Safety in Hardwood Floor Finishing in Massachusetts: Results of a Survey of Floor Finishers

Safety in Hardwood Floor Finishing
in Massachusetts:

Results of a Survey of Floor Finishers

Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH)

Research funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences

In 2004, two Vietnamese floor sanders working in Somerville died when the flooring chemicals they used ignited. Two other workers suffered severe burns and injuries. Less than a year later, another Vietnamese worker was killed in a similar fire in Hull.  

In the advent of these two similar tragedies, the Dorchester Occupational Health Initiative (DOHI)*, a community-university partnership funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, investigated causes and solutions for wood floor finishing fires. The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) formed the Massachusetts Floor Finishing Safety Task Force, recruiting representatives from labor, contractors, product manufacturers, government agencies, and environmental groups to share their practical knowledge of the industry.

Through this research they discovered that the two incidents were far from isolated. Since 1995, more than 25 fires attributed to hardwood floor finishing have erupted in Boston alone. These fires have resulted in a property loss value of over 1.5 million dollars and present enormous risks to workers and building occupants. 

While the Boston fires and a number of others had been documented because they resulted in a call to the fire department, no other data were available about the extent to which fires were occurring that were not reported to the fire department.   

In response, DOHI launched a series of outreach activities for wood floor finishers about preventing fires and otherwise improving health and safety. Because a large proportion of floor finishers in Massachusetts are from Vietnam, these activities included English and Vietnamese newspaper articles, radio programs, television shows, and hands-on trainings in use of safer products.

From March to November 2009, the community group the Vietnamese-American Initiative for Development (Viet-AID) and UMass Lowell conducted an anonymous survey of 109 hardwood floor finishers from eastern and central Massachusetts about their products, practices, and health and safety. The surveys were conducted in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese in locations ranging from Dorchester to Worcester.

Key findings

Results from the 109 hardwood floor finishers surveyed indicated that floor finishing fires were far more wide-spread than previously known:

•      Nearly one-half, 43% of responses (39 floor finishers), said that they knew of fires on wood floor finishing jobs done by their company. 
•      Two thirds, 65% of responses (64 floor finishers), said they knew other floor finishers who had had fires on wood floor finishing jobs.
•      Two thirds, 66% of responses (68 floor finishers) said their company uses the highly flammable lacquer sealers.

Many respondents said they had seen these forms of health and safety outreach to floor finishers over the past two years:

·         More than one-third, 39% of responses (41 floor finishers) were informed through radio announcements

·         39% (41 floor finishers) through television programs

·         32% (34 floor finishers) through newspaper articles in Vietnamese

·         32% (31 floor finishers) through a Fatality Alert fact sheet from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health

A number of respondents said they had made the following changes as a result of seeing this type of outreach:

·         14% (13 floor finishers) reduced use of lacquer sealers (highly flammable products)

·         14% (13 floor finishers) stopped using lacquer sealers

·         11% (10 floor finishers) avoid smoking or turning on or off electrical switches while finishing floors

·         14% (13 floor finishers) started using water-based products

Conclusions and Recommendations

Fires continue to be a serious concern in wood floor finishing. Reports from fire chiefs and arson investigators about the frequency of these events are supported by findings from this survey. Over one third of floor finishers surveyed reported knowing of fires on floor finishing jobs done by their companies. At the same time, two-thirds report that they sometimes use highly flammable lacquer sealers for their work.

Survey results also confirm that customer demand is an important influence. About one- third of floor finishers surveyed report that their customers influence them to use, or not to use, water-based products.

Outreach and education efforts, while important, are clearly too slow to prevent fires in this industry. Legislative action is needed to stop the sales and use of highly flammable products that are completely unnecessary to the floor finishing process.

Background: The Problem

The large numbers of Vietnamese immigrants and refugees employed in wood floor finishing, and the fact that the workers killed and injured in these fires were Vietnamese immigrants, impelled DOHI partner the Vietnamese-American Initiative for Development (Viet-AID) to place a high priority on understanding and preventing causes of such tragedies. The Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation project of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, a Task Force member, investigated the fatal fires to determine the causes of the fire and develop recommendations for prevention.

These organizations quickly learned that the cause of the Hull and Somerville fires is also one of the most common fire hazards on wood floor finishing jobs: a product called “lacquer sealer.” Lacquer sealers are extremely flammable, their vapors easily bursting into flame even at low temperatures in the presence of any spark. Even sparks caused by turning on or off a light switch or hitting a nail can be enough to ignite lacquer vapors. Since these products produce a poor quality finish and since many non-flammable products are readily available, all partners quickly reached consensus that the use of lacquer sealers should be eliminated in this industry. (A small number of other flammable products are sometimes used but are relatively rare.)

