Hi there,
I am working on LEED certification for an office building that has environmental labs. The janitorial staff are required to clean the corridors, offices and break room within the lab area. However, they are instructed to not clean the lab because the combination of chemicals being handled daily. With that being said, it is fair to exempt all the lab rooms from the audit?
Also, I know storage areas are typically audited, but the lab area also has chemical storage areas, that again cleaning staff are strictly forbidden to clean. Can those storage areas be considered exempt as well?
Thanks for your help.
Allison Beer McKenzie
Architect, Director of SustainabilitySHP Leading Design
LEEDuser Expert
646 thumbs up
April 1, 2014 - 1:44 pm
It's impossible to say for sure without an official LEED Interpretation, but if you write a narrative explaining why you excluded them, you should be fine.
Victoria Bauer
April 1, 2014 - 2:31 pm
Great, thanks Allison. It looks like the exempted lab areas total to almost 25% of the total floor area. Does LEED have a threshold for exempted areas?
Michael Smithing
Director - Green Building AdvisoryColliers International Ltd.
304 thumbs up
April 1, 2014 - 2:36 pm
I would disagree with Allison. Just because the janitors can't clean the rooms does not mean they do not need to be cleaned. My guess is that in this case it would be the job of the lab staff to clean. If the rooms are dirty then either they need more strict managers or more lab assistants. Mechanical rooms typically do not need to be cleaned because they are rarely visited. Labs with regular staff should be clean or they create the health issues the credit is designed to reduce. Of course, a CIR is always the sure option.
Victoria Bauer
April 1, 2014 - 2:38 pm
Right, I agree. But isn't the intent of this audit to assess the custodial services and the effectiveness of the green cleaning policy? In which case, they are not responsible by contract to clean the lab rooms or storage areas.
Michael Smithing
Director - Green Building AdvisoryColliers International Ltd.
304 thumbs up
April 2, 2014 - 2:58 am
The intent is to reduce the exposure of building occupants... to potentially hazardous chemical ... and particulate contaminants ... by implementing, managing and auditing cleaning procedures and processes.
In this case, the process excludes the custodial staff from cleaning the labs, which means there should be another process for achieving this to assure the credit intent is met.