Premium
Worker awareness of exposure: Industries and occupations with low awareness
Author(s) -
Behrens Virginia J.,
Brackbill Robert M.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700230503
Subject(s) - environmental health , medicine , occupational exposure , occupational safety and health , significant difference , radiation exposure , physical hazard , noise exposure , occupational medicine , audiology , hearing loss , pathology , nuclear medicine
A goal of occupational health is to inform workers of hazards on their jobs. This analysis addresses this goal by identifying industries and occupations with low worker awareness of potential exposures. Industries and occupations were ranked by the greatest positive difference between the proportion of workers exposed and proportion perceiving exposure to chemical and physical hazards. Those with low awareness had the greatest difference, i.e., high exposure and low perception. This analysis was performed by adding exposure data from a national exposure survey to a national health survey with perceived exposure data. The hospital and construction industries and occupations in these industries ranked among the top five for all hazards. For example, for hospital workers the difference between proportion exposed and proportion perceiving exposure to chemicals was 62% and to radiation was 42%, and for workers in construction the difference was 54% for exposure to noise and 63% for exposure to vibration. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.