abstract: Many accidents occur during construction and maintenance of facilities. Both research and practice have demonstrated that decisions made during the design and planning phases before work at a construction site can influence workers’ safety. The Prevention through Design (PtD) concept is the consideration of construction site safety in the design of a project. In one research study, more than 200 fatality investigation reports were reviewed, and the results showed that 42 percent of fatalities reviewed were linked to the absence of the PtD concept (Behm, 2005). This work indicates that the associated risk that contributed to the incident would have been reduced or eliminated if PtD had been utilized. Researchers have identified the reasons for not applying the PtD concept. The predominant reason is that most architects and design engineers do not learn about construction safety and construction processes required to eliminate construction safety hazards through design. Therefore, Prevention through Design education of architects, design engineers, and construction managers is vital. However, in most curricula, there is no room for an entire course focused on PtD. Therefore, one researcher implemented 70 minutes long lecture-based intervention in a project management class of the civil engineering discipline, but it did not prove effective (Behm, Culvenor, & Dixon, 2014). Hence, there is an opportunity to teach PtD to students using alternative teaching strategies such as computer games. Computer games are routinely considered as the most important and influential medium by college students. In this research study, a serious game and a paper-based game (paper version of the serious game) were developed and implemented. The aim of the study was to measure the effectiveness of alternative teaching methods to train students for safe design thinking. The result shows that the computer game engaged the students in comprehensive hazard recognition challenges. The learning experience of the students was compared to two other interventions: paper-based game and lecture-based teaching. The in-class lecture and the computer game were effective in delivering the prevention through design topics. The game was more effective compared to the lecture. The paper-based game failed to motivate students to learn. This dissertation discusses the possible reasons for success and failures of these pedagogical approaches. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2017

[pt] A indústria da construção civil tem grande impacto no desenvolvimento econômico e social de um país. Apesar de sua importância, é um dos setores que apresentam mais riscos aos seus trabalhadores. Diversos elementos de projetos de edificações podem apresentar riscos de acidentes aos trabalhadores durante a construção. Desta forma, é de grande importância a análise e planejamento da segurança ainda na fase de projeto, segundo o conceito prevenção através do projeto (Prevention through Design - PtD). Mesmo com os estudos nesta área, percebe-se ainda a necessidade de pesquisas voltadas para a análise quantitativa a fim de auxiliar projetistas, sem expertise em segurança do trabalho, no processo de verificação e análise da segurança do projeto, com o objetivo de reduzir riscos de acidentes aos trabalhadores da construção e, consequentemente, elaborar projetos mais seguros. Com esta finalidade, foi desenvolvido um questionário para avaliar a experiência e a opinião de profissionais do ramo da construção civil a respeito do planejamento da segurança da construção. Como resultado, pôde-se concluir que a prática atual diverge da opinião dos respondentes, uma vez que a prática enfatiza o planejamento da segurança na fase de construção, enquanto segundo a opinião dos respondentes, este planejamento também deveria ocorrer nas etapas anteriores à construção. Isto mostra a importância da análise da segurança na fase de projeto. Além disso, com o questionário foram mensurados os níveis de riscos de acidentes diversos para compor as métricas de segurança do projeto desenvolvidas nesta pesquisa que foram utilizadas na avaliação da nota de segurança do projeto. Com isso, foi possível definir processos bem estruturados por meio do uso da metodologia BIM, possibilitando apoiar o(a) projetista nos processos de decisão através da avaliação da segurança do projeto e ainda, na identificação dos elementos de projeto mais críticos para a segurança do trabalhador. Desta forma a metodologia desenvolvida contribui para a elaboração de um projeto mais seguro aos trabalhadores da construção de edificações. / [en] The construction industry generates wealth and jobs, directly impacting the social and economic development of a country. Despite this positive impact, construction workers are exposed to many risks to their health and safety. Many elements in a project can present hazards to workers during the construction phase. With this in mind, it is of great importance to analyze and plan safety in the design phase, according to the Prevention through Design (PtD) concept. Despite the available studies on the subject, there is still a need for quantitative research, to help designers, without expertise in worker s safety, in the process of verification and analysis of project safety, with the purpose that construction workers risks are reduced by designing a safer design. To achieve that, a questionnaire was developed to assess the experience and opinion of professionals in the construction industry regarding construction safety planning. As a result, it was possible to observe that the practice differs from the opinion of the professionals, once the practice emphasizes safety planning in the construction phase, while in the respondents opinion, this planning should occur in the phases prior to construction, with emphasis on the executive design phase. This shows the importance of considering a safety analysis in the design phase. In addition, with the questionnaire, the levels of risk of various accidents were measured, composing the safety metrics of the project, developed in this research for the project s safety score evaluation. Thus, it was possible to define well-structured processes through the use of the BIM methodology, making it possible to support the designer in the decision processes through the evaluation of project safety, contributing to the development of a safer project for construction workers.

