Hazards identification during design phase

Abstract

Occupational risk prevention should be an integral part of the design process since its earliest stage to achieve a reliable level of safety. So, designers should assess the design at each stage, identifying any significant hazard, eliminating it by changing the project itself. All designs progresses from the concept to detail, but in buildings rehabilitation there is a high uncertainty of former construction processes, materials, structural stability, among others. Considering the lack of information for risk prevention in the design phase of old building rehabilitation, the characteristic of XIX Century buildings of Porto historical center were studied. Aiming to support designers in the hazards identification in an early stage of the rehabilitation design process, were developed hazard identification sheets based on different constructive processes. It can be concluded that this tools can give designers support to modify their options to eliminate/reduce the hazards during the construction and the use phase. (c) 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London.