Although interest in construction worker safety in
the United States has expanded to owners of construction
projects, this interest has not spread
throughout the design community. Except for those
employed in design–build firms, designers are typically
not involved in the safety watch. Designers
typically distance themselves from the responsibility
for construction worker safety mainly because of
their lack of knowledge of safe designs and the
possibility of increasing their liability exposure. Today’s
design codes and regulations in the U.S. reflect
this attitude, and worker safety rests on the constructors’
shoulders. Currently, no national reference standards
exist to bridge the gap between existing design
standards and construction worker safety.
In Great Britain, the CDM Regulations have successfully
addressed the need for designers to focus
on worker safety, and outline mandatory steps for
action. The CDM Regulations direct the designer to
participate in the identification and reduction of
health and safety risks. ‘‘The Regulations are not
prescriptive; they avoid setting standards. Emphasis
is placed on identifying hazards and the assessment
of risk w6x.’’ The CDM Regulations require designers
to play a role in the identification of risks, with
limited guidance on how this assessment is to be
made. ‘‘Many designers currently lack skills in designing
to avoid or reduce health and safety risk and
they feel uncomfortable and threatened by the
wRxegulations w7x.’’ ‘‘The challenge facing designers
is the ability to seek out and discover or develop
other techniques or construction methods to produce
the same or similar results than a more inherently
high risk option w6x.’’ ‘‘It is suggested then that the
designer develops a methodical approach to recording
the design considerations with reasoned outcomes
w6x.’’
Complimenting the British effort, this research
takes that next step in addressing construction worker
safety. In an effort to provide designers with the
required knowledge and tools, design suggestions
have been accumulated which provide designers
practical examples of how to design for construction
worker safety. A workable software package has
been developed which can effectively and efficiently
address project-specific hazards on all types and
sizes of construction projects. The design tool will be
useful not only for improving safety in the construction
phase of a project, but also during the startup,
maintenance, and de-commissioning phases.
While designer involvement in construction
worker safety in the U.S. is voluntary, the CDM
Regulations are mandatory. The Design For Con