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.
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Medical Construction & Design | JA N UA RY/ F EBRUA RY 2016 | MCDM AG.COM