DfCS Process and Work Product

Because few design professionals possess the site safety expertise necessary to perform effective design for construction safety, a key component of the DfCS process is to obtain site safety expertise during the design process and incorporate the safety knowledge into the design.

Such site safety expertise can be provided by trade contractors or an outside site safety consultant. Ideally, large design firms will eventually have in-house employees who possess the required knowledge.

Ideally, site safety is considered throughout the design. Given the fact that design firms will likely require the services of outside firms, it will be more practical to have safety constructability knowledge provided through several progress reviews for safety.

An example process from Prof. John Gambatese at Oregon State University:

Will drawings and specifications resulting from a DfCS process look any different from typical construction documents? The answer is probably not initially. DfCS documents will likely at first look like typical documents but reflect an inherently safer construction process. That is, the documents will look the same but be safer for construction workers than if DfCS were not used. Ideally, DfCS construction documents will include safety enhancing details and notes. For example, drawings will include the locations of tie offs for fall protection, excavation shoring details when appropriate, perhaps even critical excerpts from OSHA standards.