Safety in Design (original) (raw)

Managing health and safety in construction

You can buy the book at www.hsebooks.co.uk and most good bookshops. ISBN 978 0 7176 6223 4 Price £15.00 The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM2007) are in force from 6 April 2007. This Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) provides practical guidance on complying with the duties set out in the Regulations. It replaces HSG224, the ACOP to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994.

Safer construction: the development of a guide to best practice

2008

In Australia, an average 49 building and construction workers have been killed at work each year since 1997-98. Building/construction workers are more than twice as likely to be killed at work, than the average worker in all Australian industries. The 'Safer Construction' ...

A voluntary approach to designing for safer construction

Proceedings of the ICE - Management, Procurement and Law, 2013

Preventing occupational health and safety (OHS) hazards through design is consistent with the principle that OHS is best managed by eliminating hazards at their 'source' rather than reducing risks that eventuate in the workplace. In 2007, an industry-initiated research and development project was undertaken in Australia to identify and document best practices used in the management of OHS in the construction industry, resulting in the publication of a 'Guide to Best Practice for Safer Construction.' The project was a whole industry effort to identify OHS 'best practices' through the project lifecycle. The guide provides an industry-agreed framework for clients, designers and constructors, with an emphasis on cooperation, communication and reaching consensus about a reasonable allocation of responsibility for OHS in a given project situation. Two years since the publication of the guide, the implementation of the design stage best practices is examined. Three case study projects (a large road construction project, a desalination plant and a high rise building project) are used to illustrate the practical impact of considering the OHS of construction workers in design decision-making in accordance with the 'Safer Construction' principles contained in the guide.

Integrating Work Health and Safety into Construction Project Management

2019

Professional designers have had a longstanding focus on, and responsibility for, the structural safety of the buildings and facilities they design. Yet the notion of designing for workers' health and safety is a relatively recent phenomenon which emerged from a growing belief that safety incidents in construction operations can be traced back-at least in some measure-to design decisions. The case for safety in design was evidenced by numerous analyses of historical incident data and supported by theoretical models of incident causality. As a result, considering construction workers' safety and health in the design stage of construction projects has become a key feature of construction health and safety policy. In a number of industrialized countries it is legally mandated. However, there remain significant challenges in the practical implementation of safety in design in the construction industry. This chapter: • considers the case for considering safety in design and the resulting policy responses; • explores the challenges and dilemmas experienced in the practical implementation of safety in design in the construction industry; • identifies key principles and practices that may help to address these challenges; and • explores the scope for improving safety in design practice in the future. 3.2 The Case for Safety in Design The widespread acceptance of safety in design has grown partly from a theoretical understanding that design decisions can be a causal (or at least contributing) factor in workplace safety incidents. Probably the best-known model of incident causation that traces incidents back to a variety of organizational failures (including system design) is the 'Swiss cheese' model (Reason 1997). The model explains human error as being caused by various 'upstream' systems failures rather than by the idiosyncratic nature of people's behaviours and beliefs.

The Future of Designing for Construction Safety

2006

Designing for Construction Safety (DfCS) is a process in which engineers and architects explicitly consider the safety of construction workers during the design process. Although the process has been required in the UK since 1995 and the initiative is gaining momentum in the U.S. on a voluntary basis, there has been little theory to date to predict or guide the evolution of DfCS. This paper suggests there are four trajectories along which DfCS will likely evolve.

Addressing construction worker safety in the design phase

Automation in Construction, 1999

Facility designers can positively influence construction site safety by integrating safety considerations into the design process. Although their potential influence on safety has been documented, designers typically lack knowledge of and limit their involvement in construction worker safety. This research effort involved the accumulation of suggestions for improving construction worker safety while in the design phase. Using these design suggestions, a design tool has been developed to assist designers in identifying project-specific safety hazards and to provide best practices to eliminate the hazards. Although use of the design tool is voluntary in the United States, it is one resource which can be used by designers to fulfill their Ž . obligations required by the Construction Design and Management Regulations in UK. q

Mitigating construction safety risks using prevention through design

Journal of Safety Research, 2010

Introduction: Research and practice have demonstrated that decisions made prior to work at construction sites can influence construction worker safety. However, it has also been argued that most architects and design engineers possess neither the knowledge of construction safety nor the knowledge of construction processes necessary to effectively perform Construction Hazards Prevention through Design (CHPtD). Method: This paper introduces a quantitative methodology that supports designers by providing a way to evaluate the safety-related performance of residential construction designs using a risk analysis-based approach. The methodology compares the overall safety risk level of various construction designs and ranks the significance of the various safety risks of each of these designs. The methodology also compares the absolute importance of a particular safety risk in various construction designs. Results: Because the methodology identifies the relevance of each safety risk at a particular site prior to the construction stage, significant risks are highlighted in advance. Thus, a range of measures for mitigating safety risks can then be implemented during on-site construction. Impact on industry: The methodology is specially worthwhile for designers, who can compare construction techniques and systems during the design phase and determine the corresponding level of safety risk without their creative talents being restricted. By using this methodology, construction companies can improve their on-site safety performance.

Viability of Designing for Construction Worker Safety

Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 2005

Designing for construction safety entails consideration of the safety of construction workers in the design of a project. Research studies have identified the design aspect of projects as being a significant contributing factor to construction site accidents. Designing to eliminate or avoid hazards prior to exposure on the jobsite is also listed as the top priority in the hierarchy of controls common to the safety and health professions. Widespread implementation of the concept in the United States by engineering and architecture firms, however, is lacking due to perceived industry and project barriers. Given its absence from standard design practice, a question arises as to the viability of designing for safety as an intervention in the construction industry. This paper presents a pilot study that was conducted to investigate the practice of addressing construction worker safety when designing a project and to determine the feasibility and practicality of such an intervention. Through interviews of architects and engineers, the study found that a large percentage of design professionals are interested and willing to implement the concept in practice. Among the perceived impacts of implementation, project cost and schedule were mentioned most often along with limitations being placed on design creativity. The results of the pilot study indicate that designing for safety is a viable intervention in construction. The factors that impact the consideration of safety in the design of a project do not entirely prohibit its implementation or make its implementation extremely impractical and therefore not feasible. Additionally, the outcomes of implementation provide sufficient motivation to implement the concept in practice. The paper describes the key changes needed for implementation of the concept in practice which include: a change in designer mindset toward safety; establishment of a motivational force to promote designing for safety; increase designer knowledge of the concept; incorporate construction safety knowledge in the design phase; utilize designers knowledgeable about design-for-safety modifications; make design for safety tools and guidelines available for use and reference; and mitigate designer liability exposure.