‘Green’ technologies, protection of the environment and sustainable business practices are becoming more and more a way of life and doing business. We keep hearing about ‘green this’ and ‘sustainable that,’ but the question, at least for some safety practitioners, is how does green affect the practice of safety and health?

We, as a society, have acknowledged that there is an environmental component to health and safety, although the component is not always obvious and the connection seems, at times, ephemeral. Perhaps, it’s time to examine green building programs and identify areas where occupational health and safety (OH&S) are impacted, while exploring its potential value to OH&S.

Some of the issues faced by environmental professionals and their associated sustainability concerns have mirrored those of the safety profession. These include communicating the value of design that eliminates hazardous by-products and wastes rather than being limited to disposal of those by-products and wastes at the end of the process (end-of-pipe).

For the safety profession, this can be read as designing the workplace to eliminate hazards rather than (or in addition to) writing up a safety program to accommodate these same hazards in the workplace and the incidents that result from those hazards. Both the environmental and safety fields have been involved in conveying their value to management by showing a healthy effect on the bottom line, thereby financially justifying the costs associated with compliance and beyond.

Just as there are many ways that industry is embracing the “green” label, there are many approaches that we might examine to explore the connection between OH&S and green. One program currently being explored uses the Chicago Waste to Profit Network (WTPN) as a model. This business to- business network facilitates the transformation of one company’s waste, or by-product, into an industrial input for another company.

The process, known as by-product synergy, turns one company’s waste streams into a second company’s raw material. By-product synergy creates a productive revenue stream while reducing the environmental impact of production. In the process, it demonstrates the bottom-line impact (positive) to both sides of the equation, which is “win-win.”

In this example, a relatively simple green concept results in net profit to both companies. The WTPN provides a clear connection between environmental practice and the bottom line, but its impact on occupational health and safety is yet to be established.

The Built Environment

Another approach to protection of the environment and sustainability pertains to the built environment. Green, or sustainable, building is the practice of creating and using healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance and demolition.

According to the US EPA, green building concepts include energy efficiency, renewable energy, water efficiency, environmentally preferable building materials, waste and toxics reduction, indoor air quality and sustainable development.

Properly conceived and executed, green building is a design and construction collaboration and cooperation process that results in structures that are protective of the environment and occupant health.

Before selecting one green building program as a paradigm of sustainable design, it may be helpful to examine some others. There are several green building guidelines in existence. Various states and municipalities have written green building programs. These include the Wisconsin Green Built Home, Florida Green Home Designation, City of Scottsdale Green Building Program, New Mexico Building America Partnership, the City of Chicago Green Homes program and others. These programs are, by-and large, focused on residential structures and are limited in application to their respective jurisdictions.

Another program, ENERGY STAR, is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. ENERGY STAR sets standards for energy efficient products and practices including appliances and building components.

LEED Protocols

The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has developed consensus protocols for green building design, construction and day-to-day operations. These protocols, known collectively as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, are a third party certification program and have become nationally accepted benchmarks for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

There are LEED certification programs for new construction (LEED NC), existing buildings’ ongoing operations and maintenance activities (LEED EBOM), commercial interiors (LEED CI) and other categories of projects ranging from single- family residential structures to neighborhoods and communities. Each rating system includes prerequisites that must be met for certification, and credits. LEED certification is available in four progressive levels: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Credit totals determine which certification status is awarded to the project. Note that LEED is being continually evaluated and improved by USGBC and the various LEED committees.

The process of gaining LEED certification for a building is a cooperative effort that, ideally, begins with a charette, a meeting of all of the involved parties – client (owner), architects, engineers, general contractor, subcontractors, vendors and the eventual facility management.

Because of the frequently complex interactions between building systems, determining which LEED credits to pursue is often the result of weighing each credit, to evaluate the synergies and tradeoffs inherent in each. For example, deciding on permeable parking surfaces to reduce storm water runoff may have an impact on subsequent landscaping and snow removal activities.

 Additionally, calculations evaluating cost and payback period will have an influence on which credits are pursued for a particular project. The charette and subsequent meetings as envisioned in the certification process represent a substantial change from the typical construction and building management processes.

In the typical construction process the architect delivers the plans to the general contractor, who then finds subcontractors and vendors who can meet the architect’s design and specifications. The General Contractor and subcontractors are then responsible for worker safety on the project.

In this process there is little formal chance for dialog. In the LEED-envisioned process, dialog is a necessary component. Sometimes the resulting design components challenge existing code requirements, which can then be addressed by code officials or the authority having jurisdiction. The LEED certification process can offer an unprecedented opportunity for the involvement of all stakeholders in building design and operation.

LEED Established

The following serves to establish the bona fides of the LEED program. Since 2000, the City of Seattle has used the US Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System to evaluate City projects and sets a policy goal of Silver Level performance for City funded projects with over 5,000 square feet of occupied space.

A Cook County, Illinois ordinance dated 2001 requires all newly constructed county facilities to be built to the LEED silver standard of certification. The Chicago Center for Green Technology, a project of the City of Chicago, IL is the first LEED Platinum public building. And, since FY 2003 all new General Services Administration (GSA) building projects have been required to meet criteria for basic LEED certification.

Currently, several additional municipalities are considering requiring LEED certification for new construction within their jurisdictions, and more are anticipated to be added to the list.

The primary focus of the LEED program has been the registration and certification of building projects, revolving around the reduction of energy usage and protection of the environment. LEED prerequisites and credits extend beyond the building shell, however, and include neighborhood density and transportation to the building. More significant for this discussion, however, a significant number of prerequisites and credits relate directly or indirectly to occupant comfort and health. FSM

Neil Silins is a LEED accredited professional and president of EMS Environmental, Inc. Next month's issue will feature how the LEED categories are related to worker health and safety.