Perception of Occupational and Environmental Risks and Hazards among Mineworkers: A Psychometric Paradigm Approach

Mahmaod Alrawad; Abdalwali Lutfi; Sundus Alyatama; Ibrahim A Elshaer; Mohammed Amin Almaiah

doi:10.3390/ijerph19063371

Perception of Occupational and Environmental Risks and Hazards among Mineworkers: A Psychometric Paradigm Approach

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 12;19(6):3371. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063371.

Authors

Mahmaod Alrawad^{1

2}, Abdalwali Lutfi³, Sundus Alyatama⁴, Ibrahim A Elshaer^{5

6}, Mohammed Amin Almaiah⁷

Affiliations

¹ Quantitative Method Department, College of Business Administration, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Accounting, Finance and Banking, College of Business Administration and Economics, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Ma'an 71111, Jordan.
³ Accounting Department, College of Business Administration, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ College of Business Studies, The Public Authority for Applied Education, Kuwait 13092, Kuwait.
⁵ Management Department, College of Business Administration, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Computer Networks, College of Computer Sciences and Information Technology, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

This study aims to assess workers' perception of occupational and environmental risks and hazards using the psychometric paradigm. For this purpose, data were collected using survey questionnaires from 360 mineworkers recruited from mineral and sand mines. Respondents were asked to evaluate eight occupational and environmental risks and hazards on nine commonly used risk characteristics. The principal component analysis revealed that two components, "Dreaded" and "Unknown", explained 73% percent of the total variance in workers' risk perception. The results also showed that the risk of developing an occupational disease was perceived as the most dreaded and unknown type of risk, while landslide, occupational noise, and vibration exposure were the least familiar to the respondents. A practical implication of this research is that the results may offer an insight into the employees' perceptions of the hazards and risks associated with their working environment. This could help risk management develop and implement effective risk management and communications strategies.

Keywords: occupational and environmental risks; psychometric paradigm; risk communication; risk perceptions; safety and health; safety culture.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Miners*
Occupational Diseases*
Occupational Exposure*
Occupational Health*
Perception
Psychometrics
Surveys and Questionnaires