Safety constructability: Designer involvement in construction site safety

Project constructability involves the incorporation of construction knowledge in a project's design. Safety constructability - addressing construction safety in the project design - can be thought of as a subset of overall project constructability. Traditionally construction site safety has not been addressed in project designs. The lack of designer involvement in safety has been attributed in part to a design professional's education and experience in addressing construction site safety, restricted role on the project team, and attempt to minimize liability exposure. Recent research studies have identified design professionals as parties who have a significant influence on construction safety. Studies have led to the accumulation of design suggestions that can be implemented into a project's design to minimize or eliminate construction site hazards. This paper describes recent research in the area of safety constructability and provides an overview of the research results. The accumulated design suggestions and the findings of the safety research were used to develop a "safety constructability review process" that provides engineers and architects a guideline for addressing safety constructability. The process provides a means by which design professionals can effectively manage, address, and improve construction site safety during the design phase.