Healthcare Design - April 2015 - 12

MONITOR
Green rating systems: a breakdown
The list of product rating systems, certifications, and online tools for researching and evaluating sustainable and healthy
products and materials for healthcare environments keeps expanding. In this chart, Healthcare Design breaks down a few
worth considering and explains how they can help on your next project.-AD

GreenScreen for Safer
Chemicals
greenscreenchemicals.org

Forest Stewardship
Council
fsc.org

Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program
c2ccertified.org

Pharos Project
pharosproject.net

Level
http://level
certified.org

SCS Global Services
(SCS)
scsglobalservices.com

Quick take

Screening tool for
chemicals of concern in
materials and products

Sets certification standards for products from
responsibly managed
forests

Multi-attribute third-party
assessment system for
materials

Online tool for
researching chemical hazards and
comparing building
product contents

Third-party certification program for
the multi-attribute
American National
Standards Institute
(ANSI)/Business and
Institutional Furniture Manufacturers
Association (BIFMA)
e3 Furniture Sustainability Standard

Internationally recognized
third-party certification body and standards
developer

Who oversees
accreditation
or program

Clean Production Action

Accreditation Services
International

Cradle to Cradle Products
Innovation Institute

Healthy Building
Network

ANSI for accreditation; BIFMA licenses
the Level mark

SCS oversees several
proprietary certification
programs, and also is
accredited by numerous entities, including
ANSI, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, and California
Air Resources Board.

Cost to
use; cost to
participate

Free downloadable
database. Cost of
product/material assessment determined by a
GreenScreen profiler and
depends on amount of
data to review.

Audit costs vary based on
the size of the company
and acres of forest to be
certified.

Free, searchable
database. Cost of product
assessment varies with
product complexity.
Companies pay $1,500
for each new product
certification and $1,000
annual fee to maintain
certification.

Free trials; subscription fees start at
$21 a month. Free
to manufacturers to
enter product data.

Fee for assessment
and audit services
by independent
companies varies
based on number of
product lines being
certified and the
extent of documentation required.

Variable, depends on
certification program and
project scope

How it works

Chemicals are
rated against a set of four
benchmarks on a scale
of 1-4, with 1 being a
chemical of high concern
and 4 being of low hazard.
It can be used to identify
products that don't contain chemicals of high
concern and to ensure
that replacements are
inherently more benign.
A GreenScreen Report is
provided by a licensed
profiler and provides a
benchmark score.

FSC sets standards
for responsible forest
management, including
protecting biodiversity,
restricting pesticides, and
protecting old growth.
Independent auditors
verify compliance, and
products travel through
an FSC-certified chain of
custody.

Products are rated for
achievement in five
categories: material
health, material reutilization, renewable energy
and carbon management,
water stewardship, and
social fairness. Assessments are performed by
an independent organization and summary
reports are reviewed by
the institute.

Evaluates more than
1,600 building products and components in 13 product
categories for health
and environmental
hazards-including carcinogenicity,
mutagenicity, and
endocrine disruption-against 60
authoritative lists of
hazards issued by
governments and
expert organizations.

Takes into account
a company's
material selection,
energy usage,
social actions,
and human and
ecosystem health
impacts to address
how sustainable
a product is from
multiple perspectives. Information
is delivered in
a standardized
scorecard.

Its proprietary certification
programs, such as Indoor
Advantage and Recycled
Content, confirm building
materials and furnishings
meet rigorous standards
for indoor air quality or
recycled content, respectively. Certifications typically
involve data review and
independent inspection related to manufacturing data,
processes, and chain of
custody procedures; audit
reports; corrective actions;
issuance of certificates; and
annual renewal.

Why it
matters to
healthcare
design

Can be used to meet
green building standards,
ensure product safety, and
understand a chemical's
hazard profile.

Use of FSC-certified wood
products helps reduce
chemicals in the natural
and built environment by
restricting pesticides.

Label and scorecard help
in product selection to
meet sustainability goals,
such as selecting toxinfree products.

Users can search
and compare
products by healthbased criteria and
research chemical
hazards and product
certifications.

Transparent source
for evaluating the
environmental and
social impacts of
furniture products.

Certifications assure that
products meet specific
human health and environmental performance objectives, as well as help earn
credits under LEED v4 and
Green Guide for Healthcare
v2.2, among others.

New in 2015

LEED v4 compliant
certification mark for
products that qualify for
LEED v4 disclosure and
optimization credits using
GreenScreen

Updates to include protections for intact forest
landscapes and to require
land owners to engage
native people with "free
prior informed consent"
before harvesting begins

Introducing a Materials Health Certificate
that's designed to help
manufacturers communicate efforts in making
improvements toward
greener chemistry

Increasing access
to Health Product
Declarations (HPDs)

Revision of its sustainability standard
will begin later this
year

Developing several new
North American market
product category rules to
support Environmental Product Declarations, including
use of advanced life-cycle
assessment metrics

HCDmagazine.com 04.15

http://www.pharosproject.net http://level http://www.greenscreenchemicals.org http://www.fsc.org http://www.ed.org http://www.ed.org http://www.scsglobalservices.com http://www.HCDmagazine.com

Healthcare Design - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - April 2015