Screen the finishes for healthier materials.

How this work is done

A documented method, so this packet comes out the same whoever does it.

Bring

• camera
• tablet/clipboard with the LBC Red List reference and Declare label lookup
• flashlight (casework interiors, storage rooms, undersides)
• tape measure for surface-area estimation
• N95 mask and nitrile gloves (nothing is disturbed, but prudent near suspect finishes)

Steps

1. 1. Confirm the scope with the facility manager and ask for what a building already holds and a home does not: the finish schedule, submittals, product data sheets and the refurbishment or repainting cycle. Screening from paperwork is faster and more accurate than screening from appearance, and it names products a walk cannot.
2. 2. Record who is actually exposed and for how long, because that is what the ranking is built on: which spaces are occupied all day, which serve children, patients, or people with respiratory conditions, and which are transient corridors. A classroom, a clinic waiting room and a plant room are not the same exposure.
3. 3. Walk every space and photograph each finish category (flooring, wall covering and paint, ceiling, casework, sealants and caulk, window treatments, carpet and pad, upholstered furniture). Record product names, manufacturers and composition where labels or spec sheets are legible; mark 'unknown: request product data' where not, and note that for an institutional building the missing data can usually be obtained from procurement.
4. 4. Flag each item against the LBC Red List: PVC and vinyl, formaldehyde binders, phthalate plasticizers, halogenated flame retardants, added antimicrobials, alkylphenols. Record the basis for each flag.
5. 5. Rank the flagged items by exposure: occupied hours in contact or in the air, surface area, ventilation of the space, and occupant vulnerability. The highest-exposure item in a space used by children outranks a larger surface in a corridor.
6. 6. Name a specific compliant alternative for each flagged item (material class, and a Declare-labelled example where one exists), and mark what the building's own maintenance staff can change directly versus what needs a contractor or a specification change.
7. 7. Write the plan to the cycle the building actually buys on: what to change at the next scheduled repaint or re-carpet rather than as a special project, what to write into the standing specification so the problem stops recurring, and what is safe to leave alone because it is intact, encapsulated or low-exposure. A swap plan that ignores the procurement cycle does not get executed.
8. 8. Hand the plan to the facility manager with the evidence: photos, GPS/address, the Red List inventory, the exposure ranking, named alternatives and the sequenced plan; sign.

What counts as done

• Photos of new paint, flooring, and furniture in the nursery/classrooms
• List of items that smell strong or are new
• Note on which rooms children use most
• Ranked list of what to swap first and safer alternatives

Proof is measured against these, not judged by taste.