Additional sources of fires in wood floor finishing include the improper handling of wood dust and improper disposal of rags used to wipe up solvents. Training of floor finishers in safe practices and outreach to consumers about expectations for safe practices by contractors were identified as important approaches for preventing these hazards.

The Hull and Somerville fires turned out to be the tip of a dangerous iceberg. Discussions with fire chiefs and arson investigators revealed that floor finishing is among the most common sources of building fires around Massachusetts.

Background: Solutions

The Massachusetts Floor Finishing Safety Task Force initiated campaigns for legislative and regulatory measures to prevent the use of lacquer sealers and other flammable products by wood floor finishing businesses in the Commonwealth. The Task Force held a State House briefing to educate policymakers about the risks involved with using flammable floor products, which drew widespread media coverage and contributed to the policy efforts that followed. Task force members testified before the Board of Fire Prevention Regulations seeking regulatory reform and worked with leaders of the state legislature to pass a bill prohibiting the use and sale of lacquer sealers. These efforts contributed to the December, 2009 passage of Board of Fire Prevention regulations requiring a permit for the use of flammable floor products and the placement of warning signs on all units of buildings being refinished with flammable products. The House passed the lacquer sealer ban and the Senate is currently considering the bill’s passage.  

The Dorchester Occupational Health Initiative launched education and outreach campaigns focused on the dangers of flammable products and opportunities for safer alternatives. These included:

·               A series of columns in the three major Vietnamese-language newspapers

·               Three talk shows on the Boston-area Vietnamese-language public affairs television program

·               Radio announcement and shows on the major Vietnamese-language radio programs

·               Collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on design and translation of a Fatality Alert factsheet in English and Vietnamese, sent to all listed floor finishing businesses and product distributors in Massachusetts

·               Fact sheets for consumers on selecting safe floor finishing contractors and choosing safe products

Viet-AID hosted a series of trainings in Vietnamese, in which floor finishing experts provided hands-on practice in the use of water-based products. In addition to being non-flammable, water-based products produce less unhealthy and environmentally damaging air pollution than most traditional oil-based, or solvent-based, products. (Most oil-based products are also non-flammable.) Water-based products require some practice and skill to use effectively, so the trainings gave participants the opportunity to learn these skills without risking poor quality outcomes on an actual job.

Speakers at the trainings addressed the hazards of lacquer sealers and ways to prevent fires. Over 140 have participated to date. Training videos based on these sessions have been produced by the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute to help floor finishers unable to attend.

Some graduates of this training then elect to join the Safer Floor Finishers Network, whose members commit to avoiding the use of lacquer sealer and to offering their customers the option of water-based products. DOHI partners will promote the members of this network through the internet and other media.

DOHI researchers from Viet-AID and UMass Lowell designed and conducted a survey to assess the effects of these outreach efforts.

Survey Methods

Researchers developed a questionnaire for hardwood floor finishers with questions about languages spoken, years of experience, types of products used, experience with fires, and reasons for using or not using certain types of products. Questions asked whether the respondent had seen various types of outreach about safety and health, and whether he or she had many any changes as a result. The questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese and Spanish by native speakers of those languages. It was pilot-tested with several floor finishers to identify questions that were confusing or needed to be re-worded.

Based on published lists of businesses, we estimate that there are around 500 wood floor finishers in eastern and central Massachusetts. We attempted to survey at least 20% of these.

To recruit participants, staff and contractors from Viet-AID and UMass Lowell first called and sent letters to floor finishing companies listed in the Yellow Pages, internet, and other business listings for counties in central and eastern Massachusetts. They were able to recruit just a few participants. So, they then reached out to participants in person in donut shops in Boston where floor finishers gather before starting work, in major floor finishing supplier shops in the Boston and Worcester areas, and through networks of acquaintances. After confirming that a person worked in wood floor finishing, they offered $25 gift cards for participation. Interviewers read the survey aloud to participants in the language of their choice and wrote down the answers. The survey took about 15 minutes.

In addition, Viet-AID staff called some of the floor finishers who had participated in the hands-on trainings and surveyed them.

Interviewers read informed consent forms to all participants. The survey was anonymous: interviewers did not collect names of any participants or companies. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects at UMass Lowell.

Survey Results

A total of 109 wood floor finishers participated.

