Merit Award
Site Safety Installation
Location
New Zealand
Client
Fletcher Construction
Design
Studio Alexander
Design Team
Grant Alexander (creative director); Richard Unsworth, Sam Trustrum (design directors)
Fabrication
Fletcher Construction
Consultants
Felicity Douglas (design manager), Ed Prinsep (production manager), Peter Cowey (client)
Photos
Kristian Frires
Fletcher Construction has large construction sites around New Zealand, with thousands of construction workers involved. To educate workers about how wearing the right safety gear can save their lives, Fletcher asked Studio Alexander (Auckland) to create a site safety education program using environmental graphics at the work sites.
The Studio Alexander team developed a three-tiered environmental installation designed to inspire workers to gear up safely. The first element features larger-than-life photographic portraits of injured construction workers, with text emphasizing the impact of injuries not only on the workers, but on their families. The second piece, positioned in social areas, incorporates real-life stories accompanied by actual x-rays. The final piece is a functional “Check yourself before you wreck yourself” mirrored installation positioned at the entrance to worksites. The mirrored surface forces workers to check themselves before they enter, comparing their gear to the checklist provided.
Jury comments
“This is sophisticated, clever, easy, and touching–a grand evolution of the heartless warning sign. It's finally human.”