IMPROVING DESIGNS FOR SAFETY OF GREEN BUILDINGS: RISK ASSESSMENT OF GREEN FEATURES

Abstract

The relationship between safety and green certified buildings are rarely mentioned in practice. Unfortunately, green buildings would only be truly sustainable if their green features do not pose avoidable injuries and hazards to their users. Some green features do pose complications during the buildings’ maintenance stages, of which are usually overlooked during the design stages. The aim of this paper is to help designers of sustainable buildings recognize the safety and health implications of their designs and recommend suitable risk controls to minimize the safety and health risks during the operation and maintenance of these features. The five most common green features in Singapore's Green Mark buildings will be identified and analysed. Interviews with facility managers were conducted to understand the risks these green features would pose during maintenance stages, of which they also estimated the probability of some of such hazards occurring and their severity. The information provided aided the quantitative risk analysis to determine how tolerable these risks are. The analyses were discussed and recommendations were given. Essentially, falling from height, slipping and tripping would be the more common risk hazards arising from various reasons such as inaccessibility issues. As green buildings are relatively new in Singapore, improvements of green features to be incorporated to ensure greater ease of maintenance in the future may be recommended. The need to highlight these potential risks will help designers and stakeholders identify potential issues and encourage better green feature designs for future green buildings to encompass the true idea of a sustainable building.