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
Resources and Processes
(Source Hecker et al., 2005)
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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)
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Resources and Processes
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Design for Safety and Health Components

• Ability
• Opportunity
• Responsibility
• Authority
• Motivation

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Design for Safety and Health Components

• 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

• Ability
• Opportunity
• Responsibility
• Authority
• Motivation

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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

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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

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

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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)

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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

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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

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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)
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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)

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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

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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)
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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)
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Designing for Construction Safety and
HealthFrom Research to Practice

• Questions? Comments?
• For more information
• john.gambatese_at_oregonstate.edu