The influence of engineering designers on health and safety during construction : : technical paper

Relative to other industries in South Africa and construction industries world wide, the construction process generates a disproportionate number of fatalities, injuries and disease, the direct and indirect cost of which contributes to the cost of construction. Designers influence health and safety (H&S) directly and indirectly. Directly as a result of design, supervisory and administrative interventions. Indirectly, as a result of type of procurement system used, pre-qualification, project time, partnering and the facilitating of pre-planning. The purpose of the paper is to present the results of a study conducted among engineering practices in South Africa to determine their perceptions and practices relative to H&S. The following constitute the salient findings. Quality, public H&S, schedule and cost are more important than H&S. H&S is considered / referred to on most design, procurement and construction occasions. A number of procurement related situations and actions that negatively affect H&S are often encountered and a number of design, procurement and construction actions could contribute to an improvement in H&S. Experience predominates in terms of the means by which H&S knowledge was acquired.