Lifecycle Building: Designing for Safe Constructability

Designing for Construction Safety is the process of addressing construction site safety and maintenance in the design phase of a project. The customary role of the design professional is protect the safety of the public and to comply with building codes. Designing for Construction Safety extends this role to include construction site safety.

All designers agree their decisions affect the environment, 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 and hazards "designed out." For example, designing built in anchorage systems and higher parapet walls.

The injury and fatality rates in construction are so high that all parties - owners, design professionals, contractors, 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?

Designing for construction safety is a natural fit with the environmental sustainability movement and lifecycle building.