is there likely to be any form of violence? look at fitting a panic alarm or some means a staff member can summon help. I think bolting chairs and tables to the floor might be a bit extreme but consideration of the type of furniture would reduce the chance of it being used or thrown. if the person is likely to be violent then a second person in the room. off the top of my head Phil

I've had to address this with a solicitor client and their interview offices. There's a panic button, interviewer is closest to door, and doors have viewing panels. I've also suggested that training on interview technique to avoid confrontation etc. might be useful. Some NHS community staff are trained in personal safety self defence techniques although in an interview environment the risk would be less than if you visit someone's home, and a lesser level of training seems appropriate. One of our clients actually manufacture furniture designed for "challenging locations" - e.g chairs which are heavy and designed to be difficult to pick up by the backrest and throw, or sofas weighted and reinforced to prevent kicking damage etc. Such stuff is available if you need it. In fact our solicitors have never had a problem as their clients tend to be seeking their assistance rather than being aggressive. I guess Cumbria proves you can't risk-assess everything though...

Looked at this at a local council benefits office. The public said they felt cornered and trapped, the aggrieved also had to force past the interviewer if they wanted to get out. Total redesign of the interview rooms meant that we had the opportunity to have 2 doors. One for the interviewer to exit back into the council area, and one for the interviewee to go back out into the public area. This also meant that the public door could be locked to allow privacy from other members of the public wandering in, but access still available from the staff side if assistance was required. (Staff door was on a key fob system.) Probably the best solution, but like I said we were lucky to be going through a total redesign at the time. The other thing was to lay the room out with one desk, people sitting around it, not as a counter affair, providing a barrier as it gets peoples backs up. We also fitted a panic strip, not just a button, but one of those strips all around a low level in the room. (Not at waist height as it's pretty hard to press it at that height when your pinned to the floor by a 20 stone drug addict).