Floor Finishing Safety Bill: Public Hearing

Public Hearing for the Floor Finishing Safety Bill
Wednesday, January 16
State House Room 1A
24 Beacon St., Boston map

An unusual coalition of safety, community, labor and industry leaders will head to the State House on Wed, January 16 to urge the legislature to halt the use of highly flammable wood floor finishing products, responsible for several worker deaths and numerous fires. The legislature's Public Safety Committee will consider the floor finishing safety bill (HB2407) at a public hearing, to be held at 10 AM in Room A1.

In 2004 and 2005, three Vietnamese floor finishing workers were killed in two separate fires in Somerville and Hull, after the floor finishing chemicals they used burst into flames. All the workers impacted were Vietnamese immigrants and all were victims of highly flammable "lacquer sealers" marketed almost exclusively to immigrants in the hardwood floor industry. Because these products can ignite at such low temperatures and can have a wide range of triggers – dust, high temperatures, and electrical sparks, to name a few - simply instituting safety precautions won't eliminate the significant risk.

In 2006, a MassCOSH-spearheaded task force, comprising labor, industry, safety and Vietnamese community representatives, worked with Representative Martin Walsh (Dorchester) and Senator Patricia Jehlen (Somerville) to file the bill, which would prohibit the use and sale of floor products that ignite at temperatures less than 100 degrees. The bill was universally supported by companies that distribute floor products who have witnessed numerous fires. At floor finishing safety trainings organized by Viet AID, an active member of the task force, nearly all of the floor finishing contractors either experienced or were aware of fires from the products they used.

"This issue affects so many members of our community," said Hiep Chu, Viet AID's executive director and a member of the task force. "The state must take immediate steps to end not only the urgent tragedies from fires but also the long-term health problems that come from working with these highly toxic chemicals."