Safe Design Code Launched 12 June 2008

Post date: Jun 21, 2008 5:34:28 AM

On 12 June the WA Commission for Occupational Health and Safety launched the Code of Practice "Safe Design of Buildings and Structures".

Extract of the media release (see the full release at http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/Corporate/Media/statements/2008/June/Code_of_Practice_on_safe_desig.html)

A new code of practice on the safe design of buildings and other structures - the first of its kind in Australia - was launched at Subiaco Arts Centre today.

The code aims to assist people involved in designing buildings or other structures to meet the requirements of WA's workplace safety and health laws. It is aimed at designers, architects, builders and engineers, all of whom have responsibility for safe building design.

The Code of Practice Safe Design of Buildings and Structures was launched today by Tony Cooke, Chair of the Commission for Occupational Safety and Health, who was joined by Dr John Culvenor PhD, a specialist in industrial ergonomics, human factors, engineering and occupational safety and health.

Dr Culvenor said that safe design applied to every activity and every industry, and that risks should be controlled at design stage wherever possible.

"This includes considering how design can affect workers during construction and how it can later affect maintenance workers," Dr Culvenor said. "The potential hazards to the eventual users of the structure are best addressed via upstream thinking."

See the the Code at http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/PDF/Codes_of_Practice/Safe_design.pdf.