Designing for Construction Safety and Health From Research to Practice

1. Designing for Construction Safety and HealthFrom Research to Practice John Gambatese, PhD, PE School of Civil and Construction Engineering Oregon State University CIB W099 Conference Melbourne, Australia October 21-23, 2009

2. Designing for Construction Safety and Health is… • The application of the Prevention through Design (PtD) concept to the design of a construction project • Recognizing construction site safety as a design criterion • “Safety Constructability”

3. What research tells us… • 22% of 226 injuries that occurred from 2000-2002 in Oregon, WA, and CA1 • 42% of 224 fatalities in US between 1990-20031 • 60% of fatal accidents resulted in part from decisions made before site work began2 • 63% of all fatalities and injuries could be attributed to design decisions or lack of planning3 1 Behm, M., “Linking Construction Fatalities to the Design for Constr. Safety Concept” (2005) 2 European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions 3 NSW WorkCover, CHAIR Safety in Design Tool, 2001

4. Additional Motivations • Ability to influence safety is greatest early in the project schedule (Szymberski, 1997) • Moral and ethical standards • “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.” (NSPE Code of Ethics) • Hierarchy of controls • Sustainability Environmental Sustainability Economic Social

5. Examples in Practice

6. Establish design for safety expectations • Include construction and operation perspective • Identify design for safety process and tools Design Kickoff Internal Review External Review Issue for Construction Design Trade contractor involvement • QA/QC • Cross-discipline review • Focused safety review • Owner review Resources and Processes (Source: Hecker et al., 2005)

7. Resources and Processes Project Phase CHAIR-2 Begin Concept Design CHAIR-1 Commence Construction CHAIR-3 Review of Concept Design Review of Detailed Design Construction Hazard Assessment and Implication Review (CHAIR) (Source: NSW WorkCover, CHAIR Safety in Design Tool, 2001)

8. Resources and Processes

9. Design for Safety and Health Components • Ability • Opportunity • Responsibility • Authority • Motivation

10. Design for Safety and Health Components • Ability • Opportunity • Responsibility • Authority • Motivation • Knowledge of construction site hazards, associated risk, and how to create safe designs • Able to access and use design for safety resources and processes • Education, training, and tools

11. Design for Safety and Health Components • Ability • Opportunity • Responsibility • Authority • Motivation • Available resources • Access to site and resources • Acceptable within contract • Accepted within project team and culture • A need to consider safety • Right place, right time, right resources

12. Design for Safety and Health Components • Ability • Opportunity • Responsibility • Authority • Motivation • Assessing project risk and developing options to mitigate risk are within contracted scope of work • Safety is a design criterion

13. Design for Safety and Health Components • Ability • Opportunity • Responsibility • Authority • Motivation • Authorized to select and prescribe designs based on safety risk assessments and option evaluations • Safety is a high priority

14. Design for Safety and Health Components • Ability • Opportunity • Responsibility • Authority • Motivation • Good business practice • Contracted scope of work • Moral/ethical standard • Governing legislation • Standard design practice • Interest in construction worker safety and health • Designing for safety has value

15. Steps to Designing for Construction Safety and Health 1 2 3 4 5 DfCSH

16. Steps to Designing for Construction Safety and Health 1 2 3 4 5 DfCSH • Education, training, and tools • Safety in architecture/engineering education • Professional continuing education classes • Safety in professional licensure requirements • Visualization and work flow tools

17. Steps to Designing for Construction Safety and Health 1 2 3 4 5 DfCSH • Right place, right time, right resources • Safety review in project development process • Integrated project delivery methods • Co-locating design and construction staff • Supported by owner/client (resources)

18. Steps to Designing for Construction Safety and Health 1 2 3 4 5 DfCSH • Safety is a design criterion • Part of standard design practice • Incorporated into design codes • Contractually prescribed by owner/client • Required by legislation

19. Steps to Designing for Construction Safety and Health 1 2 3 4 5 DfCSH • Safety is a high priority • Authorization to modify the design for safety • Designing out the hazard is first choice • Safety and health given high priority relative to other project criteria

20. Research Findings • Priority of project criteria *Ranking: 1 = Highest priority 6 = Lowest priority A smaller number represents higher priority. (Source: Gambatese, J., Behm, M., and Hinze, J. (2005). “Viability of Designing for Construction Worker Safety.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE, 131(9), 1029-1036)

21. Steps to Designing for Construction Safety and Health 1 2 3 4 5 DfCSH • Designing for safety has value • Lifecycle savings outweigh costs, and economically feasible for designers • Improvements in safety, quality, productivity • Morally/ethically responsible • Desired by owners/clients (priority)

22. Steps to Designing for Construction Safety and Health 1 2 3 4 5 DfCSH • Designed for construction safety and health • Construction site hazards eliminated/reduced • Improvements in safety, quality, productivity • Improvements in maintenance safety • Design and construction integration/collaboration

23. Design and Construction Integration (Source: Everett, J.G. and Slocum, A.H. , 1994. “Automation and Robotics Opportunities: Construction versus Manufacturing.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE, Vol. 120, No. 2, pp. 443-452)

24. Expected Impacts: “Trajectories” • Increased prefabrication • Increased use of less hazardous materials and systems • Increased construction engineering • Increased spatial investigation • Increased collaboration & integration (Source: Toole, T.M. and Gambatese, J.A., 2008. “The Trajectories of Prevention through Design in Construction.” Journal of Safety Research, Special issue on Prevention through Design, Elsevier and the National Safety Council, 39, 225-230)

25. Designing for Construction Safety and HealthFrom Research to Practice • Questions? Comments? • For more information: john.gambatese@oregonstate.edu