Safe design doesn’t have to be boring! The ‘Not boring safe design course’. Safe design can prevent injury, improve productivity and usability, reduce costs, and help manage production and operations of your design projects. But most importantly, it incorporates innovative, best practice design principles. As building designers, safe design also helps you meet your […]
Safe Design – A Legal Overview* This article on ‘Safe Design – A Legal Overview’ is an excerpt of content from Safe Design Australia’s ebook “Safe Design in Practice, for designers of structures.’ It’s important to remember that the purpose of the Work Health and Safety Act (WHS) is about encouraging a collaborative approach […]
Safe Design Legislation – Some Definitions The following are definitions of key terms and aspects from Australia’s Safe Design Legislation, explaining the various parties and contributors as well as key elements in the WHS Act and legislation. Here we explain: Design and Designer Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) Principal Contractor Reasonably Practicable Recognised […]
Case Study: Safety in Design for Residential Structures Safety in Design for Residential structures This case study for safety in design for residential structures is a compilation of design planning and structure issues from several different residential building and renovation projects. The designer was commissioned to renovate a coastal house, including the addition of a […]
The Genoa Bridge Tragedy. The question of responsibility. The Genoa Bridge Tragedy: On 14 August 2018, a viaduct – a major motorway, constructed in the 1960s in the north of Italy, collapsed, killing 43 people. Cars, trucks and people dropped suddenly, crashing to the ground 150 metres below. Sounds surreal in this day and […]
Whose responsibility is it to ensure design safety? Responsibility for safe design. The biggest mistake many building design and architectural practices make is assuming they do not need to do anything in relation to their duties under work health and safety (WHS) legislation. The reality is that designers in most states and territories throughout […]
Case Study: Safe Maintenance for Affinity Water, United Kingdom Innovative office design for safe maintenance This building was designed for Affinity Water in Hatfield Business Park in the United Kingdom. Safe maintenance was a key component in the design considerations. The client wanted a statement building that would: reflect their corporate ethos, promote collaborative working, […]
Duties of Designers under Safe Design legislation ‘Safe design’ of structures involves designers preventing potential injuries by considering safety throughout the design process. Analysis of fatal accidents on building sites show that many are due to shortcomings in design as well as organisational problems. So what are the duties of designers during the design […]
Case Study: Childcare Centre Safe Design This case study is a compilation of issues from several different childcare projects. Identifying hazards during the design phase Every project has its own unique considerations, and in this particular project, the design brief required the conversion of an existing structure – a three storey building – into […]
The benefit of hindsight. Changing outcomes for the future. Safe design. The benefit of hindsight… In February this year, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit regions of Taiwan. The image of a propped up Marshall Hotel in Huelin did the rounds on social media. Many thought this image was comical (particularly without background of what happened) […]
