The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) (Washington, D.C.) has released new LEED guidance in response to COVID-19 and to support building reopening strategies with four new credits that outline sustainable best practices that align with public health and industry guidelines related to cleaning and disinfecting, workplace re-occupancy, HVAC, and plumbing operations.

The four new LEED Safety First Pilot Credits address:

  • Cleaning and disinfecting—Products, protocols, and facility team education; requires facilities to create a policy and implement procedures that follow green cleaning best practices that support a healthy indoor environment and worker safety.
  • Indoor air quality— Includes adjustments to ventilation and air filtration
  • Water systems—Reducing the risk of degraded water quality due to closures
  • Re-occupancy—Encouraging operations and human behavior changes in spaces.

The release of the credits is part of USGBC’s Healthy People in Healthy Places Equals a Healthy Economy recovery plan, which was released in May 2020. USGBC is seeking feedback on the credits and will continue to refine recommendations as new information about the virus becomes available.

In addition to the pilot credits, which can be found here, USGBC has also launched Arc Re-entry, a set of resources to help facility teams assess and communicate recovery efforts.