Timber floor finishing

The timber floor finishing industry employs approximately 20 000 people in Australia in both small and medium sized businesses and their workers install about 17 percent of all floor coverings including, floating and solid timber flooring, parquetry, cork, engineered flooring, laminate and bamboo.

Workers in this industry are exposed to a range of hazards that can adversely affect their health if not controlled properly. Some of these hazards include:

isocyanates
organic solvents
wood dust
noise
vibration.

At the request of the Queensland branch of the Timber Floor Association, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland conducted assessments to evaluate businesses' compliance with the relevant exposure standards and other Queensland legislation.

A report was prepared outlining the key findings from the assessments, and recommendations provided to assist employers identify opportunities for improving exposure control methods.

Some of the key findings included:

workers' exposure to isocyanates, some organic solvents, wood dust and noise was greater than the relevant exposure standards
current exposure controls needed improving to further reduce the risk to the health of the workers.

Summary of the recommendations included:

reducing emissions at the source
providing adequate ventilation
selecting suitable equipment for the job
training workers in how to do their jobs safely
implementing health surveillance and audiometric testing where necessary
using PPE as a last resort.

If PPE is used, it must be selected, used and maintained correctly.

Download the full report (PDF, 393 kB)