Improving Design for Safety: A web-based Design for safety capability maturity indicator (DFS-CMI) tool for the construction sector

The global construction sector is estimated to account for 100,000 fatalities annually and about 30-40% of all fatal occupational injuries. In the UK, although the construction sector accounts for only approximately 5% of the workforce in Britain, it accounts for a disproportionate 31% of occupational fatal injuries to employees. Injuries and new cases of ill health in construction cost society over £1.1 billion a year. The direct and indirect costs of injuries and illnesses resulting from construction are not only borne by the victims and their families, but also by the victims' employers, the construction client, the industry as a whole, and the government.

Due to the socio-economic impacts of the unenviable health and safety record of the construction sector, there are efforts to improve health and safety in construction. Prominent amongst the efforts has been the emphasis on mitigating or eliminating health and safety risks through design, which is commonly referred to in construction as design for safety (DfS). The importance of DfS rests on the fact that design contributes significantly to the occurrence of accidents, injuries and illnesses in construction. DfS requires that designers (e.g. architects and engineers) give careful consideration to how their design decisions would affect the health and safety of builders, maintenance workers, and users of built assets. In the UK, DfS is mandatory under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) which stipulate that designers (organisations/individuals), when preparing or modifying designs, should eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks that may arise during the construction, maintenance and use of built assets. Consequently and understandably, CDM 2015 also requires that the appointment of organisations with design responsibilities should be based on their capability. This brings to the fore the important issue of design firms having adequate maturity in terms of DfS capability. Whilst some design firms may have attained some appreciable maturity in terms of DfS capability, others will also be deficient. Whilst there is a growing body of research on DfS in construction, there is lacking an in-depth understanding of what constitute DfS capability. Furthermore, neither has there been research aimed at understanding the maturity levels related to DfS capability. Consequently, there is lacking a robust systematic approach for ascertaining the DfS capability maturity of construction organisations with design responsibilities to pave way for improvements in DfS capability. Borrowing from the popular maxim that, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it", and considering the significance of design to health and safety, this research will develop a web-based DfS capability maturity indicator (DfS-CMI) tool which will offer a robust and systematic approach for diagnosing the DfS capability of construction supply chain organisations involved in architectural and engineering design.

The research will employ an expert group technique and ICT tool development and testing processes. The DfS-CMI tool will serve as a robust process improvement tool to enable architectural, engineering design and construction firms to improve their DfS capability. The tool will also provide a mechanism for ascertaining the DfS capability of organisations under the CDM 2015 regulations.

Planned Impact
The main beneficiaries (i.e. non-academic users) from this research are:

1. Architectural and Engineering Design Firms
There are over 20,000 architectural, civil/structural engineering, and building services engineering firms in the UK construction sector. These professional services firms could use the design for safety capability maturity indicator (DfS-CMI) tool to self-assess their DfS capability and on that basis make informed plans and take action to improve their capability.

2. Construction companies (especially Design & Build Contractors)
There are over 200,000 construction contractors in the UK some of which provide design and build services and as such have in-house design units. Like design firms, the design & build contractors could also use the DfS-CMI tool for self-assessment in order to direct their strategy to continuously improve their DfS capability.

3. Construction clients/client representatives (e.g. construction project management firms)
The DfS-CMI tool will provide a robust mechanism to help clients to fulfil their legal duty of appointing organisations with design responsibility based on their capability as required by the CDM 2015 regulations.

4. Construction Health and Safety Consulting Firms and The Health Safety Executive (HSE)
Construction health and safety consultants, in providing advisory services to construction organisations with design responsibilities, could use the DfS-CMI tool to tailor advice on specific areas of DfS capability in which such organisations may be deficient. The HSE, being the regulator for health and safety in the UK, would also benefit from the research, particularly from the insight into what constitutes organisational capability in terms of DfS (i.e. the DfS KPA). This insight could help shape the HSE's views on DfS capability and potentially have policy implications.

The use of the tool and various aspects of the research outcomes by the above stakeholders will have far-reaching impacts for health and safety in UK construction and beyond through improvement in the DfS capability of architectural, engineering design and construction firms. Improvement in design for safety capability would imply more inherently safer designs and consequently a reduction in construction accidents, injuries, illnesses and their associated socio-economic costs.

To facilitate impact of the research amongst the above stakeholders, several pathways will be used. These include: a project website which will provide information about the research to enable stakeholders to engage longitudinally with the research process; briefing reports (in pamphlet form sent via post and electronically) to provide highlights of the research outcomes including the DfS-CMI tool and its benefits to the above beneficiary groups; two practitioner-facing seminars to demonstrate the DfS-CMI tool; web2.0 technology (i.e. LinkedIn) to post research updates to relevant industry groups; practitioner-facing briefing articles; and the University of the West of England external communication channels. The academic team and industry partners of the project coalition will use their industry connections and networks to promote the dissemination of the research outcomes.