Medical Construction & Design

JAN-FEB 2016

Medical Construction & Design (MCD) is the industry's leading source for news and information and reaches all disciplines involved in the healthcare construction and design process.

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BY SHAWN MANLEY Much like patient safety, employee safety is paramount to the professionals that design, install and operate healthcare facili- ties. But despite the highest caution and control, hospitals can be some of the most hazardous places for workers, including the building teams operating around or within the facilities. In many instances, considerations for safety within healthcare facilities are isolated. Architects are concerned with code compliance and other design considerations; engineers primarily focus on maintenance and service access of equipment; the construc- tor executes on building the given design and the owner aims to operate the healthcare facility as safely as possible. What if all involved parties collaborated on safety, ensuring that all key stakeholders share and build upon valuable input for the entire building lifecycle? Enter prevention through design. PtD is the process of mitigating occupational hazards through design solutions that eliminate risks before they exist. Rather than focus on safety equipment and procedures in order to ret- roactively manage hazards, PtD focuses on the root causes. This approach improves worker safety and reduces the associated costs of workplace injuries. It also seeks to eliminate hazards associated with the facility, processes and means and methods used to execute work across any industry. Zoning to promote safety PtD was recently applied to a 970,000-square-foot military healthcare facility in Fort Hood, Texas. A key feature involved an Integrated Building System, which is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' term for use of an interstitial space in facility design whereby a building fl oor is split into three distinct zones. The Process provides enhanced plan for safety Prevention Through Design An accurate BIM model translates to success in the fi eld, meeting the needs of both the design team and the owner. 40 Medical Construction & Design | JA N UA RY/ F EBRUA RY 2016 | MCDM AG.COM

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