Integrating Prevention through Design (PtD) for workplace safety and health with sustainability efforts

Design professionals have taken the lead in acting upon opportunities not only to reduce the harmful impacts of the built environment, but to use innovative technologies to create buildings that have a positive impact on users and occupants. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) is a tool that establishes specific and measurable sustainable design goals. Just as the USGBC has been so successful in promoting concepts of sustainability, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and many of its partners have recognized the opportunity to address hazards in the design of materials, structures, tools, and work processes to ensure the safety and health of workers. The NIOSH-led Prevention through Design (PtD) initiative, and the subcategory of Construction Hazards Prevention through Design (CHPtD), have established goals and identified activities to achieve them by anticipating and eliminating occupational hazards through design solutions. Examples of these goals will be provided, along with discussion of ongoing PtD projects and consideration of how this concept might be integrated with the USGBC LEED system.