Safety Risk Management has, at its core, a philosophy of eliminating risks to health and safety where reasonably practicable. This is supported and enshrined in Australian Work Health and Safety laws. Whilst there are many ways to achieve this, elimination of safety risks at the design stage can often be easier and more cost-effective, rather than retro-fitting a solution that workers then need to manage on an ongoing basis.
The process of identifying hazards and assessing risks at the design stage has come to be known as Safety in Design and is intended to consider the risks to health and safety throughout the lifecycle of a structure or item of plant – from concept, to design, to construction, to use and maintenance, and through to its final disposal. According to Safe Work Australia, unsafe design or design-related factors contributed to one-third of fatalities in Australian workplaces.
Safety in Design requires designers to consider many aspects to their design which can impact a person’s health and safety:
- The intended purpose of the structure or plant
- How it is going to be constructed and the materials to be used
- Applicable Building Codes and Standards
- How builders, operators and maintainers interact with the structure and the type, location and functionality of its interface
- Access points and guarding of moving parts
The way organisations typically tackle Safety in Design is through the use of consultative forums such as Safety in Design Workshops. Ideally the organisation has an integrated Safety in Design process that incorporates risk management principles, and these workshops are the responsibility of the Engineering or Infrastructure Team. Critical to the success of the workshop is the participation of individuals with a core knowledge and insight as to how the structure or piece of plant will be designed, constructed, maintained and disposed of. Attendance therefore by a cross-section of designers, construction personnel, engineers, operators, maintenance workers and WHS representatives is essential.
The Safety in Design workshop is geared to promote the discussion of potential risks over the lifecycle of the structure or plant and through the use of a systematic hazard identification process with the aim to eliminate and design out the risks where reasonably practicable. Where this is not possible, the workshop participants follow the hierarchy of controls to determine what measures can be implemented to minimise the risks to worker health and safety. Based on the workshop’s outcomes, a Risk Register is then developed that acts not only as a record of the Safety in Design Workshop and all of the risks that were considered, but also as a living document that details the additional risk treatments planned for implementation. This information needs to be communicated to the necessary recipients (i.e. the construction team, the operators, the maintenance team) for each stage of the structure’s lifecycle.
In Queensland, the Safe Designs of Structures Code of Practice (2021) has just been updated by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and should be consulted for further information on the duties of designers and requirements for the safe design of structures.
QRMC has considerable experience in applying Safety in Design processes across construction projects through to plant re-design and procurement, contact us for assistance with any of your Safety in Design challenges.
