INSTALL floor covering professionals are benefitting from a newly launched green building training program from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. The UBC’s International Training Fund is a member and educational provider of the U.S. Green Building Council. This course has been reviewed by USGBC and is listed in its course catalog. These materials have also been reviewed and endorsed by the Green Building Initiative (GBI).

The training program, entitled Awareness: Green Building teaches floor layers the concepts, terminology, materials, benefits, and regulatory agencies involved in green building. The course prepares union members for the green world of construction, with the goal of providing UBC contractors with better informed, more productive workers. 

Floor layers learn about natural carpet fibers and adhesives, proper recycling practices, low-VOC materials, and how green practices contribute to a healthful indoor environmental quality. Environmentally preferable building materials as well as those made from salvaged or recycled products and those that both save energy and contribute to a safe and healthful environment are also discussed.  A section on the benefits of green building includes the cost factors, and ecological and human benefits so that members understand the elements of green building in the context of how green building addresses the broader issues affecting the environment, business interests, and the quality of everyday life.

Information on planning for green growth is included to give members an appreciation of changing planning and construction practices and how these new practices control the impact of growth and construction development on the community and the larger environment. The importance of regulatory agencies and specific descriptions of the leading regulatory and certifying agencies are also presented.

For more information about INSTALL, contact John McGrath, INSTALL director, at 215-582-4108, email him at INSTALL@carpenters.org, or visit www.INSTALLfloors.org .