Medical Supplies

Sami. I want to commend you and your team for thinking 'outside the box'. Certainly the creation of standards that could be associated with medical supplies is a very noble action, however, as Susan Walter points out in her comments below, what is the dividing line between process and non-process. Originally USGBC were looking for 'consumables' as we would think of them in a commercial office environment...paper, cardboard, pens, pencils etc. Once we move outside of that type of environment, what falls under the term 'ongoing consumables' is up for a great debate. Unless you can find precedent setting example from other 'process' scenarios do try to keep your list as short as possible. After all being careful of what you wish for (it might come true) and creating a 100 item list of what would be cast as consumables in a hospital environment may be difficult, impractical and down right mind numbing to quantify over a long period....such as on going re-certifications where 100% of the data will need to be collected. You can also make a very good case that medical supplies can be discounted from your list as each hospital may have a completely different concept of what would be classed as 'on-going consumables'...yet you might all agree of a very short list which will no doubt start of with the original list...paper, cardboard, pens..pencils.

In a hotel project we are debating if items such as the soap used in the hotel rooms for the guests or similar items that are bought regularly for use by hotel guests have to be included? One could argue that these are "process" items, related to the business of running a hotel and as such would not to have to be included. Is that assumption correct?

I think that's a fair assumption. Also, the credit language doesn't include sustainability criteria for the types of hotel process items you're describing, so it could be a bit tricky to even decide what qualifies as sustainable vs non-sustainable for those purchases.

Has anyone received a clear answer from GBCI on which consumables to include and exclude? I'm working on a health care clinic project and considering whether to create a short list of medical supplies (mentioned in a post above) and/or apply the Healthier Hospital Initiative (mentioned in a post below) guidance for single-use devices. I'm actually using the v4 system, which requires that the five most purchased product categories based on total annual purchases are included. For the project I'm working on that would include some things like microscope slides, needles, and toilet tissue. I thought I would try to get some clarity from this v3 forum since there has been so much discussion on the topic. I'll also post on the the v4 forum. Thank you!