A STUDY ON THE FACTORS INFLUENCING DESIGN-FOR-SAFETY CLIMATE

Abstract

The Workplace Safety and Health (Design for Safety) Regulations was enacted on 10 July 2015 and came into force on 1 Aug 2016. Design for safety (DfS) concepts bring safety upstream into design phases where prevention management can be practiced through design. In this paper, DfS Climate is established as a construct to measure developers’ and designers’ perceived importance of DfS during the pre-construction stages of a project. DfS Climate presents a useful feature of research and practice activities to prevent ill health and injuries caused primarily by design. The research begins with a literature review to establish a fundamental understanding on DfS Climate as a construct, as well as the possible factors affecting DfS Climate. This follows with the collection of qualitative data through 15 interviews with experts of various disciplines to explore factors affecting DfS Climate. DfS Climate constructs were determined and a DfS Climate Scale was developed. A preliminary study of the DfS Climate Scale was conducted on an existing project to evaluate the effectiveness of the instrument in measuring developers’ and designers’ perceived importance of DfS. A face validity analysis has revealed that the DfS Climate Scale developed proved to be a valid and useful instrument, where it reflects the core constructs of DfS Climate. Development of a DfS Climate Scale enables measurement of the DfS Climate that can be used to proactively assess an organization’s effectiveness in the identification and mitigation of design-related hazards. This thus reduces and prevents ill health and injuries. Findings from the DfS Climate Scale can reveal gaps between developers’ leadership in DfS and designers’ perception, which can trigger concrete action plans to narrow these gaps. Developers are then equipped with the knowledge to make informed decisions on areas that require attention or better communication, thus ensuring an effective DfS implementation.