Concept:

What PtD is:

• Explicitly considering the safety of construction workers in the design of a project.
• Being conscious of and valuing the safety of construction workers when performing design tasks.
• Making design decisions based in part on how the project's inherent risk to construction workers may be affected.
• Including worker safety considerations in the constructability review process.

What PtD is not:

• Having designers take a role in construction safety DURING construction.
• An endorsement of future legislation mandating that designers design for construction safety.
• An endorsement of the principle that designers can or should be held partially responsible for construction accidents.
• Implying that the vast majority of U.S. design professionals are currently equipped to design for construction safety.

(Click photo for larger image.) This image is from a collection published jointly by the National Institute of Steel Detailers and the Steel Erectors Association of America that identifies the specific decisions structural engineers can make to improve the safety constructability of their designs.

Why is PtD Important?

The injury and fatality rates in construction are so high that all parties -- including owners, design professionals, contractors, subcontractors and material vendors -- must proactively attempt to reduce injuries to the extent that is feasible for them.

Although typical contract terms clearly state that designers are not responsible for the safety of construction workers, nearly all designers would feel an ethical obligation to take action to prevent a serious injury to a construction worker if the hazard was imminent and obvious to the designer. Shouldn't designers feel a similar ethical obligation to take reasonable actions to prevent injuries that are not as imminent or obvious?

Having a lower accident rate on a construction project should be added to the list of universal project goals, such as low cost, high quality and fast completion time. All designers agree their decisions affect the cost, quality and duration of a construction project. Shouldn't designers also recognize that their design decisions affect the inherent risk to the workers constructing the project? There is a principle in quality management that quality must be "designed in." This principle also applies to safety: Safety must be designed into a project.

In addition to ethical duties, there are practical reasons for each party in a construction project to encourage or participate in DfCS. Subcontractors and general contractors that self-perform work have several practical reasons to encourage DfCS: it reduces accident rates, thereby reducing workers' compensation insurance rates, and increases project productivity. All owners benefit from reducing the risk that one or more construction accidents will delay project completion dates. Owners who have owner-controlled insurance programs (OCIPs) will also benefit financially from the lower accident rates that DfCS provides. Designers who perform DfCS can use this fact to market themselves as progressive, team-oriented professionals. Designers who are part of design-build teams should benefit financially from the reduced accident rates experienced during construction.

PtD’s Link to Sustainability

Is prevention through design linked to sustainability in any way?  Absolutely!  Many people mistakenly assume that sustainability refers only to being “green.”  But folks who have studied sustainability experts know that sustainability actually has three components:  Environmental equity, economic equity and social equity.  In other words, for something to be successful and right over the long term, it is necessary that it not only be environmentally sound, it must also be financially sound and be socially sound.

A sustainable building project, for example, must not result in unacceptable harm to the environment during its construction and use.  The building must also make economic sense such that, over the long term, the revenues will at least equal the expenses of constructing and operating it.  And the building must be socially acceptable such that the building causes no harm to any person or causes a group of people to experience injustice. 

What could be more unjust than to have workers construct a building that is not as safe to build as it could be?  In other words, isn’t it unfair or inequitable to design a building that is more unsafe to build than it could be?  A fair construction project is when the designers have made reasonable effort to design out hazards and constructors assume responsibility for managing the risks that can’t be designed out.  Sustainable construction occurs when design contributes to safety, therefore preventing excessive injury costs from reducing future construction projects in a local area.

PtD 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.

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.