Designing a Safer, More Sustainable Future: Jacobs Team Wins Prevention through Design Award for de5ign

Preventing injuries is a top priority for every workplace, especially on active construction sites. The greatest opportunity to eliminate, minimize or control occupational injuries, illnesses and fatalities is during a project’s design stage. Prevention through Design (PtD) promotes this concept through a process that enables a designer to consider hazards which may impact those executing the designs or those working with design process products during an asset’s lifecycle, ultimately giving those who are tasked with building and constructing designs a safer environment in which to work. 

de5ign (pronounced “five in design”) is Jacobs’ sustainable design management program that applies five behaviors to designs to benefit both people and the environment and leave a lasting, positive legacy. Recently, one of our Jacobs teams applied de5ign at a life sciences client project site, winning a 2024 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Prevention through Design (PtD) Award. 

Collaborating with a client to design and build a large, complex greenfield life sciences manufacturing facility, our team had a goal to reduce risks for those working at height. This particular goal was especially critical as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration notes falls as the leading cause of fatalities in the U.S. construction industry. Construction management partnered with the design safety team to apply de5ign during the earliest design phases to minimize the need for construction workers to be at height. Early cost-influence thinking prevented more than 700,000 hours of working at height. Additionally, there have been zero lost-time injuries, zero recordable injuries and zero falls from height.

For the team’s efforts, we’ve been selected as the Organizational Winner for the 2024 Prevention through Design Awards. Representatives from NIOSH, National Safety Council, American Industrial Hygiene Association and American Society of Safety Professionals judged the award submissions. 

“BeyondZero is the foundation of Jacobs’ culture and underpins our commitment to the safety, health and wellbeing of people and our environment. de5ign embodies our culture by driving an upward curve of behavior toward sustainable design decisions,” said Jacobs Senior Vice President Koti Vadlamudi. “We’re honored to win the award because it reflects how we use our knowledge and imagination to create brilliant solutions for our clients.”

Jacobs Health, Safety & Environment Director Jane Beaudry, Jacobs Health & Safety Senior Manager Bob Moser, and Jacobs Vice President Dana Tilley accepted the award at the 2024 AIHA Connect Conference. Jacobs Health, Safety & Environment Senior Associate Director Ray Coleman prepared the award submission.

Jacobs applies de5ign to client projects around the world.