1. PREVENTION THROUGH DESIGN: AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Gabrielle Carpenter T. Michael Toole Civil & Environmental Engineering Bucknell University First International Conference on Sustainable Design and Construction March 24, 2011

3. Introduction to Social Sustainability  Brundtland Report (1987): more about Social than Environmental Sustainability  Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line  Environmental  Economic  Social

4. Related Literature to Social Sustainability  Vesilind and Gunn (1998): Engineer’s ethical obligations to:  Deprived people  Distant people  Future people  WBCSD’s Corporate Social Responsibilities include:  “Commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development;  “Improve quality of life of the workforce and their families;  “Improve quality of life of the local community and society at large.”

5. Social Sustainability in Projects  Effect on the surrounding community:  Noise  Traffic  Aesthetics  Risk  Fair wages  Safe work environment

6. Introduction to Prevention through Design  Process of addressing construction site safety and health in design of project  aka Design for Safety, Safety by Design  Design-Builders: URS, Jacobs, Parsons, Bechtel  Owners: Intel, Southern Co., BHP Billiton, ExxonMobil  Required in UK since 1995 and currently required in Australia, Singapore, South Africa

7. PtD Examples: Roofs and Perimeters Skylights Upper story windows Parapet Walls

8. PtD Examples: Prefabrication Steel Stairs Concrete Wall Panels Concrete Segmented Bridge

9. Ethical Reasons for PtD  Typical Annual Construction Accidents in U.S.  Nearly 200,000 serious injuries  1,000+ deaths  National Society of Professional Engineers Code of Ethics  Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public  American Society of Civil Engineers’ Code of Ethics  Engineers shall recognize that the lives, safety, health and welfare of the general public are dependent upon engineering decisions

10. PtD and Social Equity  Do not our duties include minimizing all risks that we have control over?  Do not we have the same duties for construction workers as for the “public”?  Is it ethical to create designs that are not as safe as they could (practically) be?