Prevention through design: conceptual models for the assessment of a principal designer’s skills, knowledge and experience
Abstract
Purpose - The prevention through design (PtD) initiative places a duty on designers to originate designs that are inherently safe for construction, maintenance, occupation and demolition. In the UK, legislation has been introduced creating a new statutory role called the Principal Designer (PD) to ensure that PtD occurs during the design process. In order to realize this objective, Principal Designers under the Regulations must have appropriate skills, knowledge and experience (SKE) of occupational safety and health (OSH) risks as they relate to construction products. However, there is a paucity of knowledge, in the extant literature and in practice, regarding what specifically constitutes Principal Designers’ skills, knowledge and experience of PtD as well as how to measure same. Design/Methodology/Approach – The study undertook a systematic review of meanings of skills, knowledge and experience, and carried out content analyses to provide robust conceptualizations of the constructs skill, knowledge and experience. This underpinned the development of nomological networks to operationalize the constructs skills, knowledge and experience in respect of Principal Designers’ ability to ensure PtD. Results – Principal Designers’ skills, knowledge and experience of PtD are presented as multi-dimensional constructs that can be operationalized at different levels of specificity in three theoretical models. Practical implications – The models indicated in this study can assist project clients to clarify the PtD skills, knowledge and experience of prospective Principal Designers in the procurement process. Correspondingly, Principal Designers can look to these frameworks to identify their skills, knowledge and experience gaps and take steps to address them. Originality/Value – This study contributes to the PtD literature by providing theoretical frameworks to clarify the PtD skills, knowledge and experience of Principal Designers. The study provides a basis for future research to empirically test the attributes of these as they relate to Principal Designers’ competence to ensure PtD.Citation
Adaku, E., Ankrah, N.A. and Ndekugri, I.E. (2021) Prevention through design: conceptual models for the assessment of a principal designer’s skills, knowledge and experience, Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-07-2020-0278Publisher
EmeraldJournal
Journal of Engineering, Design and TechnologyAdditional Links
https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1726-0531Type
Journal articleLanguage
enDescription
This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-07-2020-0278 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.ISSN
1726-0531ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1108/JEDT-07-2020-0278
Scopus Count
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