Implementation of Design for Safety (DfS) in Construction in Developing Countries: A Study of Designers in Malaysia

Abstract

Design for Safety (DfS) is a concept that emphasises eliminating health and safety hazards to construction workers in the design phase. However, despite the importance of DfS implementation, there are limited studies on DfS in developing countries, including Malaysia. This research, therefore, investigates DfS implementation among design professionals in the Malaysian construction industry through a questionnaire survey. The response was analysed by conducting descriptive analyses and inferential statistical tests. The findings revealed a high implementation of DfS practices among designers parallel with having high awareness of DfS concept and a positive attitude towards DfS implementation. However, the engagement in DfS professional training is low, despite the fact that the designers showed a high interest in DfS professional training. While the findings revealed limited association between the implementation of DfS practices and designers’ professional body membership, designers’ professional role, and the size of designers’ organisation, the findings also showed that DfS awareness and DfS training were associated with greater implementation of DfS practices. Furthermore, the design professionals perceive DfS education, client’s influence and DfS legislation as being the most important factors that affect DfS implementation in Malaysia. This study adds to the current DfS body of knowledge by providing deeper insights into the current state of designer awareness, education training, influencing factors, and DfS engagement, especially when DfS legislative framework is in place. Such findings could serve as a guide for other countries in the event of future developments related to DfS implementation.

Design for safety in the construction industry: a study of architecture and engineering firms in Saudi Arabia

“…The descriptive statistical analysis, including the mean and frequencies, was used for the obtained data and executed in Microsoft Excel. In line with previous similar studies (Manu et al, 2019b;Abueisheh et al, 2020;Christermaller et al, 2022), a mean score that is significantly greater than 3.5 is interpreted to indicate a "often" for frequency of engagement with DfS practices, as well as "high" importance and "high" impact, for attitude toward DfS implementation and its critical success factors, respectively.…”

“…This research mainly entailed a thorough literature review of previous existing studies and the development of a questionnaire survey in line with other construction safety studies (Manu et al , 2014; Sharar et al , 2022). DfS studies within construction have focused on DfS knowledge/awareness, implementation of DfS and factors/barriers influencing DfS implementation (Goh and Chua, 2016; Poghosyan et al , 2018; Sharar et al , 2022; Christermaller et al , 2022). Thus, the questionnaire contained four sections, including respondents’ background information, knowledge and awareness of DfS, attitude toward the implementation of DfS and critical success factors for DfS implementation.…”

“…Ibrahim et al (2022) presented a scientometric review of 167 journal articles related to DfS in construction and suggested that the current wave of interest Symberszki's chart of influence over a product's lifecycle (Szymberski, 1997) Design for safety in DfS started around 2008, while 2019 ushered in new interests in DfS in developing countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Malaysia and Palestine. Nevertheless, studies on DfS implementation in emerging economies are still inadequate (Manu et al, 2019a;Christermaller et al, 2022), including countries in the GCC (Sharar et al, 2022). A nonexhaustive and descriptive review of works that exist in the research domain is presented here.…”

“…The study used questionnaires and discussion forums and suggested that there is a need to improve engineer’s knowledge of principles related to DfS. Another study in Malaysia was presented by Christermaller et al (2022) on the implementation of DfS among design professionals using a questionnaire survey. The study revealed a high level of awareness, attitude and implementation.…”

“…Despite the rapid research growth on DfS, most of the work done has been in North America, Australia and Europe (Manu et al, 2021). Though significant interest among scholars in emerging economies is beginning to grow (Manu et al, 2019a;Abueisheh et al, 2020;Ibrahim et al, 2022;Christermaller et al, 2022;Sharar et al, 2022), the research gap on the practice of DfS in emerging economies such as Saudi Arabia is still wide. Additionally, the concept of DfS is yet to become a standard practice by professionals in the region.…”