%0 Journal Article
%T Occupational biological risk knowledge and perception: results from a large survey in Rome, Italy
%A De Giusti
%A Maria
%A Corrao
%A Carmela RN
%A Mannocci
%A Alice
%A Palazzo
%A Caterina
%A Riccardi
%A Roberta
%A Schmidt
%A Silvia Lisa
%A Sernia
%A Sabrina
%A La Torre
%A Giuseppe
%J Annali dell'Istituto Superiore di Sanit¨¤
%D 2012
%I Kurtis srl
%R 10.4415/ANN_12_02_06
%X background: a cross-sectional survey on knowledge and perception of occupational biological risk among workers in several occupations was carried out in the industrial area of rome. methods: the study was carried out in the period of march-april 2010 using a questionnaire with 33 items on the following areas: a) socio-demographic data; b) perception of the biological risks in ordinary occupational activity; c) knowledge about biological risks; d) biological risks in the working environment. the questionnaire was submitted to a convenience sample of workers of an industrial area in southern rome. results: 729 participants entered the study from the following work activities: food, catering, service, farming and breeding, healthcare, school and research (males 57.2%; mean age 37.4 years, sd = 10.9). significant associations were found between different activity areas with respect to the relevance of the biological risk (p = 0.044) and the perception of the biological risk (p < 0.001). with respect to vehicles of infectious agents, the highest percentages of the most common biological risk exposures were: air and physical contact for the catering and food group, 66.7% and 61.90% respectively; air and blood for the health and research group, with 73.50% and 57.00% respectively; and physical contact and blood for the service group, 63.10 % and 48.30%. significant difference of proportions were found about the prevalent effect caused by the biological agents was the occurrence of infectious diseases (59.90% food group, 91.60% health and research and 79.30% service group) (p < 0.001). the perception of knowledge resulted in a good rank (sufficient, many or complete) in the food and catering group, 78.3% with significant difference compared to other professions (p < 0.001). conclusions: all participants show good knowledge the effects induced by biological agents and it is significant that almost half of the respondents are aware of the risks concerning allergies. neverthel
%K biological risk
%K knowledge
%K perception
%K workers.
%U http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0021-25712012000200006&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en