Does risk recognition affect workers’ hearing protection utilisation rate?

In industrial environments, it is very likely to find several workers sharing the same workplaces and being exposed to the same noise pressure levels, who have different perceptions of the risks they are exposed to. These different perceptions could lead to different workers’ attitudes and behaviours. The present study was carried out with a sample of 434 industrial workers exposed to noise pressure levels greater than the action level defined in Portuguese legislation (85 dB(A)). The study aims to analyse the role of individual risk recognitions in hearing protection devices’ (HPD) utilisation rates. A questionnaire was developed to assess workers’ risk perception of high-noise exposure and their utilisation of HPD. The multivariate data analysis of the several variables considered revealed that risk recognition in general and self-efficacy in particular, plays a significant role as a predictor of workers’ behaviour with respect to the use of HPD. Furthermore, these results do suggest that risk recognition should be considered as an essential issue in the design and implementation of any Hearing Conservation Program, in particular in what concerns workers’ training.Relevance to industryResults obtained do suggest that workers’ risk recognition could have an important impact on noise exposure protective behaviours and these could be used to design and conceive successful industrial Hearing Conservation Programs.