“Spontaneous Combustion” of Oil-Based Wood Finishing Products: Hidden or Obvious Hazard?

• Published in: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 2009-10, Vol.53 (9), p.581-584
• Main Authors: Cohen, Joseph, Cohen, H. Harvey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1541-9312; 1071-1813; 2169-5067
• DOI: 10.1177/154193120905300909

Materials such as rags soaked in oil-based wood finishing products may ignite without an ignition source if not discarded properly. Despite the problem of smoldering, it would appear that users may not understand the danger, associated risk, and means for prevention. In addition, an analysis of labels on existing products in the marketplace revealed that warning messages are often written in small text, without clear pictographs, and embedded amongst instructions with little, if any, consideration of the capabilities and limitations of users. To address this apparent lack of knowledge and address many unanswered questions about the human factors/ergonomics usability issues, the authors initiated a warning label analysis and development process. Preliminary results of a survey undertaken as the first step suggest that people do not view smoldering as a hazard. In addition, absent instructions, people generally do not know the proper way of disposing of materials soaked in oil-based wood finishing products.