Safety

"Design is not the narrow application of formal skills, it is a way of thinking" - Chris Pullman

4.2 Safety

A safe design approach

Safe design begins at the concept development phase of a structure when you’re making decisions about:

the design and its intended purpose
materials to be used
possible methods of construction, maintenance, operation, demolition or dismantling and disposal
what legislation, codes of practice and standards need to be considered and complied with.

Designers need to consider how safety can best be achieved in each of the lifecycle phases, for example:

Designing a machine with protective guarding that will allow it to be operated safely, while also ensuring it can be installed, maintained and disposed of safely.
Designing a building with a lift for occupants, where the design also includes sufficient space and safe access to the lift well or machine room for maintenance work.

4.2 Safety - Worksheet

Safety in Design

Ergonomics and good work design

Safe design incorporates ergonomics principles as well as good work design.

Good work design helps ensure workplace hazards and risks are eliminated or minimised so all workers remain healthy and safe at work. It can involve the design of work, workstations, operational procedures, computer systems or manufacturing processes.

Responsibility for safe design

When it comes to achieving safe design, responsibility rests with those groups or individuals who control or manage design functions. This includes:

Architects, industrial designers or draftspersons who carry out the design on behalf of a client.
Individuals who make design decisions during any of the lifecycle phases such as engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, installers, builders, developers, project managers and WHS professionals.
Anyone who alters a design.
Building service designers or others designing fixed plant such as ventilation and electrical systems.
Buyers who specify the characteristics of products and materials such as masonry blocks and be default decide the weights bricklayers must handle.
Safe design can be achieved more effectively when all the parties who control and influence the design outcome collaborate on incorporating safety measures into the design.

For more information on who is responsible for safe design see Guidance on the principles of safe design for work, the Principles of Good Work Design Handbook and the model Code of Practice: Safe Design of Structures and WHS Regulations.

Legal obligations

Australian WHS laws impose duties on a range of parties to ensure health and safety in relation to particular products such as:

designers of plant, buildings and structures
building owners and persons with control of workplaces
manufacturers, importers and suppliers of plant and substances
persons who install, erect or modify plant.

These obligations may vary depending on the relevant state, territory or Commonwealth WHS legislation.

Those who make decisions that influence design such as clients, chief financial officers, developers, builders, directors and managers will also have duties under WHS laws if they are employers, self-employed or if they manage or control workplaces.

For example, a client who has a building or structure designed and built for leasing becomes the owner of the building and may therefore have a duty as a person who manages or controls a workplace.

There are other provisions governing the design of buildings and structures in state and territory building laws. The BCA is the principal instrument for regulating architects, engineers and others involved in the design of buildings and structures.

Although the BCA provides minimum standards to ensure the health and safety of building occupants (such as structural adequacy, fire safety, amenities and ventilation), it does not cover the breadth of WHS matters that may arise during the construction phase or in the use of buildings and structures as workplaces.

In addition, there are technical design standards and guidelines produced by government agencies, Standards Australia and relevant professional bodies.

Our national approach

The Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012–2022 has identified healthy and safe by design as one of the seven national action areas.

Australian work health and safety legislation requires that all design parties consult, cooperate and coordinate their activities, so far as is reasonably practicable, rather than seeking to transfer or delegate responsibility to others, or assuming that someone else is taking care of a work health and safety matter.

Prevention activities and ongoing collaboration and cooperation during the design process will help to achieve the Strategy’s aim of:

reducing the incidence of serious injury by at least 30% nationwide by 2022
reduce the number of work-related fatalities due to injury by at least 20%.

Since the Strategy launched, Safe Work Australia and all jurisdictions have been working collaboratively with the industry, unions, relevant organisations and the community to influence and promote improvements in the design process.

Five principles of safe design

Principle 1: Persons with control—those who make decisions affecting the design of products, facilities or processes are able to promote health and safety at the source.
Principle 2: Product lifecycle—safe design applies to every stage in the lifecycle from conception through to disposal. It involves eliminating hazards or minimising risks as early in the lifecycle as possible.
Principle 3: Systematic risk management—apply hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control processes to achieve safe design.
Principle 4: Safe design knowledge and capability—should be either demonstrated or acquired by those who control design.
Principle 5: Information transfer—effective communication and documentation of design and risk control information amongst everyone involved in the phases of the lifecycle is essential for the safe design approach.

Examples of safe design

Positioning air-conditioners for maintenance

Split system and other air-conditioning systems require maintenance access. Air-conditioning systems are sometimes located on roofs or attached to upper story walls creating fall risks for maintenance workers.

Air-conditioning systems should ideally be placed at ground level. If this is not practicable then fall protection can be provided through guard railing.

The person with control over the decision of locating the system may be the architect, building owner, builder or air-conditioning installer. All of these people need to consider the maintenance issue (as well as the installation) and ensure that accessibility can be gained safely.
The benefits of ground level location include reducing falls and awkward conditions for manual handling as well as reducing maintenance costs.

Access for lighting maintenance

Maintenance of a lighting system can involve difficult access and work at heights. This means maintenance can be hazardous and expensive. A solution can be to install lighting systems on sliding tracks.

The person with control over the decision to install this system may be the architect, engineer, building owner, electrical contractor or builder. Maintenance personnel need to know the lighting system can be accessed via the sliding rails and how to operate the system. Although this may be evident such as in the photo above, notices should be placed where they can be easily seen.
The benefits of a sliding track system include minimising falls and reduced cost of maintenance work such as cleaning and changing bulbs and tubes, due to efficiencies achieved from using the existing walkways. The people that would benefit from this kind of installation include maintenance workers, cleaners and installing electricians.

Rollover protection for tractors

Many farmers, farm workers and other people who use tractors have been killed when tractors have rolled. ROPS provide protection for the operator in this event.

It should be noted that ROPS do nothing to prevent a rollover and the operator needs to remain within the boundary of the structure. This means seat belts and a cabin are associated solutions.

Falling object protection structures are also useful on tractors when working in areas where falling objects can be a risk, such as construction, forestry and mining.

It is the tractor designer and manufacturer who determine what ROPS should be fitted and users who determine where a retrofit ROPS is being added.
Those that benefit from this safety feature are farmers and construction workers. When a ROPS is fitted, information about the need for use of seat belts to maximise rollover protection effectiveness is essential. The best location of this notice would be on the tractor. An alternative approach would be installation of ignition or motion interlocks on seatbelts or other forms of restraint.

Safe Work Australia

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