Chemical Management And Quality Control In Building Product And Furniture Manufacturing

By Author: Berkeley Analytical
Total Articles: 8
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Manufacturers of interior building products and furniture increasingly are being asked to limit the potential impacts of their products on human health and comfort. The concerns focus on the emissions of toxic chemicals to indoor air and on the content of certain persistent pollutants. The USGBC’s LEED rating system for buildings is the driving force for low impact products. Currently, the LEED rating system provides credit incentives for the use of office furniture and flooring products that have low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including formaldehyde. The next version of the rating system, LEED Version 4, will expand the list of eligible product categories to include all major interior surfaces and product layers. LEED V4 also is anticipated to give credit for the use of products that avoid the use of certain chemicals of concern. LEED Pilot Credit 54 contains the proposed language. The red-listed chemicals include lead and other metals, known carcinogens and reproductive toxins, brominated and halogenated flame retardants, specific phthalate esters, Bisphenol A, and others.
Product manufacturers ...
... can expect to receive requests for information on product VOC emissions and on product chemical content in bid documents for major architectural projects. In order not to be left out of the opportunity to compete, manufacturers need to thoroughly understand the chemistry of their products. Knowledge of chemical formulation in many cases is not sufficient because the levels of concern are so low that unintended contamination can result in non-compliance. Also, it is common for component suppliers not to provide their customers with potentially critical information when their formulations and processes or suppliers change. Proactive manufacturers are setting up chemical supply chain management systems and quality control programs to help them ensure that products remain compliant with the new chemical requirements. The basic elements of these programs include consideration of chemical toxicity data in product design, chemical specifications for supplied materials and components, and routine quality control testing.
Quality control testing may consist of VOC emissions testingand chemical content analyses. Formaldehyde remains one of the largest indoor air quality concerns, and the guideline levels for inhalation exposures to formaldehyde are in the low part-per-billion range. Composite woods and other materials with formaldehyde resin binders routinely should be subjected to formaldehyde testingto ensure consistent performance with respect to requirements for the finished product. Full spectrum VOC emissions testing also may reveal the presence of other chemicals of concern that may not be obvious from product formulation. Similarly, products and product components with flame retardants and plasticizers routinely should be subjected to chemical content analysis for chemicals of concern in these categories. As an example, phthalate testingmay reveal the presence of low level contamination by phthalates of concern not specifically included in formulation. In all cases, quality control testing is an integral part of a manufacturer’s chemical supply chain management system.