Concept of Design for Safety of Construction

Construction design for safety in the construction industry encourages designers, contractors, project managers, site managers and engineers to design a safe construction site that, hopefully, reduces the risk and number of injuries and fatalities during the construction phase of a project. This study would focus on the different approaches used by the construction industry to ensure on-the-job safety and if there is one approach that is more efficient and effective than another.

The Construction industry represents one of the most dangerous workplace industries; with a high number of yearly deaths and injuries when compared to other industries. The construction industry has a very poor record on health and safety in Britain, and construction sites are known as very dangerous places to work. Every year roughly 70 -- 80 individuals die on construction sites and thousands of construction workers are injured.

The highest number of fatalities results from falls from scaffolds or roofs. These type of accidents account for 50% of the fatalities and 40% of serious injuries. Other causes of accident and death include being struck by moving vehicles or falling objects, being injured while lifting or carrying heavy objects, and other acts of movement and lifting.

Because of the large number of deaths and accidents suffered in the industry, it remains a disproportionately dangerous industry where improvements in health and safety are urgently needed. This study seeks to determine what published regulations, guidelines and standards currently influence the industry, and whether other more (or less) stringent guidelines should be invoked based on the construction design of the workplace.

The study topic will be how the design of the construction site affects the number of accidents and deaths suffered on site during the construction process. The study will critically compare and contrast various techniques used to design the construction site. Each of the compared techniques will also be examined for major advantages and disadvantages and how those advantages or disadvantages can be used to lower the number of deaths or mishaps at the workplace.

The study's final objective is to determine whether a certain design process works better than other design processes resulting in lower deaths and accidents. The study seeks to provide information and data that will assist the construction industry in addressing workforce accidents, by comparing and contrasting popular design methodologies.

The proposed study's design is to look at numbers provided by both governmental and non-governmental organizations. These numbers may provide the evaluator with enough information to determine whether one construction design methodology is better than another, and with that information the evaluator expects to make recommendations that will assist the industry in addressing a critical issue. What has been discovered so far is that there does not seem to be enough emphasis placed on safety awareness in any of the construction design processes. It is expected, however, that this situation will change, as the evaluator gathers additional, and more specific, information from the various organizations.

The evaluator will not only seek further data from NGO's and government entities, but will also research industry specific journals that document certain design processes and the resulting circumstances.