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As a property owner, the Port of Portland has a unique perspective on the safety risks associated with large, complex buildings and infrastructure during demolition, construction, operation and maintenance.

Often during construction activities there is a safety officer on site who ensures that owners, contractors and workers follow safe work practices. However, during nonstandard operations or emergency maintenance work, the risk of an injury or a safety incident can increase. This is especially true if accessibility and safety for responding workers is not considered during a building’s design and construction.

Recently, the Port’s engineering department initiated a formal Prevention Through Design (PTD) safety initiative. This initiative aims to eliminate hazards and minimize risks associated with Port facilities, work methods, processes, equipment and products.

As Port Safety and Loss Control Manager Steve Eversmeyer noted, “PTD is nothing new; it’s what we have always tried to do, but now we have a common process.”

The Port’s PTD initiative and its associated processes help ensure hazard assessments for construction, operations and maintenance so that workers’ safety is considered and included during a building’s design and construction.

Prevention Through Design is a safety initiative led by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in response to the high number of preventable deaths and injuries suffered by construction, maintenance and operations workers.

The NIOSH mission is to “reduce the risk of occupationally related injuries, illnesses, fatalities and exposures by including prevention considerations in all designs that affect individuals in the occupational environment.”

The Port modeled its PTD program and procedures on national safety and engineering standards. These standard procedures and processes help Port management assure that risk assessments occur periodically throughout the design and construction processes. These risk assessments are a systematic way to avoid, eliminate, control or reduce risks in a ranked and sequential order. Residual risks are addressed using engineering controls, warning systems, administrative controls and personal protective equipment.

The Port’s PTD processes help ensure that staff and stakeholder involvement occurs in a timely fashion, with scheduled review sessions for constructability, operability and maintainability. The PTD design processes complement the Port’s endeavors to achieve OSHA SHARP status for its facilities and business operations. The OSHA Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) recognizes and encourages staff involvement; open communication is the key to accident prevention and maintenance of safe operations.

Fall prevention is a good example of the value of the Port’s PTD safety program. Falls are a frequent cause of both fatalities and nonfatal injuries. Nationally, 775 construction-related fatalities occurred in 2012; of these, 278 (36 percent) were the result of falls to lower levels.

When accessing building roofs during construction and maintenance, the Port discovered that employees were too close to roof edges and therefore exposed to potential fall hazards. By designing and constructing a roof parapet that is more than 39 inches tall, many of these dangers can be minimized or even eliminated.

The Port implemented parapet design standards, where appropriate, as a long-term solution to prevent falls. The parapet height standard may eliminate the need for installation of tie-off points and subsequent use of personal fall protection equipment while working on rooftops.

Other PTD design considerations may be less visual or apparent. Perhaps it is nothing more than a discussion with designers or contractors as to how a maintenance employee will access or reach an isolation valve before it is installed. The solution may be as simple as relocating the valve to an accessible location or it may require design and addition of an access ladder and work platform.

While the solutions may vary, the key is to explore safety risk assessments and apply the appropriate hierarchy of controls to reduce those risks before the facility is constructed.

The Port has found that its Prevention Through Design procedures and processes help ensure these conversations and considerations for safety.

Franko Martinec is engineering facilities services manager for the Port of Portland. He has 40 years of experience in the electrical engineering field. The Port is a member of SafeBuild Alliance – a nonprofit organization working to achieve incident-free construction projects through the transformation of workplace cultures. For more information or to join, visit www.safebuildalliance.com.