Survey on knowledge, attitude, practice and needs on occupational health of managers in quartz sand enterprises in Fengyang area

Objective To investigate the occupational health knowledge awareness and demand on occupational health service of managers in quartz sand enterprises in Fengyang area.

Methods Totally 53 occupational health manager in enterprises related to quartz sand production, processing and raw material usage in 7 regions were surveyed with questionnaire.

Results The average score of occupational health knowledge of 53 respondents was (53.21±12.76), varied with age, educational level and employment time of managers(P < 0.05), and the younger, more educated and longer employed managers got higher scores. The managers with management time less than one year had the lowest attitude score (P < 0.05). Male managers had a higher behavioral score than females (P < 0.05). The occupational health knowledge score was positively correlated with educational level(r=0.357, P < 0.05), negatively correlated with age(r=-0.463, P < 0.05). The attitude score was positively correlated with the behavioral score (r=0.443, P < 0.01). The training was the main way for them to get occupational health knowledge. More than 90% of them were willing to master the knowledge related to occupational health. Most managers (94.3%) thought that enterprises should employ the full-time staff responsible for occupational health relevant issues, while only 32.1% managers thought that cost of control measures against occupational hazard in their enterprises was too much beyond their affordability.

Conclusion The managers in quartz sand enterprises in Fengyang area have a high demand on occupational health knowledge and occupational health services. The governmental agency should note this and give more guidance.