Principles of Safe Design
Introduction
As part of its project risk management role, the Department of Planning, Transport and
Infrastructure (DPTI) Building Management division promotes the importance of safe design to
ensure that safe workplaces are achieved during all building construction projects and in the
new or refurbished buildings.
Regulatory Framework
The Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986 (the Act) and the Occupational Health,
Safety and Welfare Regulations 2010 (the Regulations) give broad duties to the workplace
parties. The key principle in the Act is a ‘duty of care’ responsibility given to employers and the
building designer to provide a safe place of work for employees. Typically, buildings are
workplaces for owners and users, but buildings are also workplaces during construction,
renovation, maintenance, cleaning and demolition.
The legally binding and enforceable Regulations provide more detailed requirements for specific
hazards.
Duty of Care Responsibilities
The Regulations impose duties on a range of parties who have a role in ensuring health and
safety in relation to the design and construction of buildings.
The duty of care requires everything ‘reasonably practicable’ to be done to protect the health
and safety of others at the workplace. This duty is placed on employers, employees and others
who have an influence on hazards in a workplace. The latter includes building designers,
contractors and those who design, manufacture, import, supply or install plant, equipment or
materials.
In addition, regulations and codes such as the Building Code of Australia (BCA) contribute to
some aspects of the health and safety of occupants and users of buildings and structures.
Although a building design may meet the requirements of the BCA, there are still many design
options or choices and other operational safety decisions that the designer or building owner
can make to improve the inherent safety of the building.
This guide note seeks to highlight the particular issues relating to safe design of buildings
throughout the lifecycle of the building from concept through design, construction, occupation
and finally demolition or reuse.
Design Obligations
Safe design recognises that persons with control have a duty of care which may be a shared
responsibility in particular situations.
The designer must consider the best way to protect the health and safety of people who:

are engaged in construction;

are engaged in renovation and demolition;

occupy and/or use the building; and
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Principles of Safe Design

maintain, clean and repair the building.
Health and safety is considered an equal priority to other design requirements in an overall risk
evaluation and the most current knowledge of OHS&W principles, materials and technology
should be applied.
The building designer’s duty is to ensure that a building is designed so that people who might
work in it or use it are safe from injury and risk to health by:

identifying hazards which may occur during the life of the building;

assessing the risk and reducing or eliminating that risk; and

providing information about the residual risks to the owner/user (including for example
cleaning and maintenance personnel).
It is noted that control measures to eliminate a hazard through design rather than introducing
safe working practices or use of personal protective equipment are preferable. Controls that
rely only on human behaviour are less reliable since human beings are fallible and prone to
error. It is preferable to eliminate OHS&W hazards at the design stage rather than control the
site once the hazards are present.
There is also a greater emphasis placed on assurance that safe design has been addressed
through evidence or records that OHS&W risks through the life cycle of the building have been
considered, demonstration that OHS&W responsibilities and hazards have been managed and
that OHS&W considerations have been included in design documentation and tender
documents.
Risk Management Process
Where safe design is appropriately managed, OHS&W knowledge will be captured and
transferred through the phases of the building life cycle thereby ensuring continuity of OHS&W
risk management effectiveness. In order to demonstrate that OHS&W issues have been
considered it is necessary to implement and document a systematic risk management process
as outlined in this section.
Hazards across the life cycle of the building should be identified and assessed. The
identification should involve consultation with stakeholders and user groups as well as the
design team and provide a record of the assessment, risk evaluation, action and residual risk
register which is accessible to all parties.
Detail is provided in the construction contract documentation on:

residual risks that may be present during the construction phase;

specific materials, unusual work processes or access requirements;

obligations that the contractor takes a pro-active approach to safe design and provides
residual OHS&W risk information; and

required review and monitoring processes to ensure that the proposed treatment of risks
by the contractor has been effective.
Once the construction contract is complete, the residual risk register is provided to those
involved in the subsequent life cycle stages. The register includes any OHS&W hazards that
have not been eliminated in the design and notes possible control strategies. (This phase will
be implemented through the DPTI Project Risk Manager forwarding the register to the Lead
Agency with a copy to the relevant Facilities Management Service Provider.)
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Timing of Risk Identification
Noting that the greatest opportunity to reduce OHS&W risk is through assessing the issues
early in the design process, it is important to consider the risks at the Concept phase. As the
design progresses, so the risk register is updated.
As a general rule, the formal assessments should align with the Construction Procurement
Policy: Project Implementation Process (PIP) stages i.e. at Concept, Design, Documentation
and Review. However this may vary depending on the size, complexity and perceived risks of
the project/building. Formal DPTI Design Reviews under PIP will include a review of the risk
register. (For Building Management designed projects the D+HM design team leader takes
responsibility for the risk register.)
Review and Report
The documentation of the review and report will:

