Few beds, one would imagine, could withstand three-quarters of a ton landing on them, but this was the challenge successfully met by a box bed from a furniture manufacturer for challenging behaviour environments, Tough Furniture, when, to reassure a customer that the bed could accommodate 30-stone patients, 13 of the company’s staff jumped repeatedly on it to ensure that it would survive intact in a real-world setting. Such testing may seem extreme, but is vital, since much of the company’s furniture is destined for environments where patients will abuse, and indeed attempt to destroy, components.
As MD David Vesty explained to Health Estate Journal editor, Jonathan Baillie, when he visited the company’s Shropshire headquarters, it is through manufacturing premium quality cabinet furniture that is both attractive and distinctly non-institutional, but will equally withstand the harshest use, that the company has ensured that its products can live up to the brand name.
Designing furniture that not only looks good, and lends a domestic, homely feel to a wide range of care environments, but is also tough and durable enough to survive harsh service-user treatment in facilities such as adult psychiatric units, is something that Tough Furniture has considerable expertise in – indeed it believes it still leads the field in the UK two decades after its formation. The company says it carefully selects all the materials, fittings, and fixtures used in its furniture to provide the strongest, most durable construction, yet without sacrificing attractive aesthetics. At its factory near Ludlow, it designs and manufactures a broad range of standard and bespoke furniture for use in mental healthcare and other challenging behaviour environments – from bedroom cabinets and wardrobes to beds, desks, and anti-ligature shelving. It can also supply attractive, durable soft furniture items such as chairs and lounge seating, while its portfolio additionally encompasses specialist components such as television and DVD cabinets with an effectively unbreakable protective polycarbonate screen.
Two videos demonstrate the lengths to which the company goes in testing its furniture – they can be viewed by searching ‘Tough Furniture’ on YouTube. One shows staff with a combined weight of 850 kg repeatedly jumping up and down on a box bed, and the other a staff member’s attempts to break a polycarbonate television cover with a sledgehammer. Both items were indeed originally developed to meet a specific customer’s request.
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