Hi there,
the credit requires:
Both first-party and third-party statements of product compliance must follow the guidelines in CDPH SM V1.1 -2010, Section 8. Organizations that certify manufacturers' claims must be accredited under ISO Guide 65.
Is this required for all categories, i.e., paints and coatings, composite wood, furniture etc., or is it only for categories requiring general emissions evaluation compliance? Also would it be sufficient for a document to state compliance to the above requirements?
Thank you
Joanna Switzer
Sustainability Project ManagerAtkins
59 thumbs up
March 29, 2017 - 12:41 pm
Hi Ashley,
I welcome input from other LEEDUsers on this, but in my opinion there is nothing additional the LEED project team must document to address this Section 8 requirement. It serves as an industry guideline to the Manufacturer and/or testing agency publishing product TVOC data. Below is an excerpt- refer to this link for full details: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/IAQ/Documents/cdph-iaq_standardmethod_v...
"8 GUIDELINES FOR USE OF STANDARD METHOD AS BASIS FOR A BUILDING PRODUCT CLAIM
In the past, product manufacturers have used test results as the basis for a single-attribute claim regarding one or a group of their products (i.e., a low VOC emissions product claim). Claims certification and verification organizations have also deemed to use these test results as part of their own process for substantiating manufacturers’ claims. Whenever this Standard Method for the Testing and Evaluation of Volatile Organic Chemical Emissions from Indoor Sources Using Environmental Chambers is to be used to make, certify or verify a building product claim, the following guidelines are recommended to ensure the integrity of the process."
Reinhard Oppl
Independent consultant on VOC issuesformerly with Eurofins Product Testing A/S
329 thumbs up
March 29, 2017 - 6:52 pm
I should support this comment. Any advisor or building engineer just and only should request evidence from the submitter of any statement of CDPH conformity that they work in compliance with these requirements. This regulation is meant to prevent from green-washing by just testing once and producing something with different emissions later.
And yes this is related to the general emissions requirements, to my knowledge. You will not find something similar in the market regarding VOC content statements.
Ashley Hu
Jr. Sustainable Building AdvisorPerkins+Will
8 thumbs up
March 29, 2017 - 8:23 pm
Thank you Joanna and Reinhard for your responses!
Apologies for my confusion, but Reinhard when you say
"...should request evidence from the submitter of any statement of CDPH conformity that they work in compliance with these requirements,"
do you mean that a statement of compliance to the guidelines in CDPH SM V1.1 -2010, Section 8, and that organizations that certify manufacturers' claims are accredited under ISO Guide 65 is required?
Thank you in advance!
Reinhard Oppl
Independent consultant on VOC issuesformerly with Eurofins Product Testing A/S
329 thumbs up
March 30, 2017 - 6:41 am
A manufacturer can state CDPH conformity if this statement complies with the guidelines in CDPH SM V1.1-2010, Section 8. A designer should request evidence from the manufacturer that this is the case (probably given by declaration). This documentation should in best case refer to all chapters within Section 8, but most important are 8.7 and 8.8.
If the manufacturer makes use of an organization that certifies manufacturers' claims then this organization shall show that their statement complies with the guidelines in CDPH SM V1.-2010, Section 8, which on top of the above said, includes that the organization is accredited under ISO Guide 65 (or the successor of that old standard, now in ISO/IEC 17065).