enforcement or homeland security. Robert is a widely respected expert in the prevention of workplace violence related injuries. His written work has been published in several international industry leading publications.