The present study is concerned with the relationship between certain staff characteristics (i.e. staff size, staff sex division and staff experience/training) and the use of seclusion in a longstay unit of a psychiatric hospital (Psychiatric Center Welterhof, Heerlen, the Netherlands). In contrast to what other researchers have suggested or reported, no association between staff number, staff sex division, and staff experience/training on the one hand and frequency of seclusion on the other hand was found. A number of possible explanations for this lack of association is given.