Over the last two decades, the way construction firms tackle safety in the workplace has evolved. Gone are the days when hazard abatement and avoidance strategies were strictly reactive measures after an incident occurred. Safety programs and risk aversion are now almost completely rooted in a combination approach of predictive and reactive behaviors. One of the most effective proactive safety measures is prevention through design (PtD).

PtD, also known as safety by design or SbD, is defined by an emphasis on preventing hazards in the engineering and design process. This can be accomplished through a combination of safe tool design, personal protective equipment or construction or wiring. An example may include the implementation of a guard on a cutting tool to preempt an injury or proper positioning of wall anchors for fall protection devices.

Within the actual building process, it may include the installation of a handrail on a stairwell to minimize the risk of slips, trips or falls. A simple task like making sure all wiring is compliant with pertinent regulations and standards, runs properly and has the appropriate rating is a PtD measure.

OSHA and NIOSH get involved

The OSHA guide “Prevention through Design” instructs design professionals “to incorporate safety in design to facilitate safe construction, as far as possible. PtD has the potential for reducing injuries and fatalities at construction sites by incorporating features during the design phase that will enhance constructibility. PtD will result in fewer delays in construction due to injuries, and savings in workers’ compensation premiums. Employers should have a system in place where safety and health professionals work with design engineers in ‘designing out’ hazards throughout the design phase of their products.”

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently implemented a national PtD program. It is intended to “promote this concept and highlight its importance in all business decisions.”

According to NIOSH, “The PtD initiative was developed to support designing out hazards, the most reliable and effective type of prevention. PtD encompasses all of the efforts to anticipate and design out hazards for workers in facilities, as well as in regards to work methods and operations, processes, equipment, tools, products, new technologies and the organization of work. The focus of PtD is on workers who execute the designs or have to work with the products of the design.”

Innovation propels PtD

PtD often involves incorporating new technologies into the building process. Every day, there are new advancements in automation and smart building capabilities that can be included in construction projects. While these make a difference and are worth keeping up with, product innovations in the electrical realm have been crucial to reducing fatalities in recent years. Some examples include permanently mounted voltage indicators, voltage portals, data access ports, infrared windows for thermal inspection and absence of voltage testers.

Rachel Bugaris, senior business development manager at Panduit Corp., Tinley Park, Ill., a provider of network infrastructure and industrial electrical wiring solutions, wrote for EHS Today: “Determining voltage status before equipment is accessed and preventing direct exposure to electrical hazards can be achieved with an absence of voltage tester (AVT) that also simplifies this process by automating the voltage verification process. It’s important to point out that when establishing an electrically safe work condition, verifying the absence of voltage is only one step in the process—using an AVT is a part of the lockout/tagout process and is not intended to replace it.”

Safety starts with design-build

In the current climate, everyone wants everything bigger, faster and cheaper. However, it is more cost effective and efficient to factor in safety from the start in the design-build process. In lieu of wasting resources and workers getting injured, or worse, the better alternative is to prevent incidents in the first place. The more hazard prevention elements are included in the design-build stage, the safer the whole project will be, and the greater the residual benefit. 

For more on this topic, read “Recipe for Safety” by Susan Bloom at ECmag.com.

stock.adobe.com / onephoto