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Adult Services Physical Interventions (PI) Skills

Physical Interventions Course Delivery

Disengagement skills – 1 Day ASET Level 2 Award
Holding/Containment Skills – 1 Day ASET Level 2 Award
Betaris Licensed Programme PI Train The Trainer – 5 Days ASET Level 3 Award

Call 0161 955 4297 for further information or email damian@betaris.co.uk

Many factors can affect physical intervention (PI) techniques – too many to mention in this brief overview. However, some of the main factors are listed below.

Delegates Learning PI Skills

Delegates who attend PI training sessions very often have little or no understanding or experience of physical intervention techniques.

There will be a wide variety of ages, weights, and heights, as well as different levels of strength and physical fitness. It is quite common for delegates to be intimidated by the prospect of having to do PI techniques, whilst others are overly confident about their abilities.

Delegates have often had no previous training when dealing with violence, and are confused about what can and cannot be done to protect themselves or other individuals, from a legal and ethical stand point. Attempts to deal with violence have been haphazard and sometimes inappropriate.

On the other hand, delegates usually do have a good understanding of their workplace, the people that have to deal with, and the sorts of triggers that can lead to violent incidents.

The Working Environment

Any approach to physical skills needs to be appropriate to the particular workplace and to the types of people the delegates are interacting with.

Environmental factors can be varied (i.e. security officer patrolling a large premises) or very specific (i.e. bus operator sitting behind a steering wheel).

Environmental factors within the workplace that can affect physical skills all have to be taken into account. Delegates want to be able to relate their training experiences to what happens in their workplace. For example, staff working in a home for the elderly need training that relates to situations that occur whilst shaving, bathing, and helping dress their clients. An individual involved in transporting people needs a completely different set of skills. PI techniques need to be chosen or adapted for those particular environments.

Trainers

PI trainers need to be able to adapt the techniques they are teaching, making them relevant to the environment and to the delegates, while at the same time addressing any difficulty caused by the age, fitness level, weight, height, or gender of the delegates. The trainer also has to ensure that the training complies with health and safety regulations.

PI Techniques

The PI techniques discussed here are based on human mechanics, involving leverage, wedges, effective pushing and pulling movements, and other movements and positions that are natural movements in everyday life.

People tend to apply effort in all manner of tasks, without recognising the physical and mechanical principles that they have used. For example, we push or pull open a stuck door or carry a heavy weight without dropping it, even when moving over uneven ground. We do these things naturally, taking advantage of the mechanical principles; however, if we are grabbed around the throat, our instinctive responses are usually ineffective. This type of attack is a frightening experience, and one which has been experienced before. As a result, most people’s reactions are mechanically inappropriate to the problem.

The training programmes that we use give delegates the opportunity to experience a range of different attacks, in a safe and controlled environment, while exploring and applying everyday mechanical principles and providing them with clear, simple techniques to use in response to possible attacks that they may experience. The fact that they have experienced these challenges and dealt with them, albeit in a safe and controlled setting, gives delegates the confidence to deal with similar challenges in their operational role.

Skill Suite

Each technique is made up of a few simple, straightforward movements or actions we call skills. Each technique consists of two or three skills.

There are a total of eight skills, each with its own purpose. For example, leverage helps to move or detach an attacker’s arm, a wedge shape can help to shore up a body position in the face of an upcoming force, and rowing is an effective way to generate a pushing or pulling force, to move someone backwards or forwards.

Technique Sequence

The name of each technique reflects the movement it most resembles in everyday life.

For example a grab to the wrist by an attacker can be dealt with by using the ‘drinking technique’, so named because the arm movement resembles that used to raise a glass towards the mouth, to take a drink. This technique involves two important skills. (1) Forming a cradle shape, which affects the aggressors grip, preparing it for the lever movement, and (2) leverage, which disengages the grip as the arm travels towards the mouth.

Disengagement

There are a wide variety of techniques that can be used to remove an aggressor’s grip(s).

These disengagement techniques are divided into sections, based on where the grip is placed.

Arm Grabs

Neck Strangles

The Upper Body

The Environmental factor

All of the attacks to the areas above and the disengagement have to take into account that the delegate may be seated, knocked to the floor or trapped in a confined space or on a staircase.

It is important to note that there is such a wide variety of attacks, and then blended with different levels of speed, weight and strength; make it difficult to cover every aspect of a grab during training sessions. Also, there are only so many techniques that a delegate will take on board during one or two days training. To that effect, general training sessions have a selection of 5 or 6 core disengagement techniques.

It is also important to acknowledge that extreme difficulty in dealing with rear strangles. This type of attack would be very challenging to an experienced individual, and to teach delegates on a one or two day course, on how to disengage from such an attack, would not be to their benefit. However, ‘safety or lifeboat moves’ can be introduced that allows movements that help make the immediate danger that bit more survivable, and to use all available effort to making a ‘lifeboat’ within such an attack to help ride out the storm until help arrives.

Evasions

Evasions are techniques that involve protecting or deflecting strikes. Those can be kicks, punches, slaps, bites and pinching.

The techniques here are divided into three sections:

Rescue

This is a section that covers coming to the aid of another individual. These techniques also use the skills suite in a similar way to the disengagement section.

The type of rescue technique used will depend upon the type of attack and the number of people available to carry out the rescue. This session includes one person, and two person rescues. Rescues can also be divided into three sections:

The environment factor is important here as well, because confined space, stairs, and furniture, to name a few obstacles, have to be considered within the training sessions.

Holding

The techniques used to hold an individual are also based on the skill suite. Also, as with all the other sections so far, all of the techniques are easily adapted to fit the individual being help.

Where there is a need to hold an individual in place we talk about containment. The physical skills are based on preventing movement and interrupting the intention to move – much like a seat belt interrupts the body from moving forward. It is normal for people, holding, to grip, apply pressure – and sometimes use too much pressure. This gives a mechanical advantage (usually leverage) to the individual being held, and this is often interpreted as this individual being unusually strong. Holding to contain prevents giving that individual the opportunity to apply leverage. Holding can be divided into numerous sections:

Again the environment where the hold takes place has an important role to play.

Escorting

The escorting techniques are the holding techniques, while in motion. Moving while holding on to another person, especially when they don’t want to be held or moved, provides a mechanical advantage to that person.

It is then very important to reduce that person’s ability to use that advantage. Containment, interrupting and preparation are used to manage escorts. Escorts can be divided into numerous sections:

Where a simple escort is used one person can carry out that technique. Where it is a difficult/stubborn or a difficult/violent individual that is being escorted – two or more people are required. Again the environment where the escorting takes place has an important role to play.

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