News / Developments
Best Practice Website for Designers has been relauched - November 2011
Safety in Design have relaunched their new interactive Website.
Site includes Design Guides to help designers make better and safer design choices.
Löfstedt Report Published: Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation
Professor Ragnar E Löfstedt - November 2011
Report sets out Professor's recommendations and the next steps for implementation; including review of CDM Regulations.
Professor Löfstedt states 'that HSE should complete the evaluation of the effectiveness of CDM 2007 and the associated ACoP by April 2012 to ensure there is a clearer expression of duties, a reduction of bureaucracy and appropriate guidance for small projects'.
Risk of structural collapse not identified by designer in fatal accident - October 2011
One of Northern Ireland’s largest construction firms has been fined after a section of a portable office unit caved in on top of an employee, fatally injuring him. HSENI inspector who was part of the investigating team, stated that the bracing that should have supported the structure during relocation had been inadequate. “The problem was, that when the operation was being planned at the design stage, nobody considered the potential for it to collapse,”
He went on: “It was clearly foreseeable that there was a risk of the structure collapsing. The lead designer, Anthony Stewart, and Henry Brothers should have realised this state of instability and instructed structural engineers to design an adequate temporary bracing system to be placed inside the line of the structure, so that it could be put in its final position and only then the temporary bracing system removed. They did not do so and, as a result, a 62-year-old joiner paid the ultimate price.
Further Details on the case from the SHP website: Link Here
InterConstruct 2011 - Virtual Conferrence
October (18th/19th), 2011 • Online
For almost ten years, InterConstruct has been an international networking event for sharing best practices, practical policies and new initiatives in the realm of construction safety. Now, for the first time in InterConstruct history, you can take part in this prestigious global learning and networking event online.
This years event covers the following Safe Design Topics:
Part 1 - Designing Height Safety "In"
The designer can significantly influence the commercial performance of a project, by considering the height safety issues early on. These issues can have far reaching consequences on the speed and costs of construction, on the trade/package interface details, and on the operation, maintenance, and even final demolition of the building. The devil is always in the detail, but the application of a few simple principles will start to reveal the opportunities.
Speaker: Barney Green, Height Safety Advisor, Higher Safety Ltd
A Life-Cycle Holistic Approach to Prevention through Design in the Built Environment
Buildings are built in a relatively short time but used and maintained for many decades. The construction and maintenance workers can be exposed to harm while performing their work. Much of these exposure risks can be eliminated or reduces during design and construction. A holistic approach to achieving this requires a boarder definition of design involving the roles of the three key player teams (owners, designers and constructors), espousing the articulation and communication of a zero harm vision, a rethinking of contractual influences, the legal barriers, the sharing of business risk, an understanding of the various teams capability and barriers as well as a framework and strategy to seamlessly achieve this.
Speaker: Peter Furst, President, The Furst Group
Prevention by Design
Speaker: Michael Jager
Further details are obtainable from the InterConstruct Website: Link Here
XIX World Congress of Safety and Health at Work
September (13th), 2011 • Istanbul
IOSH will be staging a two-hour symposium, with the theme “Designing out the risk”, as part of the IOSH New Accession Countries initiative. For those able to attend, the symposium will take place in Aynalıkavak-1 Hall, Halic Congress Centre, on Tuesday 13 September from 4pm-8pm. IOSH’s stand will be E122 at the exhibition.
Further details from this Link
'Design' firm fined after workers injured at fashion chain - July 2011
A Staffordshire-based interior design company has been fined after two men were injured while carrying out refurbishment work at a TK Maxx outlet in Hounslow.
Three men were pouring concrete to fill in an opening in the first floor of the retail unit, left following the removal of stairs and an escalator.
The Old Bailey heard that on 21 September 2006 the men had only just begun to pour the concrete when the temporary propping erected to support the underside of the decking, installed within the opening, collapsed. This caused the men to fall more than 4.8 metres to the floor below.
All three men were taken to hospital, one with a dislocated shoulder, another had a fractured pelvis and elbow, the third worker was unhurt.
Bridgford Interiors Limited, of Fradley Park, Lichfield, Staffordshire pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £25,000 and ordered to pay costs of £23,392.
HSE Inspector Viv Neaverson said: "This prosecution arises as a result of Bridgford's failing in their duty as the company responsible for the temporary work. Whilst they had appointed a structural engineering company to execute the permanent works, they had not appointed a temporary works engineer and, as such, this duty fell to them."
Further details from HSE News
RR845 - Evaluation of Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 - Just Published
March, 2011 • UK
Further details and a copy of the report is obtainable from the HSE Research Website: Link Here
Design Best Practice - Buildability in Design Networking Event
March 28, 2011 • Cheshire, UK
Meeting Overview
Members of the Design Best Practice Group brought together various key Health and Safety groups who are trying to get better overall design solutions from design teams on construction projects.
Outputs from the initial meeting has established a draft framework to bring together greater collaborative working for the improvement of Safety in Design.
Further details on the Design Best Practice Groups initiative can be ascertain via the Groups Website at http://www.dbp.org.uk/feedback.htm
New Design Safety Course Available
Harvard University - Safety in Design and Construction: A Lifecycle Approach
February 28–March 3, 2011 • Boston, MA, USA
Program overview
Safety in Design and Construction was developed using "Design for Safety" theories, which recommend that safety considerations be initiated early in the construction lifecycle, rather than at the construction phase of a project. This proactive approach results in a decrease in accidents and injuries.
This comprehensive Harvard program targets safety and pre-planning during every phase of a project. Beginning with the concept, through design, construction, and operation phases of a new facility, the program considers elimination of hazards to workers and mitigation of environmental compliance requirements. The program will cover accepted strategies and best practices related to every phase of construction.
Source: Harvard University
Architect fined for Design Safety Failure
An architect has been fined £180,000 after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety regulations on a site in which a construction worker was killed.
Oxford Architects Partnership of Oxford was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £60,000 costs after admitting breaching CDM regulations at Bristol Crown Court yesterday (Thursday). The firm admitted it had flouted regulations 13 and 14, which require designers to take safety considerations into account.
The practice had been working on the Exchange conference centre in Bridgwater, Somerset, when Dan Cairns, an employee of subcontractor H&F Air Conditioning, fell to his death in January 2005.
The platform access point from which Mr Cairns fell
The 64-year-old was working on the air conditioning plant which was a built on a platform accessed via a ladder at the edge of a flat roof. The roof only had a low parapet which was not high enough to prevent him from falling 9m to the ground. Speaking after the hearing, the Health & Safety Executive’s inspector Sue Adsett, said: “While it is rare for designers to be charged with breaching health and safety legislation, they must be aware they can be held responsible where bad design is an important contributory factor to a work-place fatality.
“Designers must ensure that plant and equipment can be accessed safely and that safety harnesses are only used as a last resort.”
London-based Express Park Construction Company, which was the main contractor on the site, also pleaded guilty to safety breaches. The firm was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay costs of £68,000.
Source: bdonline.co.uk 30 July 2010 | By David Rogers