News and Updates:

The 2012 annual meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) included a session entitled “Prevention through Design: Construction Safety.” The presentation files from this session can be downloaded from the Resources tab (see tabs at the top of this page).

The Harvard University School of Public Health held its fourth successful week-long course entitled "Safety in Design and Construction: a Lifecycle Approach" in April 2012. The next course is scheduled for April 1-4, 2013.

A national standard on PtD has been approved. ANSI/ASSE Z590.3-2111 (Prevention Through Design: Guidelines for Addressing Occupational Hazards and Risks in Design and Redesign Processes) was approved in October and goes into effect in January 2012.

NIOSH held a successful Prevention through Design Symposium in Washington, DC on August 22-24, 2011. Over 150 participants attemded and experienced the earthquake from fairly near the epicenter! Presentation files can be downloaded from the ASEE site.

Alan Speegle at the Southern Company has compiled a list of over 1600 specific PtD items. This file can be downloaded here and from the Resources tab. The attached file was posted 12/14/11. Please discard the previous version posted.

PtD-related Linked In groups include the Safety in Design group (which contains many helpful links and files) and the ANSI/ASSE SH&E Standards Information Center.

Researchers and practitioners have created The Sustainable Construction Safety and Health (SCSH) rating system to evaluate construction worker safety and health on construction projects.

Engineering News Record's lead editorial focused on a paper that chronicled resistance against PtD and mentioned the SCSH rating system.

A free American Institute of Architects (AIA) approved course, “Overview of Construction Prevention through Design” is being offered by East Carolina University through a grant from the Virginia Tech Occupational Safety and Health Research Center. This course provides 1 Learning Unit /HSW credit (AIA approved). Participants in this course will be able to: 1) Define construction industry safety statistics; 2) Describe the role of design in construction safety; 3) Define safety and health terminologies; and 4) Recognize design influences in construction accidents. Email Mike Behm, behmm@ecu.edu, for course coupon code for free access. The first 20 participants will have free access.

Prevention through Design initiatives were a prominent part of the agenda when the OSHA Alliance Program Construction Roundtable met at the OSHA/DOL building in Washington, DC on February 17, 2011. The head of OSHA, Assistant Secretary of Labor Dr. David Michaels, spoke to the group and committed to have OSHA staff continue to help finalize and publicize the PtD awareness documents that are being developed by the Roundtable.

Researchers at Bucknell University and Oregon State University have identified actions that owner organizations should take to effectively implement DfCS on their projects.

Researchers at Bucknell University, Oregon State University, East Carolina University and Purdue University are creating modules to help faculty incorporate prevention through design concepts and examples into their classes. The first four modules address steel, concrete, MEP and architectural design. If you have ideas or examples to contribute to these important projects, please contact Mike Toole at Bucknell.

The OSHA Alliance Program’s Construction Roundtable has drafted a set of six Construction Workplace Design Solutions for fall and other hazards.  Download them from the Media tab on this site.