Design for Safety (DfS) is the process of identifying and reducing safety and health risks through good design at the conceptual and planning phases of a project.
The Workplace Safety and Health (DfS) Regulations 2015 require stakeholders such as Developers, Designers and Contractors to work together at the earliest opportunity from the planning and design phases onwards, to identify and eliminate or reduce all foreseeable risks to an Affected Person’s safety or health throughout the life cycle of a structure being designed, from its construction, operation and maintenance, until its demolition.
The Regulations aim to:
- Place responsibility of the safety and health of workers in the construction industry on those who create the risks;
- Achieve sustained workplace safety and health (WSH) improvements through better coordination amongst all stakeholders by managing the WSH risks upstream at the design and planning phase; and
- Improve the planning and effectiveness of the management of safety and health risks throughout every phase of the construction project, i.e. from design and construction stages through to the maintenance of the completed building.
The Regulations also aims to direct stakeholders to work together and perform their DfS duties, and promote safe execution of construction and maintenance works so that structures (refer to Annex A for definition of “structures”) can be safe workplaces.
Programme Objectives
Total Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Programme objectives typically aim to create and maintain a safe and healthy working environment for employees across all industries.
How Course Objectives is aligned to Continuing Professional Development
- At the end of the course, participants will gain an understanding of each step involved in design for the safety of a building or structure life cycle
- Participants will have the knowledge on how to interpret and comply with the legal and other requirements
- Participants will also gain a deeper understanding of safeguarding the safety and health of the stakeholders; the public, co-workers and themselves.
