A not-for-profit collaborative for materials transparency

History of the Health Product Declaration® (HPD) Open Standard

The concept that became the Health Product Declaration® Open Standard took an important first step in November 2010, when the Materials Research Collaborative (led by the Healthy Building Network and BuildingGreen) started to map out ideas for how such an industry standard could come into being. The idea came from two emerging trends:

1. Specifiers and selectors of building products (building owners, architects, designers, constructors) want to make informed decisions about the products used in the built environment, including the potential for impacts on human and environmental health.
2. Product companies and manufacturers want to provide this information about their products in ways that are accurate, reliable and consistent, replacing redundant and confusing formats with efficient reporting tools that work throughout the supply chain and with their customers and other stakeholders.

Existing methods for reporting product contents, such as Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS, today replaced by SDS) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), offered some of the information needed, but not all of the information experts had determined is important to understanding product health characteristics. Architecture and design firms and building owners were creating their own product inventory templates, which led to overlapping and duplicative efforts to respond to, and use, a growing number of reports and requests for information.

In July 2011, the Materials Research Collaborative convened an ad hoc group of experts from the community of building designers, owners, contractors, specifiers, material researchers and non-profit organizations to explore whether an open industry standard format for reporting building product content and associated health information would be useful and feasible. By the end of its first meeting the group agreed that it would be both. They created the first working draft and committed to releasing a public draft at Greenbuild in November 2011. They called themselves the HPD Open Standard Working Group.

At Greenbuild 2011, the Working Group released the public draft of the HPD Open Standard version 1.0, endorsed by 23 leading design, construction and building management firms. It also announced a Steering Committee to guide the Working Group toward a membership organization that could accommodate widespread participation from across the building industry and oversee the long-term development of the standard. A total of 31 manufacturers joined the Pilot Program, which took place in the summer of 2012: thirty manufacturers submitted 40 draft HPDs for review, and fifty independent expert reviewers provided additional feedback.

The Working Group created the Health Product Declaration Collaborative® (HPDC) as a non-profit member organization in the summer of 2012, dedicated to developing the HPD Open Standard through an open process led by members. As its first act, HPDC approved HPD Open Standard version 1.0 for public release at Greenbuild 2012.

Participation grew rapidly under version 1.0. From January 2014 to January 2015, registered users grew from 643 to 1,367, published HPDs from 113 to 885, and manufacturers with published HPDs from 30 to 172.

The HPD Open Standard is a continuously evolving standard, reflecting what the industry learns about using health information in product selection and documentation. Updates are overseen by the HPDC Technical Committee and its Technical Sub-Groups, whose members are appointed through an application process open to General and Affiliate members. Revisions are approved by the HPDC Board of Directors, elected by HPDC General Members to staggered terms.

Version 2.0 was released in September 2015, HPD Builder 2.0 launched in January 2016, and the HPD Public Repository, a free public source for published HPDs, launched in November 2016. In September 2015, HPDC membership was opened to any organization actively engaged in the creation, use or support of the HPD Open Standard.

Timeline of key milestones

Thank you

To the organizations and individuals who played a leadership role in launching the HPD Open Standard and HPD Collaborative.

Pilot Committee: Anne Less, Google Green Team, Mary Davidge Associates; Amanda Kaminsky, The Durst Organization; Beth Sturgeon, Google Green Team, Mary Davidge Associates; Eden Brukman, Concenter Solutions; Jean Hansen, HDR, Inc.; Jennifer Atlee, Building Green, Inc.; Kirsten Ritchie, Gensler; Max Richter, Perkins+Will; Peggy White, White+GreenSpec Architectural Specifications; Priya Premchandran, SERA; Tom Lent, Healthy Building Network.

Pilot Manufacturers (each completed at least one Pilot Health Product Declaration and offered suggestions for improvement throughout the development process): 3form, Alpar, Armstrong, ASSA ABLOY, BASF, CertainTeed, CROSSVILLE, Dunn-Edwards, Forbo, GAF, Globus Cork, Haworth, Herman Miller, InPro, Interface, Johns Manville, Kingspan, Knauf, Knoll, LDI Corporation, Neil Kelly, PROSOCO, Scranton Products, Shaw, Steelcase, Stego Industries, Tarkett, Teknion, Wilsonart, YOLO Colorhouse.

HPD Working Group, Founding Sponsors: Boora Architects, Cannon Design, Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, Durst Organization, FXFowle, Gensler, Google, HDR, HLW, HKS, HOK, International Living Future Institute, KMD, Mary Davidge Associates, Mithun, Pankow Builders, Perkins+Will, RTKL, Sasaki Associates, SERA, Smith Group, Specifications Consultants, Symmes Maini & McKee Associates, White+GreenSpec, and Yost Grube Hall Architecture.

HPD Working Group, Founding Manufacturers: ASSA ABLOY, Interface, Scranton Products, YOLO Colorhouse.

HPD Working Group, Steering Committee: Anthony Bernheim, Mary Davidge, Susan Kaplan, Nadav Malin, Mike Manzi, Peter Syrett.