Assessment of the Farmers’ Awareness about Occupational Safety and Health and Factors Affecting it; A Case Study in Mahidasht, Kermanshah Province

Abstract

Using social-psychology models to understand farmers' conservation ... [18] Risk assessment of pesticide exposure on health of ... [19] Knowledge, attitude, practice, and toxicity symptoms associated with pesticide use among ... [20] Pesticide exposure beliefs among Latino farmworkers ... [21] Farmers' knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of occupational health and safety hazards ... [22] Awareness and need for knowledge of health and safety among ... [23] Determining sample size for research ... [24] Identify factors in car accidents agricultural ... [25] Peasant association member's knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards safe ... [26] Farmers' knowledge, practices and Injuries associated with pesticide ... [27] Occupational health and safety issues among vegetable farmers in trinidad and the ... [28] Occupational safety of farmers in ... [29] Effects of an injury and illness prevention ... [30] Occupational health hazards, stress and ... [31] Association of health symptoms with ... Aims In Iran, safety and health education in agriculture such as the industrial sector has not been taken into account, and most farmers are not covered by professional health. The aim of this study was to assess the farmers' awareness about occupational safety and health and factors affecting it. Instruments & Methods The population of the present descriptive correlational study included 140 households from farmers based on the simple random sampling method in 2014, in Mahidasht, Kermanshah Province, Iran. A researcher-made questionnaire was used as a research instrument and its validity was confirmed by the panel of experts and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The data were analyzed by SPSS 23, using multiple stepwise regression and Pearson correlation test. Findings Most of the farmers had a negative attitude towards the observance of occupational health issues. The mean awareness had a significant correlation with social status (r=0.47; p=0.001), satisfaction of the agriculture as an occupation (r=0.51; p=0.0001), attitude (r=0.37; p=0.012) and, economic status (r=0.42; p=0.005). In the first step, the social status and satisfaction of the agriculture as an occupation predicted 66.9% of variance of awareness. In the second step, social status and satisfaction of the agriculture as an occupation as well as attitude predicted 53.3% of variance of awareness, and in the third step, by adding economic status to the previous variables; all variables predicted 51.2% of variance of awareness. Conclusion The level of farmers' awareness about occupational safety and health is moderate. Social status, attitude, and economic status affect the farmers' awareness about occupational safety and health.