Design and Planning for Safety (DPfS): A Factor Modeling Approach to Find the Best Response to Hazard

This paper presents a framework of a decision support system for construction hazard identification and analysis which is a core process of design and planning for safety (DPfS). The paper aims to: (1) review the shortcomings of current hazard identification and analysis tools and processes; and (2) proposes an alternative hazard identification and analysis approach. Contribution of the outputs of phase one and two on the decision to select between the available response options or even proposing a creative response is very limited and negligible. In other words, the response to hazard is being made in the designer's / hazard analyst's mind implicitly without any explicit structure or data transmitted from phase 1 and 2.To address this problem, this research examines literature on how hazard data is collected in phase 1, and how it is analyzed in phase 2. Based on the reviewed literature, the paper presents a structure to collect context specific and process relevant data for phase 1 and proposes an analysis process to enhance phase 2 in order to help the designer and hazard analyst to select the most appropriate response to hazard. The paper concludes with a conceptual framework for hazard analysis that involves the concepts of "impacting factors" of each hazard type and defining a "risk profile" (RP) and "risk filter" (RF) for each "available response", and comparing "RP and RF of the available responses" with "profile of the hazard source". This research contributes to the hazard analysis literature for design and planning for safety (DPfS).