Changing paradigms for professional engineering practice towards safe design—an Australian perspective

Safety in machinery design and construction: Knowledge and performance

“…On the other hand decision makers with a trade background, or no qualification or trade had a narrower knowledge base for gathering, interpreting and applying information, as reflected in the comments of some tradesmen who described themselves as 'practical' or 'hands on people', 'not intellectual people'. Importantly, differences in capacity could not be attributed to disparities in safety education in professional or vocational programs as, at the time of data collection, the safety role of designers and manufacturers had not featured strongly in relevant programs in Australia (Caple, 2000;Toft et al, 2003; and see ASCC, 2008; NOHSC, 1998).…”

National Prevention through Design (PtD) Initiative

“…Research focuses on a broad range of questions pertaining to design effectiveness, linkage of designs to morbidity and mortality, metrics for assessing designs, diffusion of information, and economic and business issues. The second area focuses on influencing the practices of design professionals and of those who purchase their products and processes with safer designs (Toft, Howard, & Jorgensen, 2003). Design professionals are driven not only by the science of their profession, but by the demands of the market.…”

“…Due to the global influence on economies, workplaces, designs, and occupational safety and health, any major initiative, such as PtD, needs to have global input and support. There are many examples, in the United States and other countries, where PtD is being considered (Driscoll et al, 2005;Toft, Howard, & Jorgensen, 2003;Robinowitz & Hager, 2000). Bringing together and sharing these ideas and efforts could strengthen each one individually.…”

Occupational Health and Safety Management in Polish Enterprises. Problems and Challenges

“…Human behaviour largely determines the current and future state of security. The most important issue related to the prevention and minimization of damage is the ability to see existing threats, take actions to minimize them and, at the same time, be aware of their potential consequences (Toft et al 2003). Occupational health and safety management consists in ensuring the conditions and organization of work and the behaviour of employees that guarantee the required level of health and life protection against hazards in the work environment.…”