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O P I N I O N
Prevention through design
“W hen you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.” Deuteronomy 22:8 (New International Version). There’s a push for architects and engineers to consider the safety of construction and maintenance workers when designing new structures.
WHAT IS PREVENTION THROUGH DESIGN? A concept that dates, perhaps, to the days of the Old Testament is getting a fresh look. Known as Prevention Through Design, or PtD for short, some advocates for construction safety are urging that design pro- fessionals consider the safety of construction and maintenance workers when designing new struc- tures. In November 2018, the American Society of Civil Engineers published a provocative article in the Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolu- tion in Engineering and Construction, titled, “Pre- vention through Design: Promising or Perilous?” The article discussed the benefits and risks of PtD. Several other names are used to describe this movement. For example, some call it “Design for Construction Safety,” or “Construction Hazards Prevention through Design.” In the U.K. it is called simply “Safety in Design.” All mean essentially the same thing, that architects and engineers should be considering means and methods of construc- tion when they design buildings and structures. This concept, of course, is totally contrary to the current thinking that design firms design for the end result, the finished building or facility, and it is up to the contractor to determine how to best – and most safely – build it. So-called “means, meth- ods, and techniques” of construction are left solely up to the contractor. Well, that concept could
change if the proponents of PtD have their way. IT’S A DANGEROUS INDUSTRY. Nobody can deny the sta- tistics put out each year by the U.S. Department of Labor, that construction is one of the nation’s most dangerous industries in terms of injuries and loss of life. Due to state workers’ compensation laws, however, which grant immunity to the em- ployer of the injured worker (despite even OSHA citations for violating safety standards), plaintiffs’ lawyers often sue the design professional (who is not immune) claiming violation of some duty owed to the worker. Insurance claim statistics from 1999 to 2008 show that about 3 percent of all claims against design professionals came from injured workers. Suits by injured workers led the design community to clarify responsibility for site safety decades ago in the standard contract documents. For example, the AIA’s A201 Gen- eral Conditions of the Contract for Construction (2017 edition) clearly states: “The Architect will not have control over, charge of, or responsibility for the construction means, methods, techniques, sequences or procedures, or for the safety precau- tions and programs in connection with the Work, since these are solely the Contractor’s rights and responsibilities under the Contract Documents.”
William Quatman
See WILLIAM QUATMAN, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER October 7, 2019, ISSUE 1315
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