Insulated Panels with Hollow Areas Covered Over

Employees in Modesto have reported that insulated panels sometimes come off the production line not fully filled with insulation foam, leaving hollow areas. Employees report that when this has happened management has instructed them to insert small pieces of foam to cap the end of the hollow section, which has the effect of disguising the unfilled gap inside the panel. Kingspan’s marketing material shows panels that are completely filled with proprietary insultation foam. SMART makes no claim as to the effect, if any, this practice has on the panel’s performance or fire safety.

Fire Testing

Employees report that in March 2023, Kingspan management in Modesto instructed employees to manufacture a special set of QuadCore panels for third-party testing using a different manufacturing process than the one Kingspan described in its Environmental Product Declaration. Supervisors instructed employees to construct the panels with more care and to conduct quality control testing on each of them. Fire safety testing was at the heart of the scandal that Kingspan faced in the United Kingdom through its participation in the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry.

Kingspan Under Investigation by SCS Global Services

An Environmental Product Declaration is a marketing document that is intended to create transparency around the environmental impacts of a product and is used to determine the embodied carbon of a LEED building. According to workers, a Modesto QuadCore EPD omits reference to operations in two of the three buildings where QuadCore panels are manufactured or finished. In February 2024, SCS Global Services, the third-party verifier, opened an investigation into the completeness and accuracy of the EPD, shortly after two dozen environmental and community organizations – including Greenpeace, 350.org, Food and Water Watch, and the California Green New Deal Coalition – issued a public letter calling on SCS Global to investigate.

We hope the findings of the report will help you assess whether the type of deceptive business practices unveiled in the United Kingdom were the isolated workings of a small number of employees in the company’s UK insulation board’s business, as CEO Gene Murtagh has claimed, or whether they are reflective of a broader problem that the company continues to face.

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The insulation manufacturer Kingspan is under investigation for alleged omissions from an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), a marketing document that is intended to create transparency around the environmental impacts of a product.

In February, SCS Global Services released an investigation plan, shortly after two dozen environmental and community organizations – including Greenpeace, 350.org, Food and Water Watch, and the California Green New Deal Coalition – issued a public letter calling on SCS Global to investigate the completeness and accuracy of claims made by Kingspan in an EPD for its star product, QuadCore insulated metal panels manufactured at its Modesto, CA factory. SCS Global provided the third-party verification for the QuadCore EPD in 2022, but it has since acknowledged that it was not required to and did not perform a site audit at the Modesto factory to verify the information Kingspan submitted. 

Kingspan is a $15 billion global manufacturer of building products which presents itself as “Planet Passionate.” California-based SCS Global Services is one of the leading players offering environmental labeling and certification services, including Fair Trade and Carbon Neutral Certifications.

In their open letter to SCS Global, the more than two dozen green groups – including Greenpeace, 350.org, Food and Water Watch and the California Green New Deal Coalition – note that the EPD omits any mention of foam and metal cutting operations, which workers say creates so much insulation dust that the dust collector needs to be emptied every hour, and which was at the center of an OSHA complaint filed by Kingspan workers in September 2023.  This apparent omission is raising concerns that the increased demand for products with EPDs and the lack of site audits by third-party verifiers may be presenting an opportunity for greenwashing. 

Zach Lou is the manager of the California Green New Deal Coalition. “Equitable climate action must mean making sure any company, like Kingspan, that wants to brand itself as part of the solution to the climate crisis, is accountable for the claims it makes. That includes claims about worker health and safety, as well as claims about the environmental impacts of its products,” said Lou.

Recent green building projects constructed using QuadCore panels include the DRV PNK stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home to a Major League Soccer club co-owned by David Beckham; SK Battery EV battery plant in Commerce, Georgia; Ecofibre campus in Kentucky (the first LEED Platinum certified distribution center in the U.S.); a 3.4 million square foot e-commerce center in Tracy, California; and the University of Maryland Jones-Hill Athletic Center.  

Kingspan is using the EPD to claim that QuadCore has the “lowest global warming potential (GWP) in North America” when compared to similar insulated metal panel products. 

We hope that SCS—a firm that prominently lists major corporations as its clients—is equipped to take a disinterested look at these allegations to ensure that EPDs serve the purpose that they are intended to serve.

Haga clic aquí para registrarse y unirse a nosotros el jueves 16 de noviembre en una cumbre virtual con la Campaña para Limpiar a Kingspan! 

