Ian Abley seems to be in denial about the responsibilities of designers for site safety.

Although it might be better for all concerned if buildings were manufactured off site, the reality is that most construction work still involves some manual labour so it is essential to make the place of work as safe as possible. It isn’t good enough to say that designers have no control over site workers – they have a duty of care to ensure their designs can be built, maintained and used safely.

Although Ian is an architect and member of the RIBA I must stress that his views do not reflect those of the institute or of our members, many of whom, like Tim Gough with the “Safety in Design” initiative or Brian Law with the Association of Project Safety, have worked for many years to raise the level of awareness among architects of safety on site and the designer’s role in ensuring this.

Brendan O’Connor, acting director, RIBA practice department

Topics