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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Lenore S. Azaroff, ScD, Work Environment, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 1 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, 978 934 2587, Lenore_Azaroff@uml.edu, Anne Hien Bui, Vietnamese-American Initiative for Development, 42 Charles St., Dorchester, MA 02122, Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health, 42 Charles St., Dorchester, MA 02122, and Davida Andelman, Bowdoin Street Health Center, 230 Bowdoin St., Dorchester, MA 02122.

Hardwood floor sanding and refinishing involve hazards including extremely heavy and awkward equipment, high voltage, and exposure to wood dusts, allergens, asthmagens, and a variety of volatile solvents. The most immediate hazard is fire, which has killed at least three floor finishers in the Boston area in the recent year. These hazards disproportionately affect Vietnamese and other immigrants, yet these same groups are least able to navigate regulatory systems or obtain access to alternative products. Protective policies are also hampered by legal restrictions on regulation defined as falling under the jurisdiction of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The Dorchester Occupational Health Initiative, an Environmental Justice Partnerships for Communication project, pooled the expertise of immigrant businesses and workers, community organizations, unions, industry specialists, and fire prevention and public health experts to design an approach to this issue. This presentation will describe the obstacles, opportunities, and processes involved in this collaboration and invite suggestions from audience members.

Learning Objectives:

• By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to
• • name at least four hazards of the hardwood floor refinishing industry and corresponding technical controls
• • describe obstacles to the dissemination of effective controls in the industry as currently structured in Boston
• • identify resources and opportunities offered by community groups and public health professionals to address this program
• • name innovative approaches taken to start to address floor refinishing hazards

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation