The current and growing construction industry in the country has led to increasing of accidents related to construction workers. In an attempt to decrease accidents on site, the design safety concept is the most suitable measures to date. Though the impact is evident and potential benefits of its implementation are apparent, widespread application of this intervention in the Malaysia’s construction industry is currently lacking especially in the academic sector. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the integration of safety and health to the current curricula focusing on the engineering programmes and their perceptions towards design safety concept and its implementation. The types of design disciplines included in the research study were limited to academicians. A total of 72 respondents received via questionnaire and the responses were scored on a 5-point Likert Scale to express their level of agreement. The results show that the graduates are not equipped with adequate knowledge of safety and health legislation and regulations through the current curricula and disagree that the content of the programmes is adequate. Although majority agree on the positive effect of design safety towards accidents on site, there is still minority who believe that the concept has no significant effect towards site safety. However, this paper concludes that there is no major impediment from the academic sector on the implementation and integration of design safety concept to the undergraduate curricula. The implementation of design safety should be in a well organized structure for effective results towards zeroaccident as well as increases the designers ’ value in the construction industry.
In regards to the Malaysia’s Master Plan for Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry 2005-2010 [
Design for Construction Safety (DfCS) is a process where it influence design decisions of a permanent building, facility or structure to eliminate, mitigate or reduce the need of personal protective equipment such as fall protection both during construction phase and maintenance [
In order to perform this concept successfully, the designers are required to retain a solid understanding of occupational health and safety to be able to incorporate this into their design [
The initial step in accomplishing this is through the interference of the accreditation board [
The universities rely on the accreditation bodies to gain public recognition of the courses offered which may resulting in merely compromising important skills required by the profession in order to satisfy the demanding university curriculum requirement. These lead to the second proposal by the MPOSH to make it as a requirement or regulations by the accreditation board to integrate Occupational Safety and Health content into all undergraduate curriculums especially in engineering, architecture, surveying and other related courses [
The emphasis of design safety concept in the curricula can helps to improve the poor safety record of the construction industry. One of the approaches that may be effective is by integrating it into the existing courses through case studies and outlining problems faced by real designers so that they are able to transform the knowledge and apply during practicing [
There are plenty of studies researched on design safety concept including the intervention, implementation, tools, impacts, solutions and results in implementation. However, only few studies touched on the implementation and intervention of this concept. The viability of the design safety concept must consider the factors that impacting the implementation and the impact resulting from the implementation [
1) What is the practice of health and safety integration in the current curriculum?
2) How the current health and safety is being integrated into the undergraduate engineering program?
3) What is the perception and acceptance level of design safety concept by the academician?
The types of design disciplines included in the research study were limited to academicians. Through the use of a survey, respondents were asked to answers three sections. Section A was designed to capture personal data about the following variables, expertise, years of experience and academic role. These variables were considered to be possible independent variables that influenced the academicians’ perception on design safety. Section B was designed to capture on the current health and safety integration in the undergraduate programmes. Section C focussed on the academicians’ perception and awareness on this concept. The survey was distributed by using the online survey tool Google Forms, by hand and by airmail. All identifying information from participants was stripped from the responses prior to data analysis. The data were analysed using SPSS computer program.
The respondents had varied backgrounds representing a variety of expertise, durations of work experience and their role in the academic position. Of those 72 respondents, 38.9% are under the civil engineering program, 29.2% are under the architecture program and 31.9% for construction program. The majority of the respondents (59.7%) have more than 10 years experience in the academic sector. The respondents consist of n = 21 lecturer, n = 23 senior lecturer, n = 8 head of department, n = 9 associate professor, n = 11 professor.
The mean score for current education culture among academicians was 2.43. This below average value indicates that academicians mostly do not agree that their current lectures or teaching system involved design safety concept. Based on
Statements | Mean (Sd) |
---|---|
Our graduates are equipped with adequate knowledge of health and safety legislation and construction regulations | 2.6389 (1.06554) |
Our undergraduate programmes provide an opportunity to develop understanding of health and safety | 3.2361 (0.98572) |
Our health and safety content of undergraduate programmes is adequate | 2.5972 (0.86659) |
Our students are informed that it is very important to consider safety and health towards the construction site safety during designing | 3.7222 (0.85945) |
The variable was analysed using ANOVA to identify if there any statistically significance difference among the expertise, years of experience and role. There was no statistically significant different between groups of expertise (F(2,72) = 1.575, p = 0.214), years of experience (F(4,72) = 0.406, p = 0.804) and academic role (F(4,72) = 0.309, p = .871) as the significant value is p > 0.050.
