Nov 4 2009
Online tool lists chemicals on Governmental risk lists, providing healthy chemical alternatives
Today leading global integrated design firm, Perkins+Will announced the creation of its Perkins+Will Precautionary List that will be unveiled next week at GreenBuild 2009. The goal of the list is to highlight chemicals, which are listed by government agencies as having negative health issues and the classes of building materials where they might be commonly found, while offering available alternatives in an effort to push the building industry to embrace healthier buildings.
“There is an ever increasing focus in the green building movement on the relationship between humans and the built environment,” said Peter Syrett, AIA, LEED AP™ Associate Principal at Perkins+Will and one of the creators of the Precautionary List. “There are thousands of chemicals used in a building and only a small percentage has been tested. We created this list to advocate for alternative building products and advocate care when using products that have identified chemical hazards.”
The Perkins+Will Precautionary List will live online allowing all builders and architects free access to the database. Specifically, it features 25 chemicals broken into typical building categories such as wood treatments, indoor air quality, ozone depleting gasses and heavy metals. Each entry describes the chemical and provides links to vetted government databases, such as California’s Proposition 65 list developed by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which catalogs chemicals and their known health hazards.
The Perkins+Will Precautionary list also highlights where the chemical is or may be found in specific building products and provides alternative product suggestions when available. The firm acknowledges, however, that in some cases healthier alternatives currently do not exist.
For example, Mercury is a known neurotoxin that can be found in HVAC controls, lamps, resilient floors and thermostats. The Perkins+Will Precautionary List outlines mechanical controls without mercury systems, different flooring systems, mercury-free lamp alternatives and encourages builders to pursue, advocate and specify for these alternatives when reasonable.
“If we really believe in the power of changing how we deal with the built environment, we can’t keep this information siloed in a single firm,” said Syrett. “We want to allow our peers to benefit from it, expand upon it and use it to be a catalyst for change.”
Source: http://www.perkinswill.com/