First Office a Division of OFS Brands Awarde d GR EENGUARD Certification

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2 First Office a Division of OFS Brands Awarde d GR EENGUARD Certification The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute has awarded its GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certification to First Office a Division of OFS Brands for all products within the Pulse collection. GREENGUARD certification deems First Office Pulse products as environmentally-friendly for indoor air applications, making a significant contribution to quality indoor air by meeting strict chemical and particle emission guidelines. Office furniture products meeting these allowable emission levels also meet the requirements of LEED credit 4.5 and the BIFMA X7.1 conformance standard. The Importance of Indoor A ir Quality Indoor Air is mechanically controlled air flow in enclosed spaces. Workers spend more than 90% of their time indoors and Indoor Air Quality, IAQ, can be up to 5 times more polluted than outside air. These pollutants pose serious environmental exposures to people, leading to many health related issues. Improved indoor air quality is achieved through the reduction of airborne chemicals and indoor air pollution through the utilization of low chemical emissions. GREENGUARD Certification Process 1: Manufacturer Contacts GREENGUARD 2: Manufacturing Review and Profile Study 3: Initial Product Profile Testing 4: Certification Testin g 5: Greenguard Certification 6: Ongoing Quarterly Monitoring and Annual Re-testing What is GREENGUARD? The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) is an industry-independent, non-profit organization that oversees the GREENGUARD Certification Program. As an ANSI Authorized Standards Developer, GEI establishes acceptable indoor air standards for indoor products, environments, and buildings. GEI's mission is to improve public health and quality of life through programs that improve indoor air. A GEI Advisory Board consisting of independent volunteers, who are renowned experts in the areas of indoor air quality, public and environmental health, building design and construction, and public policy, provides guidance and leadership to GEI.

3 History of GREENGUARD GEI was founded in June of 2001 to establish a true third-party product certification program based on proven emissions standards and to provide specifying and procurement professionals with a resource for low-emitting products. The program evolved out of the original AQSpec List program developed by Marilyn Black, Ph.D. and Air Quality Sciences Inc. in The original AQSpec List program was established to identify manufacturers and products that had been tested and found to meet the general product emissions standards established by the State of Washington and the office furniture emissions standard established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their Headquarters Project. GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certification Program for Low-Emittin g Products The GREENGUARD Certification Program is an industry-independent, third-party testing program for low-emitting products and materials. The first GREENGUARD Certification was awarded in the fall of To date, more than 125 manufacturers across various industries offer GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified Products. All GREENGUARD Certified products are listed in the GREENGUARD Online Product Guide, an indoor air quality (IAQ) resource that is provided at no charge. The guide features products, which are regularly tested to ensure that their chemical and particle emissions meet acceptable IAQ pollutant guidelines and standards. GREENGUARD Certification is a valuable tool for architects, designers, product specifiers, and purchasing organizations that want to locate, specify, and purchase off-the-shelf, low-emitting products for indoor environments. GREENGUARD Certification is a voluntary program available to all manufacturers and their suppliers. GREENGUARD Certification Standards for Low-Emitting Products GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) has established performance based standards to define goods with low chemical and particle emissions for use indoors, primarily building materials, interior furnishings, furniture, cleaning and maintenance products, electronic equipment, and personal care products. The standard establishes certification procedures including test methods, allowable emissions levels, product sample collection and handling, testing type and frequency, and program application processes and acceptance. For more information on the environmental initiatives of OFS Brands and First Office, contact Vanessa Hartke- vhartke@ofsbrands.com <mailto:vhartke@ofsbrands.com>. For more information on GEI and GREENGUARD programs, please visit < send an to info@greenguard.org <mailto:info@greenguard.org>.

4 GREENGUARD Environmental Institute 1341 Capital Circle, Suite A Atlanta, GA Aids in LEED Certification Individual products cannot be LEED certified, LEED certification applies to buildings only. Specification of GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified products are recognized as credit criteria for several different points in the USGBC's Rating Systems. Low-emitting products that qualify for GREENGUARD Certification can be used in a number of ways to qualify for LEED points. The following indicates how GREENGUARD Certified products can be used to achieve LEED points. LEED for Commercial Interiors EQ Credit 4.5 Low-Emitting Materials: System Furniture. This credit specifically references that all "System Furniture and Seating" shall be GREENGUARD Indoor LEED Canada for Commercial Interiors EQ Credit 4.5 Low-Emitting Materials: System Furniture. This credit (under Option A) specifically references that all "System Furniture and Seating" shall be GREENGUARD Indoor LEED for New Construction/Existin g Buildin g/core & Shell Automatic ID Credit - Using LEED-CI EQ Credit 4.5 for GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified "System Furniture and Seating" achieves an ID point. LEED Retail for Commercial Interiors (Pilot, Version 1, 4/2007) EQ Credit 4 - Low-Emitting Materials, Option E. Furniture. This credit (under Option A) specifically references that all "Systems Furniture and Seating" shall be GREENGUARD Indoor

5 LEED Retail for New Con struction (Pilot, Version 2, 2/2007) EQ Credit 4.5 Low-Emitting Materials: System Furniture. This credit (under Option A) specifically references that all "Systems Furniture and Seating" shall be GREENGUARD Indoor For more information about GREENGUARD Certification and how certified products can be specified to achieve LEED credits, please visit < or OFS Brands is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the nation's foremost coalition of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. USGBC has more than 6,400 member organizations and a network of more than 80 regional chapters united to advance its mission of transforming the building industry to sustainability. The U.S. Green Building Council's core purpose is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous approach that improves the quality of life.