demonstrate that design OHS&W responsibilities and hazards have been managed;

provide a record of the risk assessment process; and

provide a register of the residual risk items.
A risk register template with notes for use is at Appendix 1.
References
Safe Work Australia
http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/SafetyInYourWorkplace/SafeDesign/Pages/SafeDesign.as
px
CHAIR Safety in Design Tool
WorkCover NSW
http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/formspublications/publications/Documents/chair_safety_in_d
esign_tool_0976.pdf
Building Designers and Owners – How the Regulations Affect You, January 2004
WorkCover Corporation of South Australia
http://www.safework.sa.gov.au/uploaded_files/regInfo2.pdf
Info Data Safe Design
Davis Langdon
http://www.davislangdon.com/upload/StaticFiles/AUSNZ%20Publications/Info%20Data/SafeDes
ign.pdf
Contact
For further information contact:
Adrian Swiatnik
Supervising Civil Engineer
Phone:
Email:
08 8226 5376
adrian.swiatnik@sa.gov.au
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Appendix 1
This appendix includes a Risk Register template and associated notes to explain its use. The
Risk Register template shows typical items found in the OHS&W Regulations. Projects are not
limited to these items and should be expanded to include other items as appropriate.
The Principles of Safe Design Risk Template (338) can be found in the Building Project
Information Management System (BPIMS) project library.
Risk Register Notes
The risk register follows the general principles of AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 Risk management Principles and guidelines. The measures of consequences, likelihood and level of risk are
shown below.
The analysis of risk may include consideration of what can happen, how can it happen, the
consequences of what can happen, identify the existing controls and the effectiveness of those
controls. The risk strategy considers whether to:

accept the risk;

avoid the risk;

reduce the risk; and/or

transfer the risk.
The proposed action/s may have considered possible treatment options, preferred options and
the results of a cost-benefit analysis.
The name and position of the person responsible for the action/s should be provided and a tick
placed in the ‘Completed’ box when completed. The residual risk should be described, if any,
and ‘y’ or ‘n’ should be noted in the ‘y/n’ (yes/no) box in order to be able to obtain a residual risk
register report. Note the responsible party to monitor/implement the residual risk.
Qualitative Measures of Likelihood
Level
Descriptor
Description
A
Almost certain
Is expected to occur in most circumstances
B
Likely
Will probably occur in most circumstances
C
Possible
Might occur at some time
D
Unlikely
Could occur at some time
E
Rare
May occur only in exceptional circumstances
Alternative Likelihood Rating Scale
Level
Descriptor
Description
A
>95% chance of occurring
Will occur at least several times a year
B
75%-95% chance of occurring
Will occur once a year
C
25%-75% chance of occurring
May arise at least once in a 5 year period
D
5%-25% chance of occurring
May occur during next 5 to 20 years
E
<5% chance of occurring
Very unlikely during the next 20 years
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The above scale uses a 20 to 25 year life, after which it is expected that there will be a major upgrade.
These scales should be amended to suit the specific project.
Qualitative Measures of Consequence
Level
Descriptor
Example Detail Description
1
Insignificant
No injuries, low financial loss
2
Minor
First aid treatment, on-site release immediately
contained, medium financial loss
3
Moderate
Medical treatment required, on-site release contained
with outside assistance, high financial loss
4
Major
Extensive injuries, loss of productive capability, off-site
release with no detrimental effects, major financial loss
5
Catastrophic
Death, toxic release off-site with detrimental effect, huge
financial loss
Qualitative Risk Analysis Matrix – Level of Risk
Consequence
Likelihood
Insignificant
Minor
Moderate
Major
Catastrophic
1
2
3
4
5
A (almost certain)
M
H
H
VH
VH
B (likely)
M
M
H
H
VH
C (moderate)
L
M
H
H
H
D (unlikely)
L
L
M
M
H
E (rare)
L
L
M
M
H
Legend
VH:
very high risk – immediate action required
H:
high risk – senior management attention needed
M:
moderate risk – manage by specific monitoring or response procedures
L:
low risk – manage by routine procedures
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Principles of Safe Design Risk Template
This Safe Design Risk Template (338) can be found in the Building Project Information Management System (BPIMS) project library.
Project:
Date:
Completed by:
Analysis
Risk Strategy
Actions
Responsible
Residual
Risk
Date
Identified
Completed
Party to Monitor Residual
Risk
Y/N
Risk Level
Consequence
Description of List
Likelihood
Item
No:
Access and egress
Access for people with
disabilities
Prevention of falls
Arrangements for sick
Floors
Fragile roofing materials
Space per person
Hazardous substances
– asbestos
Ventilation
Plant
Hazardous work
(e.g. welding booths)
Isolated work
Confined spaces
Traffic controls
Trees
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