Investigation of effective factors on risk perception and proper use of respirators in a petrochemical industry

Background and aimsRespirators are widely employed as the only measure against respiratory hazards. However, it is well known that unless workers wear respiratory continuouslyand properly, its efficacy will be very low. The purpose of this study was to determine the risk perception and effective factors on proper use of respirators among workers exposed to chemical containments in a petrochemical industry.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study a structural questionnaire was administrated to 81 randomly selected workers in a petrochemical industry and collected data were analyzed by SPSS package with descriptive statistics and Chi-Square test.ResultsThis study showed that only 8.6% of employees claimed to wear respiratory protectors all the time when they exposed to chemicals. The most common cause for not always wearing respirators was being uncomfortable. In this study there was a significant relationship between use of respirators and worker's riskperception (p 0.05). Also the relationship between age and experience with use of respirators wasn't statistically significant (p> 0.05).ConclusionThe results of the study showed that for promoting the proper use of respirators , the company should remove the barriers to compliance respirators by workers (Such as their uncomfortably) and promote the workers' risk perception about respiratory hazard and also training workers about effective factors of proper use of respirators. To achieve these purposes, implementing of Respiratory Protection Program (RPP) was suggested to the company