1. (1) Emergencies are situations in which the person or others is/are at imminent risk of serious harm or injury due to the person’s challenging behavior.

2. (2) If an emergency occurs, a physical restraint may be used if necessary to prevent the imminent risk of serious harm or injury to the person or others, but only if the following requirements are met:

   1. (a) staff members involved with the application of physical restraint must be trained to apply such restraints safely and properly;
   2. (b) physical restraint may only be used as a last resort after other alternative measures have been tried prior to initiating the restraint;
   3. (c) physical restraint must not result in harm or injury to the person, including restriction of blood circulation or breathing;
   4. (d) any use of physical restraint must be for the shortest duration possible and must end as soon as it is determined that the emergency has ceased and the person’s safety and the safety of others can be ensured.
3. (3) Incident reporting must meet the requirements described in ARM Title 37, chapter 34, subchapter 15.
4. (4) Nothing in this section limits or restricts the use of medically related restraints as defined in ARM 37.34.1404.

Authorizing statute(s): 53-6-402, 53-20-204, MCA

Implementing statute(s): 53-6-402, 53-20-203, MCA

History: NEW, 1986 MAR p. 345, Eff. 4/21/86; AMD, 1993 MAR p. 1356, Eff. 6/25/93; TRANS, from SRS, 1998 MAR p. 3124; AMD, 2012 MAR p. 2617, Eff. 12/21/12; AMD, 2025 MAR, Notice No. 2025-278, Eff. 10/11/25.