Rating System

LEED O+M: Existing Buildings

Rating System Version

v3 - LEED 2008, v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

Our project is an electronics manufacturing facility with approximately 800 employees. The management of the company and their corporation would like this facility to have adequate anti-bacterial soap onsite in case of health related outbreaks such as MRSA and avian flu. It also helps reduce the spread of illnesses such as regular flu and colds which reduce absenteeism, which could be significant for highly populated facilities like ours. At this time we had purchased a significant amount of anti-bacterial hand soap to ensure that we have the needed large quantities onsite. One of the requirements in EQc10.3 calls for "the use of hand soaps that do not contain antimicrobial agents (other than as a preservative system), except where required by health codes and other regulations (i.e., food service and health care requirements)". We understand that the intent of this requirement is to reduce regular exposure of building occupants to potentially hazardous chemical, biological and particle contaminants, which adversely impact air quality, health and the environment. To pursue this credit, our plan is to store the anti-bacterial soap we already have on site as part of our Disaster Contingency Plan only to be used in case of a defined emergency situation. In this case, the anti-bacterial soap we have purchased will not go to waste. We feel that maintaining sufficient quantities of anti-bacterial soap on-site to cope with emergency situations should not disqualify our project from achieving this credit. It is not the storage but the regular use of such soaps that is regulated by the requirements of this credit. Please confirm whether our plan meets the requirements of this credit.