Perception of occupational risk by rural workers in an area of central Italy

The aim of this study is to analyze the subjective perception of risks for rural workers in Abruzzo, an area of central Italy. A group of 273 workers were asked to fill in a questionnaire which included, apart from general information, question relative to six different types of risks normally found in the field of agricolture. The types of risks considered were: falling from a height, manually moving loads,overturning/accident whilst driving an agricultural tractor, noise and vibration, use o pesticies, the risk of being cut/injured. The wokers were request to assess, on a scale of 1 to 3, both the probability of an accident taking place and the consequent damage whc could result from each of the risk considered. The assessment of the risk provided by the workers was related to the objective assessment of the risks carried by the study group, also on the basis of objective data provided by INAIL (Italian insurance company) indexes, to highlight the eventual under/over estimation of risk. The results showed that approximately 11% of the workers do not consider their job as being dangerous; the risk perceived by the workers is higher for accidents that cause an immediate injury compared to those which cause professional illness, except the risk deriving from noise / vibration. A direct correlation was found between considering one's job as being dangerous and having attended courses on accident prevention.