Health and safety during construction remains a worldwide challenge that the construction industry is facing. The German construction industry recorded an average of 110,000 accidents per year in the period of 2010 to 2019. A discernible trend toward a decrease in occupational accidents is not visible. In this context, traditional safety planning does not seem to be able to guarantee sufficient health and safety during construction. In line with the BIM Roadmap published by the German Ministry of Transport in 2015, it can be recognized that Building Information Modeling (BIM) is supposed to be increasingly used in upcoming years. This paper aims to identify how BIM could positively impact Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) during construction. Therefore, a thesis procedure, combining quantitative and qualitative research with an in depth literature review is introduced. This study reveals a high added value of using BIM for (1) safety rule checking and design validation and (2) safety education, training and communication. BIM as a decision supporting tool has the potential to reduce the underestimation of safety hazards and improve safety reporting, which have been identified as current vulnerabilities in the construction industry. Furthermore, an added benefit to sustainability following the concept of Construction Hazard Prevention through Design (CHPtD) is illustrated. In practice, however, BIM for OSH remains unused, while those working with BIM are not familiar with safety planning. This study indicates that in order to fully utilize the potential of BIM, intuitiveness and standardization is required, while those implementing BIM and those using BIM need to be aware of and willing to exploit the potential of new technologies. The challenge now is to recognize the potential of BIM in relation to OHS and to actively use BIM for health and safety purposes. / Att skapa en säker arbetsmiljö på byggarbetsplatsen är fortfarande en global utmaning för byggbranschen. I den tyska byggbranschen inträffade till exempel i genomsnitt 110 000 olyckor per år under perioden 2010-2019 och det syns ingen märkbar minskning. I detta sammanhang verkar traditionell säkerhetsplanering inte kunna garantera tillräcklig hälsa och säkerhet under byggandet. I samband med den strategiska BIM-implementeringsplanen som publicerades av det tyska transportministeriet 2015 ska Building Information Modeling (BIM) användas i allt större utsträckning under de kommande åren. Syftet med den här artikeln är att identifiera hur BIM skulle kunna ha en positiv inverkan på arbetsmiljö och säkerhet (OHS) på byggarbetsplatsen. Studien kombinerar kvantitativ och kvalitativ forskning med en djupgående litteraturgenomgång. Resultatet visar att det finns ett stort mervärde i att använda BIM för (1) kontroll av säkerhetsregler och validering av konstruktionen och (2) utbildning, träning och kommunikation om säkerhet. BIM som beslutsstöd kan möjliggöra en mer realistisk bedömning av säkerhetsrisker och förbättra säkerhetsrapporteringen, vilket har identifierats som aktuella sårbarheter i byggbranschen. Det finns också fördelar med att implementera konceptet Construction Hazard Prevention through Design (CHPtD). I praktiken är dock BIM för arbetsmiljöfrågor fortfarande oanvänd, samtidigt som de som arbetar med BIM inte är tillräckligt bekanta med säkerhetsaspekter. För att BIM:s potential ska kunna utnyttjas fullt ut krävs en ökad användarvänlighet och standardisering av verktygen. Samtidigt måste de som implementerar och använder BIM vara medvetna om och villiga att utnyttja den nya teknikens potential. Utmaningen är nu att förstå potentialen av BIM för arbetsmiljöaspekter och att proaktivt använda BIM för att öka säkerheten på byggarbetsplatser.