Relationship Between Personalities, Attitudes and the Use of Personal Protective Equipment.

Abstract

The industrial workers who have to work in hazardous environment and need to use personal protective equipment during their working period tend to ignore using respirators. The objectives of this study were to investigate the factors related to the use of respirators and to test the relationship between demographic factors, personalities, attitudes, knowledge and the use of respirators. The subjects were 206 electronic workers who were exposed to lead and for whom respirators were required while performing their jobs. Data were collected by questionnaires (knowledge of respirator, attitudes, the use of respirators) and a personality test which were analyzed an SPSS-x program. Results of this study show that the mean level of personality, attitudes and use of respirators test score were moderate while their knowledge scores were good. No significant relationship between personalities and the use of respirators was found. Workers’ attitude and knowledge were significantly related to the use of respirators at the .001 and .05 level respectively. No significant differences were found between demographic factors and the use of respirators. Personalities, attitudes and knowledge can predict the use of respirators.