The extents to which the academicians are currently integrating design for construction safety concept are examined. The respondents were asked “How the current health and safety is being integrated into the undergraduate engineering program?”. From 72 respondents, three respondents stated that their department strongly encourages site visits to construction sites in the purpose of deepen their safety knowledge in terms of identifying the potential hazards and unsafe acts commonly occur in construction site. Whereas, 19 respondents listed out subjects where safety topic is applied Construction Project Management (11), Construction Technology (4), Engineering Management (4), Professional practice (4), Occupational health and Safety (3), Legal studies (1) and Principles of measurement (1). Two respondents stated that there is no input of safety design in their current curricula while the other respondents have no response on the questions.
The academicians were asked on their perception of the impact of design safety concept. When asked whether by instilling design safety, will the rate of accidents in Malaysia minimize? Majority of the respondents (76.4%) agreed on the effect of the integration of design safety towards minimizing the rate of construction accidents. In response to the question “Should the Accreditation board establish an accreditation requirement on the need of design safety in the curriculum?” majority of the respondents (72.2%) agreed while others disagreed. The comments stated by these respondents are that the current accreditation is sufficient therefore it is not necessary for this addition. Above that, one respondents stated that awareness towards the designers will not have much effect to site safety as the actual works is done by the contractors therefore it is more relevant that the contractors attends safety education. This result is in line with responses received in a past research that stated site safety is completely under the control and responsibility of the contractor.
The result shows that eight respondents agreed on the effects of design safety towards minimizing site accidents however disagree on the integration of the concept in the undergraduate programme. They suggest that design safety to be included in the current subject as one of the topic or offered as an elective subject. The respondents felt that the current curriculum is already packed with more important engineering subject therefore additional subject will burden the students. In addition to that, one of the respondents stressed that the implementation should only be in action when there is adequate experts on this concept while another stated that even if it taught during their formal education, it is an individual awareness to apply the concept during practicing.
The result also shows that seven respondents disagree on the effect of design safety towards accidents but agree on the implementation through the accreditation board. Contradicts with the earlier reasons, these respondents felt that although they don’t see the relation between design safety and site accidents, they feel that additional knowledge on safety is important for the students and future designers. This knowledge may increase their awareness and therefore lead to consideration to take serious measures when it comes to risks and hazards during designing stage.
This paper reveals to which extent the safety and health awareness is fostered during the undergraduate program. Identifying the level of awareness is important in order to identify the adequacy of the current curricula in terms of design safety. Safety awareness cultivated in the early stages of learning is the first of many steps in order to proceed with the implementation of design safety to the construction industry by intervention through engineering curriculum. The current curricula have minimal intervention on design safety however the academician makes an effort to instil the importance of safety and health to their students. This paper concludes that there is no major impediment from the academic sector on the implementation and integration of design safety concept to the undergraduate curricula as similar to the acceptance of the concept on behalf the engineers’ perspective based on past research. However, the integration should be in a well organized structure and not in haste to ensure effective results.
This paper suggests that in order to promote the integration of safety and health into the current curricula, the first step is to produce a well-organized implementation framework. An implementation framework with stage appropriate activities is necessary for a successful new practices or change. This framework may include factors affecting the implementation, processes and results of implementation. With the use of the framework, cooperation between all parties; government bodies, accreditation board, universities, academicians and professionals, are important for a smooth and successful integration.
This work was supported in part by UTM Zamalah Scholarship.
Misnan, M.S., Azmi, W.F.W., Mohamed, S.F., Ramly, Z.M., Yusof, Z.M. and Othman, N. (2017) Integration of Design Safety into Curricula in the Undergraduate Programs: The Academician Perspective. Open Journal of Safety Science and Technology, 7, 106-112. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojsst.2017.73010