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Traditionally, furniture factories have been located in Europe and North America. With the increased cost of labour in industrialized countries, more furniture production, which is labour intensive, has shifted to Far Eastern countries. It is likely that this movement will continue unless more automated equipment can be developed.

Most furniture manufacturers are small enterprises. For example, in the United States, approximately 86% of the factories in the wood furniture industry have fewer than 50 employees (EPA 1995); this is representative of the situation internationally.

The woodworking industry in the United States is responsible for manufacturing household, office, store, public building and restaurant furniture and fixtures. The woodworking industry falls under the US Bureau of the Census Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code 25 (equivalent to International SIC Code 33) and includes: wood household furniture, such as beds, tables, chairs and bookshelves; wood television and radio cabinets; wood office furniture, such as cabinets, chairs and desks; and wood office and store fixtures and partitions, such as bar fixtures, counters, lockers and shelves.

Because production lines for assembling furniture are costly, most manufacturers do not supply an exceptionally large range of items. Manufacturers may specialize in the product manufactured, the product group or the production process (EPA 1995).

 

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Contents

Woodworking References

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Ahman, M, M Holmstrom, and H Ingelman-Sundberg. 1995b. Inflammatory markers in nasal lavage fluid from industrial arts teachers. Am J Ind Med 28:541–550.

Ahman, M, M Holmstrom, I Cynkier, and E Soderman. 1996. Work-related impairment of nasal function in Swedish woodwork teachers. Occup Environ Med 53:112–117.

Andersen, HC, J Solgaard, and I Andersen. 1976. Nasal cancer and nasal mucus-transport rates in woodworkers. Acta Otolaryngol 82:263–265.

Demers, PA, M Kogevinas, P Boffetta, A Leclerc, D Luce, M Guerin, G Battista, S Belli, U Bolm-Audorf, LA Brinton et al. 1995. Wood dust and sino-nasal cancer: Pooled reanalysis of twelve case-control studies. Am J Ind Med 28:151–166.

Demers, PA, SD Stellman, D Colin, and P Boffetta. 1996. Non-malignant respiratory disease mortality among wood workers participating in the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study-2 (CPS-II). Presented at the 25th meeting of the International Congress on Occupational Health, Stockholm, 15–20 September.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 1995. EPA Office of Compliance Sector Notebook Project: Profile of the Wood Furniture and Fixtures Industry. Washington, DC: EPA.

Hessel, PA, FA Herbert, LS Melenka, K Yoshida, D Michaelchuk, and M Nakaza. 1995. Lung health in sawmill workers exposed to pine and spruce. Chest 108:642–646.

Imbus, H. 1994. Wooddust. In Physical and Biological Hazards in the Workplace, edited by PH Wald and GM Stave. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Ma, W-S A, M-JJ Wang, and FS Chou. 1991. Evaluating the mechanical injury problem in the wood-bamboo furniture manufacturing industry. Int J Ind Erg 7:347–355.

Nestor, DE, TG Bobick, and TJ Pizatella. 1990. Ergonomic evaluation of a cabinet manufacturing facility. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 34th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society.

Scheeper, B, H Kromhout, and JS Boleij. 1995. Wood dust exposure during wood-working processes. Ann Occup Hyg 39:141–154.

Stellman, SD, PA Demers, D Colin, and P Boffetta. In press. Cancer mortality and wood dust exposure among CPS-II participants. Am J Ind Med.

Whitehead, LW, T Ashikaga, and P Vacek. 1981. Pulmonary function status of workers exposed to hardwood or pine dust. Am Ind Hyg Assoc 42:1780–1786.