What Is a DfS Review Request Form (RRF)?
A DfS Review Request Form (RRF) is how a Designer or project team member raises a specific foreseeable design risk for consideration in the DfS Register. Together with risks identified against the WSH Guidelines on Design for Safety, RRFs are one of the two normal ways an item reaches the Register — and receipt of one is a common trigger for convening a review meeting.
Direct answer
An RRF is a short request, not a design submission in itself. Its job is to name a foreseeable design concern clearly enough that the DfSP can log it and the right Designers, Contractor and Developer can be brought together — along with the actual drawings, calculations and other design information — to understand and resolve it collectively. It is not a mechanism for the DfSP to redesign the work or to independently assess it before the meeting.
What triggers a DfS review
Items for consideration and entry into the DfS Register generally arise from two sources: foreseeable design risks identified with reference to the WSH Guidelines on Design for Safety and other relevant guidance, and specific matters raised by project stakeholders through an RRF.
DfS reviews are design- and risk-driven rather than run to a fixed calendar frequency. Receipt of an RRF identifying a foreseeable design concern is one of the standard triggers for considering whether a review meeting is necessary — alongside new or revised designs, variations, temporary works designs or specialist contractor designs that arise as construction proceeds.
The DfS review does not constitute an approval or permit-to-work process by the DfSP, and no prior DfSP approval is required before site works commence. Designers, Contractors and other duty holders remain responsible for meeting their own statutory, contractual, design, construction and site-safety obligations independently of the DfS review.
What should be submitted
The party raising an RRF should submit it together with sufficient design information for the matter to be properly understood and discussed — not a finished design solution. Depending on the item, this typically includes:
- relevant drawings and revisions;
- BIM information;
- design details;
- specifications;
- material or product information;
- relevant bills-of-quantities information;
- calculations; and
- any other information necessary to understand the design and the foreseeable design risk.
Where users, operators, maintenance personnel or other persons may reasonably foresee risks arising from the intended use or maintenance of the facility, it can help to involve them in the review directly rather than relying on a secondhand account of their concerns.
How the meeting should be run
A DfS review works best as a collaborative design-risk discussion, not as a presentation of conclusions the DfSP reached independently beforehand. The review team first understands the design — generally by working from the Designer's current drawings, calculations and other design documents directly, rather than from summarised extracts — then identifies foreseeable risks, considers whether they can be eliminated through design, and, where elimination is not reasonably practicable, works out how the risk can be reduced. Residual risks and any follow-up actions are then identified and recorded.
Variation orders, extensions of time, delay, cost or entitlement claims are outside the purpose of a DfS review. These should be dealt with through the project's ordinary contractual procedures, not introduced into — or attributed to — the DfS review process as the basis for a claim.
The end result should be a safer design: foreseeable risks eliminated where reasonably practicable, and reduced as far as reasonably practicable where they cannot be. Agreed design modifications, assigned actions and residual risks are recorded directly in the DfS Register during the meeting, so a separate conventional set of minutes is not normally needed.
Who-Do-What-When
The table below sets out a typical division of responsibility across the life of a single RRF and review item, from submission through to close-out.
| Do what | Who does / presents | When |
|---|---|---|
| Submit RRF and relevant design documents | Designer / project team member raising the concern | Before meeting |
| Enter the item into the DfS Register / meeting agenda | DfSP | Before or during meeting |
| Present and explain the design | Relevant Designer | During meeting |
| Understand the design | DfS review team | During meeting |
| Identify foreseeable design risks | DfS review team, collectively | During meeting |
| Consider whether identified risks can be eliminated through design | DfS review team, collectively, led by the relevant Designer on design solutions | During meeting |
| Where elimination is not reasonably practicable, determine how risk can be reduced | DfS review team, collectively, with the relevant Designer proposing measures | During meeting |
| Identify residual design risks and follow-up actions | DfS review team, collectively | During meeting |
| Record decisions, actions and residual risks in the DfS Register | DfSP | During meeting |
| Carry out agreed design changes / actions | Relevant Designer / Contractor / action party | After meeting |
| Submit evidence of action / revised design, where applicable | Relevant action party | After meeting, by agreed due date |
| Update and close out the DfS Register item | DfSP | After actions are completed, submitted and verified |
Meetings are often held online where practicable — this makes it easier for the relevant Designers and Contractor to join, lets drawings and calculations be shared directly on screen, and gives everyone a clear electronic record of what was discussed, decided and actioned.
See what happens during a DfS review meeting → and who should attend →.
Official references
- LegislationWorkplace Safety and Health (Design for Safety) Regulations 2015, Regulations 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 — Singapore Statutes Online (sso.agc.gov.sg)
- GuidanceWSH Council, Workplace Safety and Health Guidelines — Design for Safety (2022) — official source →
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