Design for Safe Construction

Design for Safe Construction

• Control Measures for Construction Risks

  • Adequate Clearance

  • Maintain clearance between structures and overhead electric lines.

  • Techniques include burying, disconnecting or re-routing cables to avoid contact with cranes or tall equipment.

  • Pre-fabrication

  • Design components to be pre-fabricated off-site or on the ground.

  • Reduces worker exposure to falls and injuries from falling objects (e.g., fixing windows at ground level before raising panels).

  • Parapet Design

  • Ensure parapets meet guardrail height requirements to avoid needing to construct guardrails during maintenance.

  • Support Beams

  • Use continual support beams for connections (e.g., beam seats, extra bolt holes).

  • Prevents falls due to vibrations, misalignment, or unexpected loads.

  • Permanent Stairways

  • Incorporate permanently built stairs to prevent falls associated with temporary solutions.

  • Schedule these constructions early in the process.

  • Roof Truss Spacing

  • Reduce spacing between trusses and battens to minimize internal fall risks.

  • Materials Selection

  • Choose safe materials that are manageable and have low VOC emissions.

  • Panel Size Limiting

  • Limit wall panel sizes where site access is restricted.

  • Electric Lines

  • Clearly indicate and manage the height of electric lines as part of site safety procedures.

Design for Traffic Management

• Speed Limits

  • Establish speed limits for adverse conditions and areas near ongoing work.

• Traffic Control

  • Use traffic lights at busy sites, junctions, and entry/exit points.

  • Consider one-way systems to reduce collisions and congestion.

• Traffic Calming Devices

  • Employ speed humps, rumble strips, or width restrictors to encourage reduced speeds.

  • Avoid in areas where fork-lift trucks operate due to the introduction of hazards.

• Physical Barriers

  • Install barriers to protect hazardous installations (e.g., tanks, pedestrian areas).

• Pedestrian Access

  • Create separate pedestrian entry and exit pathways.

  • Provide well-drained, firm walkways ensuring visibility at crossing points.

• Parking Management

  • Locate workforce parking away from work areas when possible.

  • Manage entry to work areas to minimize risks.

Design for Temporary Traffic Management

• Safe Layouts

  • Ensure temporary traffic management starts in safe locations, avoiding hazardous areas (e.g., bends, junctions).

• Planning Meetings

  • Conduct pre-works planning meetings with all stakeholders (contractors, police, highway officials).

Design for Work in Confined Spaces

• Entry Avoidance

  • Implement measures to carry out tasks without entering confined spaces, such as modifying the space itself.

Design for Manual Handling

• Injury Prevention

  • Reduce manual handling and consider mechanizing tasks.

  • Improve task layout and reduce load weight to lower injury risks.

Design for Machinery

• Intrinsic Safety

  • Eliminate hazards at design stages by ensuring inaccessible dangerous parts and making work handling safer.

• Fail-Safe Designs

  • Ensure machines fail safely rather than dangerously.

• Guard Design

  • Create guards that permit maintenance without full removal.

  • Follow lockout/tagout procedures when guards must be deactivated.

Design for Hazardous Material

• Minimization Measures

  • Keep inventories of hazardous materials small and substitute dangerous materials when possible.

  • Use PPE as the last resort, focusing on engineering controls.

Design for Human Factors

• Job Design

  • Align job parameters with known human strengths and limitations.

  • Implement Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART) to identify, quantify, and reduce errors.

Design for Working at Height

• Eliminate Work at Height

  • Modify designs to reduce areas needing height work, such as using jet washers from ground level.

• Access and Safety Measures

  • Design in permanent accesses and lifelines to allow safe operations at height.

  • Provide collective safety measures (e.g., scaffolding) as priority over personal protective equipment.

Design for Excavation

• Trenchless Technology

  • Adopt techniques that minimize traditional excavation hazards.

• Stability Considerations

  • Ensure sufficient space for battering or benching to prevent collapses and assess site loads carefully.

Design for Workplace Housekeeping

• Design Considerations

  • Clearly mark areas for workplaces, materials, and plants; manage drainage effectively.

Design for Temporary Works

• Component Specifications

  • Use labeled components to avoid falsework or formwork dependencies.

  • Provide for safe worker movements within protected areas at job sites.