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Indoor Air Quality & Indoor Environmental Quality Organizations

Berkeley Analytical is well-connected with the indoor air quality research community, regulatory agencies, industry organizations, and certification and verification bodies. We are always at the table!

ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers)—is a membership association that advances heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration with an emphasis on energy efficiency. In 2009, the society launched ASHRAE Standard 189.1—Standard for the Design of High Performance Buildings, which is written in building code language. ASHRAE Standard 189.1 is under continuous maintenance. It addresses sustainable building design holistically and includes a section on indoor environmental quality. Berkeley Analytical tests low-emitting products and furniture for compliance with ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189, Section 8.4.2.

ASTM International—ASTM is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world, and its technical standards guide design, manufacturing, and global trade. Many indoor air quality certification programs and high-performance building codes reference ASTM standards. Berkeley Analytical participates in the development and maintenance of ASTM indoor air quality standards through Subcommittee D22.05.

BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturing Association)—is the trade association for the commercial furniture industry. The Engineering Subcommittee developed the voluntary ANSI/BIFMA furniture VOC emissions standards (M7.1 and X7.1), the furniture sustainability standard e3, and the associated level™ certification program for furniture sustainability. Berkeley Analytical is a BIFMA member and contributed to development of the M7.1, X7.1, and e3 standards. BkA also has participated in round-robin reliability tests for furniture VOC emissions, and recently participated in the development of the BIFMA PODs-2020 Guide.

Blue Angel—is Europe's oldest environmental label. Initially starting in Germany, it is becoming internationally recognized with over 10,000 certified products and services. It is operated by agencies of the German government with an independent Environmental Label Jury. The Blue Angel is awarded to products and services that meet the requirements of its sustainability type standards that include considerations for health and environmental protection. Berkeley Analytical is an accredited U.S. testing laboratory for Blue Angel certification of a number of indoor product categories.

Building Information Foundation RTS sr—This organization is a private, non-profit foundation operating in Finland. Their overall objective is to foster good planning, construction methods, and property management practices for buildings. They publish a standard for testing and classification of VOC emissions from indoor construction products and furnishings, M1 for Low-emission Building Materials, and operate a certification program for products that are compliant with this standard. Berkeley Analytical is an approved testing laboratory for the M1 standard.

CARB (California Air Resources Board)—is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency. It’s tasked with protecting public health through, among other activities, the minimization of exposures to toxic air contaminants. CARB operates and enforces the Airborne Toxic Control Measure (ATCM) to Reduce Formaldehyde Emissions from Composite Wood Products, California Code of Regulations Sections 93120-93120.12, Title 17. The agency also developed the Suggested Control Measure for paints and coatings, SCM 2007, under its architectural coatings program. The SCM is referenced in LEED v4/4.1, Low Emitting Materials Credit.

CDPH (California Department of Public Health)—is the California government agency charged with protecting the health and well-being of the State's populace. The Indoor Air Quality Section of CDPH conducts and coordinates research and other studies relating to the causes, effects, extent, prevention, and control of indoor pollution. This section developed a test method and acceptance criteria for evaluating the indoor air quality impacts of interior building products and classroom furniture. The CDPH Standard Method is widely cited in green building standards such as USGBC LEED and CHPS building rating systems and serves as the basis for a number of low VOC product certification programs such as FloorScore and Indoor Advantage Gold. The standard was updated in 2017 to CDPH Standard Method V1.2, which lowered the acceptance criterion for benzene. Berkeley Analytical tests many types of building products to the CDPH Standard Method in support of both certified claims and manufacturer's self-declarations of conformity.

CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools)—is a non-profit organization dedicated to making schools better places to learn. It publishes best practices manuals and operates a building rating system for States that have adopted the CHPS certification program for schools. BkA tests products by the CDPH Standard Method that is used to show compliance with the environmental quality section on low-emitting materials in the CHPS criteria standards.

Clean Production Action—is a non-profit organization that provides business solutions for green chemistry, sustainable materials, and environmentally friendly products. It developed the GreenScreen® for Safer Chemicals Hazard Assessment Guidance and the GreenScreen List Translator. These are freely-accessible-chemical hazard assessment tools that promote the use of safer chemicals in manufacturing. GreenScreen tools are used to report chemical hazards in the Health Product Declaration (HPD).

CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission)—is the U.S. Federal agency that promulgates and enforces regulations related to the safety of consumer products. The agency's Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008 requires that nearly all children's products comply with all applicable children's product safety rules including bans on the use of certain phthalate esters (phthalates) and lead in toys and child-care items. Berkeley Analytical is listed by the CPSC as an approved laboratory for the testing of phthalates using method CPSC-CH-C1001-09.4.

HPD Collaborative—The Health Product Declaration Collaborative is a non-profit organization that developed and maintains the Health Product Declaration Open Standard. The HPD Open Standard is a freely available format that systematizes the disclosure and reporting of information regarding the chemical content and chemical hazard assessment of building products. The primary intended users of the HPD are manufacturers that are responding to requests for environmental information from building designers, specifiers, and consultants.

IAS (International Accreditation Service, Inc.)—accredits testing and calibration laboratories, and conferred ISO/IEC 17025: 2017 accreditation to BkA.

ISO (International Standards Organization)—is an international network of national standards institutes that publishes standards having broad market impacts. Berkeley Analytical is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025: 2017, the international standard by which a laboratory’s commitment to quality is evaluated. BkA also uses European ISO standards in the ISO 16000 series to conduct emission tests for indoor air quality certification programs and manufacturers' self-declarations.

ISIAQ (International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate)—is a nonprofit scientific membership organization that supports the creation of healthy, comfortable, and productive indoor environments. It publishes the scientific journal Indoor Air.

RFCI (Resilient Floor Covering Institute)—is an industry trade association of North American manufacturers that produce resilient flooring. They developed and operate the FloorScore® program that certifies resilient and other hard surface flooring products for compliance with the CDPH Standard Method V1.2 (CA Section 01350). SCS Global Services is the certification body and Berkeley Analytical is an approved testing laboratory for the FloorScore program.

SCS (SCS Global Services)—is a global leader in independent certification of environmental claims. Berkeley Analytical is an SCS approved testing laboratory for indoor air quality certification and regularly tests manufacturers' products for compliance with the FloorScore, Indoor Advantage, Indoor Advantage Gold, and level (ANSI/BIFMA e3, Sections 7.6.1, 7.6.2, 7.6.3) certification programs operated by SCS.

USGBC (United States Green Building Council)—is a non-profit membership association dedicated to a sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. USGB developed the LEED green building certification program, a market-based tool for advancing sustainability in building construction. BkA conducts testing of indoor products and office furniture for manufacturers seeking to demonstrate compliance with LEED v4/4.1 EQ Credit: Low Emitting Materials. BkA is a USGBC member and Raja Tannous is the past chair of the LEED Indoor Environmental Quality Technical Advisory Group.

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