Beyond the ongoing therapeutic interventions in acute inpatient set- tings, nurses undertake various activities that focus on ensuring the safety of the clinical environment. Many nurses will undertake regular or continuous observation of "at-risk" patients. Nurses will assess patients' level of risk for suicide and provide flexible approaches for suicide prevention that are cognizant of the patients' interests and safety during their admission (Cheng, Hu, & Tseng, 2009) Given their purpose and design, acute mental health inpatient units de aa safe. environment for re can ducing hanging deaths. Gunnell et al. (2005) have identified that strategies for reducing hanging in acute inpa tient units should include ongoing re view of the safety of the environment. including access to potential ligature points and ligatures, and resuscitation and the emergency management of near-hanging (Table). High-risk patients may need to have their access to belts and shoelaces restricted in reflec tion of their current risk assessment (Appleby et al., 2001). Staff should also have access to a noose-cutting blade (e.g., ResQHook) to deal with near-hangings