Built Environment Law and Ethics

Question: Discuss about the Built Environment Law and Ethics. Answer: The term built environment may be defined as the man-made spaces in which people work, dwell and recreate every day and it ranges from parks to buildings. One such example of built environment is our workplace. Our workplaces have evolved over the decades just like the technology, jobs and cities. The changes in the workplaces are the result of the changes that we have undertaken in our working lives (French et al. 2014). Some of the most notable and significant features of this workplace evolution include collaborative spaces, recreational facilities, hot desks and open plan designs. The House of Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment recently stated that the health and welfare of an individual is greatly influenced by their workplace. Applicable law It is a well-established fact that the legal reason for taking the use and design of the workplace is the compliance with the Health and safety law. An infringement of the health and safety laws may result in an enforcement action. A legal proceeding may result in criminal penalties and most importantly, affect the reputation of the organization. One of the most important Australian safety Regulators, Safe Work Australia (SWA) is focusing on the safety of a workplace. SWA recognizes the psychological hazards that environment may cause and has mandated the duty-holders to deal with the same effectively (Meyer, Castro-Schilo and Aguilar-Gaxiola 2014). The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage has introduced the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) Program on behalf of the territory, state and the Commonwealth governments for the purpose of rating the environmental performance of the buildings (Dadzie, Ding and Runeson 2017). It rates the efficiency of water, energy indoor environmental quality and waste management for offices, shopping centers, hotels, etc. NABERS is entrenched in several environmental programs and policies all over Australian. It also includes the NSW Governments Sustainability Policy and Energy Savings Scheme. A sustainable building industry is capable of balancing environmental, economic and social issues in order to ensure a feasible and valuable industry in the future. The building industry includes planning, building, developing or maintaining the built environment. The construction of sustainable buildings is regarded as an opportunity for an effective utilization of resources while constructing buildings, which promotes health and well-being of the employees and enhances the productivity of the organization (Ma, Kent and Mulley 2016). The Australian Building Codes Board is a regulatory authority and a joint initiative of all the levels of Government in Australia that addresses issues relating to health, safety and sustainability in the performance and designs of the buildings. The issues are addressed in accordance with the National Construction Code and the development of effective regulatory systems and other relevant non-regulatory solutions (Badland et al. 2014). Application to Facts It is often reported that environment and building design may have an adverse impact on the well-being of the workers. Poor lighting in the workplace can cause eye pain, headaches fatigue and brain related injuries. Further, lack of natural light also has an adverse impact on the mental health of the workers. The availability of clean water, lack of thermal water and loud noise also leads to unwanted distraction and have an adverse impact upon the health of the employees, which, in turn, affects the productivity, and performance of any organization. Furthermore, if the health and safety issues are not dealt with effectively, it may amount to a breach of the SWA provisions, which may result in criminal proceedings, penalties and damage in the reputation of the organization. The SWA may support compensation claim if the aggrieved establishes that there has been an infringement of the Common Law duty by the employer. However, compensation shall be allowed only after taking into consider ation whether any injury or harm suffered by the aggrieved was foreseeable (Villanueva et al. 2013). Moreover, NABERS has been established for rating the environmental performance of any building and if such building fails to maintain the standard of environmental performance it would also amount to a breach of NABERS. Proposed reforms One of the major challenges for the decision-makers is to safeguard the natural assets. Human habitation may unintentionally threaten the environment, which is fundamental to our styles. In the urban areas, open spaces provide relaxation and recreation and hence, contributes to the mental and the physical health of an individual (Shanahan et al. 2015). Deficit in the planning and designing structure along with other relevant factors, which diminishes our natural and built environment may have an adverse impact not only upon the health but may also affect the wellbeing of the communities. The Australian government is striving to bring improvement in particular sectors like energy, waste and water as improvement in these sectors may have a substantial influence on the sustainability outcomes through better and larger systems such as use of land, settlement patterns etc. For instance, the sustainability outcomes may be influenced through the availability of public transport. Similarly, the construction and design of the urban form also influences the sustainability outcomes, that is, whether the urban form is a transit-development or a water-sensitive urban design project or whether it is a suburban block development. All these factors usually have long-lasting outcomes for the flexibility and sustainability of the cities. Now, if the economy of Australia continues to support the quality of life, it is pertinent that the cities evolve as productive sources of jobs, opportunity and growth. As the proposed reforms suggest the design and construction of buildings influences sustainability outcomes largely, attention must be given to the workers as well. In a modern day workplace, physical inactivity is a common issue such as excessive sitting and it has now been recognized as a health hazard and health and safety issue by the SWA in 2016 (Van der Heijden 2014). However, the requirements of an office occupier have hardly undergone any changes in decades and it is apparent that workspace qualities have a significant impact on the wellbeing and the health of the workers. The health and safety at workplace continues to enhance the risk of liability exposure for the employers. Therefore, according to the proposed reforms, if the Sustainable community packages are effectively implemented then a better planning would not only enhance the economy of the country but also improve the quality of life of its citizens. Reference list Badland, H., Whitzman, C., Lowe, M., Davern, M., Aye, L., Butterworth, I., Hes, D. and Giles-Corti, B., 2014. Urban liveability: emerging lessons from Australia for exploring the potential for indicators to measure the social determinants of health.Social science medicine,111, pp.64-73. Dadzie, J., Ding, G. and Runeson, G., 2017. Relationship between sustainable technology and building age: evidence from Australia.. French, S., Wood, L., Foster, S.A., Giles-Corti, B., Frank, L. and Learnihan, V., 2014. Sense of community and its association with the neighborhood built environment.Environment and Behavior,46(6), pp.677-697. Ma, L., Kent, J.L. and Mulley, C., 2016, September. Transport disadvantage, social exclusion and subjective wellbeing: the role of built environment. Evidence from Sydney, Australia. InAustralasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF), 38th, 2016, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Meyer, O.L., Castro-Schilo, L. and Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., 2014. Determinants of mental health and self-rated health: a model of socioeconomic status, neighborhood safety, and physical activity.American journal of public health,104(9), pp.1734-1741. Shanahan, D.F., Fuller, R.A., Bush, R., Lin, B.B. and Gaston, K.J., 2015. The health benefits of urban nature: how much do we need?.BioScience, p.biv032. Van der Heijden, J., 2014.Governance for urban sustainability and resilience: responding to climate change and the relevance of the built environment. Edward Elgar Publishing. Villanueva, K., Pereira, G., Knuiman, M., Bull, F., Wood, L., Christian, H., Foster, S., Boruff, B.J., Beesley, B., Hickey, S. and Joyce, S., 2013. The impact of the built environment on health across the life course: design of a cross-sectional data linkage study.BMJ open,3(1), p.e002482.