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Introduction
Many past research studies and publications on construction safety have focused on controlling site risks during construction (Gambatese and Hinze, 1999); however, the preventive measures taken were not necessarily considered as the most effective approaches. Recent studies have aimed to “design out” hazards, implement less hazardous elements or reduce the level of hazardous exposures in the workplace through implementing prevention through design (PtD) (Schulte et al., 2008), as safety on construction sites is impacted when designers incorporate the design-for-safety concept (Behm, 2005; Gambatese et al., 2008). To help designers adopt the PtD concept, a number of research studies have been conducted, including describing PtD implementation directions (Schulte et al., 2008) and identifying PtD trajectories (Toole and Gambatese, 2008). However, a lack of designer knowledge regarding safety and construction processes (Toole and Gambatese, 2008; Gangolells et al., 2010), and limited availability of design-for-safety tools, guidelines and procedures have hampered hazard mitigation during design.
Proactive identification and elimination of potential hazards is safer and more cost effective than reactive management (Toole and Gambatese, 2008). Therefore, integration of risk assessment and mitigation efforts in the early phases of a project shows promise in controlling site risks effectively and economically. However, only limited research studies have been conducted to integrate construction health and safety considerations in the planning and design phases (Gangolells et al., 2010). Tools have been invented to provide designers with resources for hazard recognition and risk mitigation during the design, but the majority of them are text-based standalone tools, either in paper or software format (Ku and Mills, 2010). The tools often require designers to devote a significant amount of time to look for the applicable information. According to Frijters and Swuste (2008), the designers’ main concerns in using PtD tools are that the design process is not significantly disrupted and that their freedom in designing is not impaired. Apparently, the majority of current PtD tools do not satisfy their wishes, which is also a major barrier to PtD implementation.
Building information modeling (BIM), as one of the most advanced developments in the industry, changes the way safety can be approached (Zhang et al., 2013). BIM offers new approaches for designers to effectively “design out” or minimize hazards and...