Rather than continue a debate largely based on professional or personal opinion, this presentation aims to introduce an evidence-based taxonomy of risk which has been developed to enhance an organisation's ablilty to make decisions regarding which restrictive interventions (restraint) are suitable for use within their settings so that effective governance can be enacted so that front line staff authorised and approved to use restraint fully understand the risks and are aware of any mitigating factors that need to be used to maximise patient safety.