Does a Health Product Declaration matter?
No doubt you have heard of a term "HPD," but you may not know what it is. An HPD is an acronym for Health Product Declaration. A tool used by product manufacturers and building project teams alike. But what is it, what does it do, and why does it matter to you? We will answer those questions in this post and provide paths for diving further.
Every person in the architectural world should know what an HPD is. They may be impacting your projects now and if not, they will soon. Knowing will enable manufacturers to make better and healthier products. Likewise, they will improve your building projects.
The goal of an HPD is to provide a standard framework for reporting product contents. All centered around health information about a product. Companies making building materials want to have a reliable way to report information. Those selecting products want to have a reliable way to make informed decisions. Here's why.
A design firm may value and commit to requiring transparency of products they select.
A project you are supplying to or designing may be pursuing a certification such as LEED.
A design firm may have a policy related to asking for HPDs in their selection process.
The building owner or client may be requesting the contents of their project.
A design firm or client may have specific ingredient requests.
Several of the most important reasons for an HPD fall on the product manufacturer. Companies should be looking for tools to help them with continual improvement initiatives. From raw material supply to supply chain. A tool like an HPD allows companies to find and highlight areas for improvement. HPDs are a blueprint for impact reduction and risk mitigation.
A product is not green as the result of an HPD. Yet, they do allow those selecting products a green or health comparison to other products. They also help manufacturers make safer products and reduce things like carbon footprint. All which can lead to lesser costs for all.
See an example of our HPD for OPACI-COAT-300. Which ties in with our assessment of possible points in LEEDv4.
More information on HPD's, here. Find out more on healthy and green buildings here.