Risk perception and safety behaviour : a study in an occupational environment

Abstract

It seems reasonable to assume that risk perception in workplaces can influence workers’ behaviour and, consequently, their exposure to some occupational risks, such as the risk of noise exposure. However, only a small number of references in the literature stressed the relationship between risk perception and occupational noise exposure. The existing studies rarely include quantitative variables related to central factors such as noise exposure levels and workers’ hearing status. This study was carried out with a sample of 516 industrial workers and aims at analysing the relationship between individual, contextual and perceptual-cognitive factors and the use of hearing protection devices (HPDs). The carried out data analysis revealed that individual risk perception and the outcome value for hearing preservation were the most significant predictors of the HPDs use. Workers’ opinion about the company’s safety climate also seems to play an important role as predictor.