Standard Guidelines for Evaluating Construction Safety and Health 

Safety is of the utmost importance in new construction or renovations. CSS employee owners, supporting the National Institutes of Health (NIH) BaseLINE program helped develop and implement a proactive approach to evaluating safety and health conditions in newly constructed and renovated spaces before occupancy. 

The NIH BaseLINE program, Building Assessment of Safety Elements (Base) Lighting, Indoor air quality, Noise, Ergonomics (LINE), is a systematic readiness and safety assessment survey used for newly constructed or renovated facilities. Using the BaseLine approach, industrial hygienists and safety professionals work in coordination with facility managers, engineers, and project personnel to evaluate indoor environmental quality, ventilation performance, safety systems, ergonomic conditions and overall occupancy readiness. Traditionally these surveys are completed independently rather than holistically. The collaborative nature of the BaseLine approach incorporates health and safety protections into both the physical and operational processes. 

This proactive safety evaluation ensures operation avoids exposing occupants to hazards that may be construction-related but that may not have been caught until an annual inspection and therefore may not be identified as construction-related. This supports safer environments for occupants, improves operational readiness, and long-term facility performance.  

For additional information view the full article, which was coauthored by the Deputy Director of NIH Division of Safety and a biocontainment engineer at NIH.