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 106747736 Updated in October 2012 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.) Page 2 of 6 Principles of Safe Design 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 Page 3 of 6 Principles of Safe Design 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 Page 4 of 6 Principles of Safe Design 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 Page 5 of 6 Principles of Safe Design 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 Page 6 of 6