·         83 work mostly in Boston-area counties; 23 work mainly in Essex or Worcester counties (3 are not known)

·         82 speak Vietnamese, 27 do not speak Vietnamese; 5 of those who do not speak Vietnamese chose to be interviewed in Spanish

·         Years of experience in the industry ranged from 1 to 47; average length of experience was 9 years

·         25 had participated in hands-on training in use of safer products at Viet-AID

Of 90 people who answered questions about fires,

·         39 (43%) said that they knew of fires on wood floor finishing jobs done by their company

Of the 39 who knew of fires, the following numbers identified these causes of the fires (some identified more than one cause, so the total here is greater than 100%):

·         30 (77%) lacquer sealers

·         11 (28%) wood dust

·         8 (21%) used rags

Of 100 participants who answered questions about using lacquer sealer

·         5 (5%) said they use it for all their jobs

·         16 (16%) for most of their jobs

·         47 (47%) for just a few of their jobs

·         32 (32%) for none of their jobs

Of 86 respondents who gave reasons for using or not using lacquer sealer,

·         32 (38%) it looks nice

·         9 (10%) it is inexpensive

·         6 (7%) it’s quick or easy to use

- these gave reasons that they avoid or limit using lacquer sealer:

·         30%) it’s a fire hazard

·         6 (7%) it causes health effects and/or unpleasant odor

·         3 (3%) it’s poor quality

Of 105 participants who answered questions about using water-based products

·         6 (6%) said they use them for all their jobs

·         15 (14%) for most of their jobs

·         69 (66%) for just a few of their jobs

·         15 (14%) for none of their jobs

Of 91respondents who gave reasons for using or not using water-based products,

·         21 (23%) their customers want them

·         15 (16%) they are safer

·         12 (13%) they are easy or quick to use

·         11 (12%) they look good

·         9 (10%) they’re durable

- these gave reasons that they avoid or limit using water-based products:

·         10 (11%) they are expensive

·         9 (10%) their customers don’t want them

·         8 (9%) they’re difficult or slow to use

·         6 (7%) they look bad

People Reached by Outreach Activities

Of all the participants who answered questions about each form of outreach, these said they had seen these forms of health and safety outreach to floor finishers over the past two years:

·         41 (39% of responses) radio announcements

·         41 (39%) television programs

·         34 (32%) newspaper articles in Vietnamese

·         30 (32%) Fatality Alert factsheet from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health

DOHI partners focused newspaper articles, television programs, and radio announcements on speakers of Vietnamese.

Of 82 Vietnamese speakers surveyed, participants reported seeing these forms of outreach:

·         36 (44%) television programs

·         36 (44%) radio programs

·         32 (39%) newspaper articles in Vietnamese

Of 95 respondents who answered questions about making changes as a result of seeing these forms of outreach, these numbers specified these changes

·         13 (14%) reduced use of lacquer sealers

·         13 (14%) stopped using lacquer sealers

·         10 (11%) avoid smoking or turning on or off electrical switches while finishing floors

·         13 (14%) started using water-based products

Analysis of Survey Results

A biostatistician at UMass Lowell analyzed the survey results to see if participants who had seen certain types of outreach activities or participated in trainings were more or less likely to have made changes. This analysis showed that the single greatest factor predicting stopping use of lacquer was having had a fire. People who reported that their company had a fire were 3.6 times more likely to have stopped using lacquers.

Vietnamese speakers  who had seen Vietnamese articles and heard radio programs on floor finishing health and safety were 2.9 times and 3.9 times more likely respectively to have reduced their use of lacquers. Vietnamese speakers who heard radio programs were more than 5 times as likely than others to not smoke or turn electrical devices on or off during floor finishing jobs.  Vietnamese speakers who attended a Viet-AID training were also 4.7 times more likely to add water based finishes to their business as those who did not report attending training.

The Department of Public Health fatality alert also predicted change; seeing this was associated with a 6.9 times greater chance of adding use of water based finishes among all survey respondents.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Fires continue to be a serious concern in wood floor finishing. Reports from fire chiefs and arson investigators about the frequency of these events are supported by findings from this survey. Over one third of floor finishers surveyed reported knowing of fires on floor finishing jobs done by their companies. At the same time, two-thirds report that they sometimes use highly flammable lacquer sealers for their work.

Survey results show that a multi-pronged outreach effort targeting floor finishers and consumers has reached large proportions of floor finishers in eastern and central Massachusetts. A third or more of respondents report having seen or heard radio programs, television programs, newspaper articles, or fact sheets promoting health and safety in wood floor finishing. About one in nine report having made positive changes as a result, including eliminating or reducing use of lacquer sealer. Results show that people who have seen articles, heard radio programs, or participated in trainings on use of preferable products are significantly more likely to reduce their use of flammable lacquer sealers and also increase their use of environmentally preferable water-based products.

Survey results also confirm that customer demand is an important influence. About one-third of floor finishers surveyed report that their customers influence them to use, or not to use, water-based products.

Outreach and education efforts, while important, are clearly too slow to prevent fires in this industry.  Legislative action is needed to stop the sales and use of highly flammable products that are completely unnecessary to the floor finishing process.

*Dorchester Occupational Health partners included the Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, Codman Square Health Center, Vietnamese-American Initiative for Development, Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, New Ecology Inc., University of Massachusetts Lowell.