Masonry Design | 55
is both third-party verified and recognized by the
green building movement as an indicator of
leadership in sustainable performance. The
Standard also provides an important opportunity
to educate key members of the design and
building professions, end users, government and
environmental advocacy groups about the
production of natural stone products. This
voluntary Standard emphasizes the disclosure of
information necessary to mitigate negative
impacts and promote efficiencies in the
production of natural dimension stone products in
a sustainable manner.
WHAT IT IS AND WHO IT IMPACTS
Both quarriers and fabricators can certify to the
ANSI/NSC 373 Standard, which includes certifying
to the companion Chain of Custody (COC)
Standard. This companion COC standard drives
sustainability throughout the supply chain, ensuring
that natural stone products that are sustainably
produced are also handled throughout the
supply chain in a manner that ensures their sustainability.
Throughout each step in the stone’s
process, the standard must be conformed to or
certification will be lost. Though they would not
certify to the ANSI/NSC 373 standard,
Distributors and Brokers can certify to the Chain
of Custody standard to ensure they are certified
to maintain the certification throughout the supply
chain.
The standard covers nine elements of a quarrier
and fabricator’s respective operations. They are:
Water, Custody and Transportation, Site
Management, Land Reclamation and Adaptive
Reuse, Corporate Governance, Energy,
Management of Excess Process Materials and
Waste, Safer Chemical and Materials
Management and Human Health and Safety. Additionally,
there is an optional facet that is referred
to as “Innovation.”
Each company is certified on a site-specific basis.
That means that even though a company may
have several quarries, only one may be certified
at a time. However, they are able to pursue
certification for all of their locations.
In total, there are 18 requirements within the
standard and a possibility for a site to receive 41
points. Depending on a company’s scores, they
are assigned a bronze, silver, gold or platinum
certification. Companies achieving bronze, silver,
and gold certifications have room for
improvement in the respective areas they may
not have gotten the maximum points.
When stone companies are looking to receive the
ANSI/NSC 373 certification, a third party such as
NSF International will verify via a desk audit as
well as a site audit. First, organizations will go
through a document review. This is followed up
with an on-site audit.
This series of elements allows companies to set a
benchmark for themselves with the intent of
continuous improvement. With that in mind,
recertification takes place every three years.
The second and third year of certification add a
surveillance review with a documentation review
only, and the fourth year involves an on-site audit
in addition to the documentation review for
recertification. At any point, companies can
upgrade to a higher level of certification.
For contractors, this is particularly
relevant, as the standard has
been accepted by two
popular green
building
pro