ARCHITECTURAL SAFETY

An objective conceptual planning should be to create an environment in which the user can be as safe as possible. Although this is a tall order, many of the accidents that frequently occur in homes, offices, schools, factories, and elsewhere are due as much to the facility design as they are to user errors. The following typical safety considerations are applicable to all architectural systems:

1. Use non-flammable, non-toxic materials. 2. Eliminate sharp edges, corners, etc. that could cause injury. 3. Create properly designed stairs, ramps and walkways. 4. Do not use large ceiling-to-floor glass windows or doors without appropriate barriers to prevent people from walking through them when they are closed. 5. Ground all electrical controls, cover outlets and otherwise prevent people from receiving electric shocks. 6. Provide adequate illumination so that people can see where they are going to avoid tripping over walkway obstruction or step. 7. Use non-skid materials on floors, walkways, and stairs, especially if there is a possibility of their becoming wet. 8. Provide appropriate handrails around balconies and alongside stairs and use railing designs that children cannot fall through or get their heads caught in. 9. Cover moving parts of machines to prevent people from getting their hands or clothing caught. 10. Avoid locating heaters where they can be touched inadvertently or where pilot lights could ignite the structure of adjacent materials or cause an explosion as a result of gas fumes from nearby vehicle. 11. Provide adequate emerging escape routes that can be used in the vent that normal passage ways and exits are impassable. 12. Consider the problems of window washing and of house or building repair in terms of typical unsafe practices associated with ladders and scaffolds. 13. Provide appropriate fencing around facilities from which children should be barred ( example: swimming pools, high-voltage wires, and heaters). 14. Provide fire sprinklers and alarm systems.