Worker awareness of exposure: industries and occupations with low awareness

Abstract

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.