Not that so

Ricardo Sobral

Technical Services Director

Lend Lease (AR) S.A.

LEEDuser Basic Member

56 thumbs up

March 20, 2012

I work for an international project and construction company implementing LEED certification. In my company, safe & safety issues are almost a dogma. I have not experienced relevant issues in the projects I supervise in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, neither from my fellow collegues in the rest of the countries (mainly Europe and Asia). Moreover, Health & Safety professionals tend to thank me on the strategies for SSp1 and IEQc3.1, since they feel they add value to the project. I would not say that having to install devices on rooves make LEED projects more dangerous than standard ones. Risks due to installation exist no matter the standard of the project, and we have not experienced a raise in near-misses, incidents or injuries in certified projects.

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Eric Shamp

Associate Vice President

CannonDesign

LEEDuser Premium Member

55 thumbs up

Tue, 03/20/2012 - 16:06

I am not disputing that risk varies between various construction practices, with some more dangerous than others. However, it is curious and tenuous that the authors of the study are attempting to link the entire LEED Rating System to worker safety. It seems so much more obvious and direct to study the link between safety and specific systems, such as vegetated roofing, PV systems, stormwater management, and the like. Since these supposedly "dangerous-to-install" systems are commonly applied on both LEED and non-LEED projects alike, why pick on LEED? If I design all of those features on a non-LEED project, am I less liable? Frankly, it is a strong indication of a bias (or possibly even an agenda?) against LEED. It is additionally troubling that there is an attempt to breach the legal firewall between design liability, which is entirely the architect's responsibility, and worker safety, which is entirely the contractor's responsibility. All architects, whether they work on LEED projects or not, should be VERY concerned about this study gaining any traction in the construction risk management community, and the AIA and USGBC should consider a strong rebuttal. If my liability insurance has to cover worker safety, I can't afford it any more.