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Updated material transparency web site and hazardous building materials list unveiled

Codes and Standards

Updated material transparency web site and hazardous building materials list unveiled

Improved versions of tools aimed at use of healthier construction supplies.


By Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor | November 21, 2017

Updated versions of the Precautionary List and Building Materials Transparency web site were released earlier this month.

The Precautionary List, first released in 2008, and the Transparency web site, released in 2011, is intended to foster the movement toward the use of healthier building materials. Both were developed by global design firm Perkins+Will.

The enhanced Precautionary Listā€”a compilation of the most prolific and problematic substances that people encounter in the built environmentā€”is now a user-friendly digital database rather than a static list. The user experience on the Transparency web siteĀ is ā€œmore refined and the site navigation is more intuitive and mobile-friendly,ā€ according to a news release by the architecture firm.

The tools now include a Watch List and a Sunset List. The Watch List includes substances suspected of being harmful, but where scientific data about their health impacts has only begun to accumulate. The Sunset List includes substances previously on the Precautionary List, but now seldom or no longer in use.

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