Dunn-Edwards Corporation is one of 30 leading building product manufacturers chosen for a two-month pilot program to test and improve the draft Health Product Declaration (HPD) open standard. First suggested by a major manufacturer, the standard is intended to provide a comprehensive format for voluntarily disclosing product ingredients and related health information, beyond what is typically reported—even when a product or a building is certified “green.”  As an open standard, it will be held in the public domain, with its use intended to be freely licensed to all.

Participants are manufacturers of a diverse array of building products, from structural components, to office systems, to finishes—including paint. Each will complete an HPD form for as many as three products and provide feedback, which will be evaluated and incorporated in a final version that will be officially ratified and made available to the public later this year. The project organizers are providing a reference guide, webinars and technical collaboration, with the goal of refining the HPD open standard into a simple, uniform tool for conveying useful information. Participating companies will also receive support from the Pharos Project, an online resource that maintains a chemical and material library to facilitate transparency in the building materials industries.

“We’re pleased to be included with other green pioneers in the building industry,” said Robert Wendoll, director of environmental affairs for Dunn-Edwards. “For decades, Dunn-Edwards has been an industry leader in reducing or eliminating harmful ingredients from our paints, and our new manufacturing facility is the world’s first with LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. In this pilot project, we support the idea that the people who design, construct and occupy the built environment have a right to know about the health, safety and environmental impacts of building materials.”

The program is being administered by the HPD Working Group, a volunteer organization composed of experts from the community of designers, specifiers and building owner/operators who authored the draft HPD open standard format, which made its debut at Greenbuild 2011.