PHASING OUT VERY DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES FROM
THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
BASTA
There is a great need to reduce the use of hazardous substances in construction products and chemical products. In the BASTA system, the Swedish construction sector has agreed on a common definition of the substance properties for the decision as to whether a product is to be accepted or not. These substance properties are based on the plans in the forthcoming REACH regulation. The burden of proof in the BASTA system is put on the supplier, who has to confirm whether the product meets the criteria or not. A system of self-declaration of this kind needs to be supplemented by a quality assuring auditing, and the BASTA project has drawn up the procedures to ensure that such validation can be carried out in a credible and cost-effective way.
For the dissemination of the suppliers' assessed products the BASTA project has developed a web-based database.
The industry standard for properties criteria has been developed with broad endorsement by large parts of the Swedish construction sector, which is crucial to the future success of the system. It has been possible for this to be done through great openness in the drafting of these criteria.
The validation method that is to assure the system of credibility consists principally of two parts: firstly requirements relating to the supplier´s expertise, documentation and organisation, which are collated in a contractual document which each participating supplier signs, and secondly random-sample audits of the suppliers´ data.
For the dissemination of the suppliers' assessed products the BASTA project has developed a web-based database.
The industry standard for properties criteria has been developed with broad endorsement by large parts of the Swedish construction sector, which is crucial to the future success of the system. It has been possible for this to be done through great openness in the drafting of these criteria.
The validation method that is to assure the system of credibility consists principally of two parts: firstly requirements relating to the supplier´s expertise, documentation and organisation, which are collated in a contractual document which each participating supplier signs, and secondly random-sample audits of the suppliers´ data.