Workers at two Kingspan factories in California have blown the whistle on their working conditions, alleging exposure to hazardous chemicals and indoor air pollution. Kingspan is a $15 billion corporation that makes “green” building materials, including insulation and skylights. A “Just Transition” means living wages and healthy workplaces for the people who manufacture the “green” products we need to reduce emissions from buildings.  

Join these workers for a Virtual Summit to learn about their fight to win living wages, health and safety at work, and justice for their frontline communities. Find out how you and your organization can take action in support of this campaign. 

Learn more and RSVP today >

  

Marchers occupy intersection in downtown Santa Ana

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SANTA ANA, CALIF. — More than 125 people rallied and marched today in support of Santa Ana Kingspan Light + Air workers, as community, faith, labor and environmental groups work to hold the corporation accountable for its workplace safety violations and alleged industrial pollution. After occupying an intersection in downtown Santa Ana, marchers unfurled a giant parachute banner reading “!Kingspan Escucha!” as they called on the company to listen to workers’ concerns.

“We want better opportunities, a living wage, and a safe workplace,” said Israel Maldonado, an assembly lead at Kingspan Light + Air Division in Santa Ana. “We are united and have the support of the community.”

Continue reading “Kingspan’s Workplace Safety Violations, Alleged Industrial Pollution Focus of Community Rally & March” →

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 19, 2022

(SANTA ANA, CALIF.) — U.S. Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., joined Kingspan factory workers at a community rally today to celebrate their victories advocating for safety and environmental protections in the Santa Ana skylight factory where they work. He then marched with workers in the city’s industrial zone.  

“Workers at Kingspan are leading a movement for dignity, fairness, and health and safety,” said Correa, who represents California’s 46th congressional district, which includes the Santa Ana factory. “I support their struggle and celebrate the changes that have come about through their advocacy and leadership.”  

Continue reading “Congressman Joins Kingspan Factory Workers to Celebrate Wins and Push for Fair Process  “ →

UPDATE: Following Kingspan’s appeal, CalOSHA reduced the number of violations to 22, and the fines to $21,785. The case was closed on September 20, 2022.

Designation comes shortly after Cal/OSHA issues citations for serious health & safety violations at Santa Ana Kingspan factory, with fines of $39K

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 27, 2022

Today, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) announced its 2022 “Dirty Dozen,” adding Kingspan Light & Air, located in Santa Ana, Calif., to a list of employers the organization says have “put workers, families and communities at risk.”

In naming global “green” building materials manufacturer Kingspan to the list, National COSH pointed to workplace air monitoring conducted by Kingspan employees in 2021 that found high levels of indoor air pollution.

Continue reading “Kingspan Joins Amazon, Dollar General and Starbucks on 2022 ‘Dirty Dozen’ List “ →

Forty-five (45) local and national groups organizing against climate change and for environmental justice have signed a statement calling on the green building community to reconsider partnerships with Kingspan Group. Led by the Labor Network for Sustainability, local groups including Orange County Environmental Justice, Madison Park Neighborhood Association, The River Project and others were joined by national groups including Greenpeace USA, Friends of the Earth, Climate Justice Alliance, Sunrise Movement, the Climate Advocacy Lab and 36 others. The green building community includes architects, specifiers, the US Green Building Council, and trade associations such as the American Institute of Architects. You can support this call by signing on as an individual or organization. There are updates on the OSHA and EPA regulatory actions.

One week after Mercedes-Benz ended its partnership with Kingspan 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 14, 2021

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Kingspan manufacturing workers in Santa Ana held a candlelight vigil today in solidarity with thousands marching in London on the 4 ½ year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people in the worst residential fire in the United Kingdom since World War II. Workers in Santa Ana are calling on Kingspan to listen to them about workplace safety. Grenfell fire survivors and bereaved are fighting to hold Kingspan accountable for safe homes.

Continue reading “Kingspan Calif. Employees Hold Vigil in Solidarity with Survivors of U.K. Grenfell Tower Fire “ →

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 11, 2021

SANTA ANA, Calif. —More than 100 people gathered in Delhi Park on Wednesday to hear city leaders, Kingspan factory workers, faith leaders and community and environmental activists address growing concerns about the labor and environmental track record of Kingspan, a global “green” building materials maker that manufactures skylights in the Delhi neighborhood.

Continue reading “Santa Ana Community Rally Puts a Spotlight on Labor and Environmental Shortcomings of “Green” Manufacturer Kingspan” →