Risk Communication as a Tool for Training Apprentice Welders: A Study about Risk Perception and Occupational Accidents

Abstract

The present study has aimed to identify the perceptions of apprentice welders about physical, chemical, biological, and physiological risk factors to which they are exposed; identify types of occupational accidents involving apprentice welders; and report the development of a socioenvironmental education intervention as a tool for risk communication for apprentice welders. A quantitative study was performed with 161 apprentice welders in Southern Brazil in 2011. Data collection was performed via structured interviews with the apprentice welders about risk perception, occupational accidents, and time experienced in welding. The data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0. The participants identified the following risk types: physical (96.9%), chemical (95%), physiological (86.3%), and biological (51.5%). In this sample, 39.7% of apprentice welders reported occupational accidents and 27.3% reported burning. The inferential analysis showed that the frequency of risk perception factors increases with the length of experience, and apprentice welders who have experienced accidents during welding activity perceive a higher amount of risk factors than those who have never experienced them. It is concluded that apprentice welders perceive risks and that they tend to relate risks with the occurrence of occupational accidents as an indicator of the dangerous nature of their activity.

Relationship between risk perception and occupational accidents: a study among foundry workers

“…The results obtained by the present study are parallel to those obtained by Cezar-Vaz et al who carried out a similar study among apprentice welders. Their results indicated that apprentice welders with an occupational accident record had higher risk perception than those without an occupational accident record [15]. In another study carried out by Cezar-Vaz et al, to identify risk perception and the types of occupational accidents among gas station workers, the perception of chemical risk was reported more among workers having records of chemical risk-related occupational accidents [16].…”

Risk Perception and Risk Communication for Training Women Apprentice Welders: A Challenge for Public Health Nursing

“…This practice also included the Health Promotion in Different Work Environments Programme (HPDWEP) [ 37 , 38 ] of LAMSA, the School of Nursing, the Federal University of Rio Grande, RS, Brazil. The HPDWEP consists of a set of coordinated actions and continuous shaft in promoting social and environmental health in different work environments, the environments of which are included in the study group's academic LAMSA.…”

Risk Communication Concerning Welding Fumes for the Primary Preventive Care of Welding Apprentices in Southern Brazil

“…Thus, risk communication, along with public participation and conflict resolution, encourages the modification of individual and collective behavior in the face of events that pose risks to health [ 2 ]. The use of risk communication as a primary prevention tool is found in different working environments, such as among farmers [ 11 ], chemical industries [ 12 ], and technological education schools [ 13 ], among others.…”

“…This study’s aim was to apply the communication of risks in welding apprenticeship programs. The Laboratory of Socio-Environmental Process Studies and Collective Health Promotion (LAMSA) research group has developed research in this context in the Socio-Environmental Laboratory of Occupational Health at the School of Nursing, Federal University of Rio Grande [ 13 , 14 ]. The perceptions of welding apprentices concerning welding fumes as associated with respiratory and cardiovascular disorders was used to classify events that pose risks to health and that can be communicated in the apprenticeship process.…”