Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into university ...

Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into university educationthe presentation of a specific workplace layout (drawing, cross sections, elevationand perspective views) meeting the objectives of the Application Prévention plan ofthe INRS to allow for occupational risk prevention from the workplace design stage.Accordingly, six research aspects considered as design materials were submittedto the students, with the obligation to treat at least three of them. In order ofimportance, these aspects were functionality, building maintenance, flows (routingand circuits for people and equipment), natural lighting, noise, natural ventilation andthermal environments.On June 1, 2007 the 33 students selected presented their 17 proposals to aninternational jury consisting of teachers, architects and OSH experts. It was hard tochoose the prize-winners. For this reason the two representatives of the INRS andthe CRAM Auvergne insurance fund decided to award their special risk prevention,occupational health and safety prize to a team from each of the three schools. Forthe French school, the prize was awarded to the design by two female students.Proposing the construction of a library on ten levels, they designed a cafeteriaorganised according to user traffic, with a service passageway for cleaning theoutside windows for the safety of maintenance personnel, closed reading areas toreduce noise, and ventilation and heating enhanced by facades incorporating a selfsupportingsteel cladding.Several other projects emphasised the use of natural light, with, for example, largeopenings on the facades or even, for one of them, the installation of power-operatedsunshades. Another, again, inspired by a system in use on the Sears Tower in Chicago,proposed automatic cleaning with a scraper moving along a rail. In any case, all thedesigns took into account the concepts of comfort and occupational risk prevention.Since the INRS and the CRAM Auvergne fund became involved in the design contestthey have found that the best architectural designs are those which also best takeinto account occupational safety and health concepts. The overall first prize hasalways been awarded to a project that was also favoured by the OHS experts. In 2007,it was won by a German student, who should now be able to apply risk preventionrules when he begins his working life. In the Lacobus 2008 design contest candidatespresented their design proposals to the Regensburg faculty of architecture forthe renovation of a heritage space in the Auvergne region chosen by the ENSACFteachers.E u r o p e a n Ag e n c y f o r Sa f e t y a n d He a l t h a t Wo r kResults and evaluationBy comparison with the previous years, the progress achieved in 2007 wasconsiderable. By taking into account the future use of the renovation projects,the schools had the opportunity to include the health and safety in their teachingprogramme. This shows the importance for future architects of having been madeaware of the concepts of utility and risk prevention during their studies especiallythrough the use of practical projects.The fact that the awarded projects are also those which take account of OSH needsbest demonstrates that students are learning the OSH lesson and it also demonstratesto the students that best practice in OSH is indeed part and parcel of designexcellence.97