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Category: Restrict access to potentially lethal means
Means Restriction Resources
Children’s Safety Network (CSN) at Education Development Center – Firearm Safety: Preventing Death by Suicide
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U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Mental Health Environment of Care Checklist
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Lethal Means & Suicide Prevention: A Guide for Community & Industry Leaders
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End Family Fire
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A pilot randomized clinical trial of a lethal means safety intervention for young adults with firearm familiarity at risk for suicide
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Lethal Means & Suicide Prevention: A Guide for Community & Industry Leaders
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Rail Suicide Prevention Resource Page by U.S. DOT
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CALM – Counseling on Access to Lethal Means Training
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Means Matter Campaign
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Sample Hope Messaging/Signage on JED Campuses
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Sample medication disposal programs
JED recommends implementing drug collection/medication disposal programs for prescription medications on campus. The following schools have good medication disposal programs that you can use in creating or updating your own. Remember to view all of JED’s recommendations about restricting access to potentially lethal means on your campus.
UC Davis – Medicine Collection Bin Installed at UC Davis Campus Police Department (and Quarter Sheet Handout)
KGI – Drug Take Back Day & Info Fair
SUNY Cortland – UPD Offers Easy Medication Disposal (and Disposal Infographic)
Stonehill College – Addressing Medication Disposal on Campus
Codelocks Americas | Schools, Colleges, and Universities
Schools and colleges need to create an environment where students, staff and teachers feel safe and secure. Controlling access to areas within the school or college campus will help achieve this. However access control should extend further than just restricting entry on the main school door, it should encompass all the vulnerable areas inside and outside the buildings. Protection needs to be given to rooms where valuable school property is sited or where materials, that could prove dangerous if in the wrong hands, are kept. Offices containing personal and confidential information should not be left open and students and teachers should have somewhere safe for their belongings when they are in class. A physical barrier should act as a deterrent and help create a safer environment for all.
Break-away rod suppliers and products
Break-away rods and other break-away installations are important measures for restricting access for potentially lethal means. The following links will direct you to potential products and suppliers; however, these do not represent an exhaustive list, nor does JED endorse these products over similar products:
SecuringHospitals.com – Suicide Resistant Products
Behavioral Safety Solutions – Suppliers: Online Wholesalers of Anti-Ligature and Anti-Suicide Products
Mega Jailhouse – “Break Away” Shower Rod Flanges
Amazon.com – QuikCLOSET
Rate, Relative Risk, and Method of Suicide by Students at 4‐Year Colleges and Universities in the United States, 2004–2005 through 2008–2009
A total of 622 suicides were reported among students attending 645 distinct campuses from 2004–2005 through 2008–2009. Adjusting for gender in the population at risk of 14.9 million student‐years and for the source of these data, the student suicide rate of 7.0 was significantly and substantially lower than for a matched national sample. Suicide rates by firearm were significantly and substantially lower for both female and male students. Hanging was significantly and substantially lower for male students, less prominently so for female students. It is principally the ninefold decrease in the availability of firearms on campuses (vs. homes) and secondarily other features of the campus environment that are the bases for lower student suicide rates.
Blocking the Paths to Suicide
“Suicide can be a very impulsive act, especially among the young, and therefore difficult to predict. Its deadliness depends more upon the means than the determination of the suicide victim.”
Click here to read more from this article published by the New York Times about means restriction.
Means Matter
Restricting access to lethal means is important to reducing the risk of suicide on a college campus. Colleges and universities should consider the following steps to assess and implement means restriction:
1.) Gathering information
2.) Engaging the entire campus and community
3.) Changing policies and practices
4.) Working with the media
Garage Barrier Project
The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), a JED Campus, has shared a proposal they received from Environetics, an architecture firm, for building barriers on parking garages. This is a good example of a means restriction measure that campuses can take to mitigate risk of suicide attempts. The proposal includes three options for securing elevated garages.
Environmental scan checklists by JED Campus schools
JED Campus recommends that schools should conduct an annual environmental scan to identify risks for access to lethal means and create a plan to mitigate these risks.
The following checklist was adapted from a tool used by the University of South Carolina and can be distributed to colleagues who may be assisting with the environmental scan.
Click here to view the Environmental Scan Checklist by UofSC.
In addition, if you would like to utilize UofSC’s checklist as a Google Form, please click here.
A longer environmental scan was created by Gonzaga University (which is a working draft as of November 2018; to provide feedback, please email [email protected]).
Click here to view the Environmental Scan Worksheet by Gonzaga.
JED Recommendations: Promote Means Safety
Promote Means Safety
The objective of this component is to reduce, limit, or restrict access to lethal means of suicide. Empirical data supports the importance of this strategy in suicide prevention. Additionally, means restriction requires coordination among several areas and offices in the university: buildings and facilities, security, counseling, student services, among others and should be included in inter-department strategic planning.
In this domain, schools will benefit from taking the following action steps:
- Conduct an annual campus environmental scan to identify and mitigate access to lethal means. Access to the following should be restricted:
- Rooftops
- Windows
- Balconies
- Bridges
- Atriums
- Implement a policy limiting or containing firearms on campus.
- Implement installation of breakaway closet rods in residence halls.
- Implement protocols for controlling toxic substances found in laboratories which includes methods of tracking and monitoring materials.
- Implement drug collection/drug return programs for prescription medications on campus.
THIS CONTENT CAN ALSO BE FOUND IN THE JED CAMPUS PLAYBOOK GUIDE.
To view all playbook resources within the Promote Means Safety domain, click here.
