Influence Of Safety And Health Training And Personal Risk Taking Behavior On Occupational Injuries - Using Members Of A Southern Carpenters’ union As an Example

• Main Authors: Chen,Mei-Yen, 陳美顏
• Other Authors: Lee,Su-Hsing
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/76879427243396902388

碩士 === 長榮大學 === 職業安全與衛生學系碩士班 === 100 === Abstract According to the statistics of Council of Labor Affairs, members of occupational unions experienced high incidence of occupational injuries and illness in2009. Members of carpenter union in all received the second highest workers’ compensation payment, which was less than that received by members of the construction union. Nowadays, plenty studies have been conducted among construction workers, while limited studies have been done for carpenters. Currently most unions have provided safety and health education for their members, but the effectiveness of the education has yet to be evaluated. The purpose of this study was to understand the current safety and health education and conditions of workplace injuries among members of regional carpenter union, and to investigate the relationship within safety and health education, risk-taking propensity, unsafety behavior and workplace injuries. This study conducted cross-sectionally, using members from a southern city carpenter union as the study population. Using purposive sampling, 500 questionnaires were administered to the selected members. Four hundred and fifty six questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed. Information collected in this questionnaire included safety and health education, workplace conditions, workplace injuries, and demographics. Data analysis used statistical software package SAS. The results showed that in the previous year, 43% of the union members were suffering from injuries that needed at least first aids treatment. Eleven percent of the injured members were hospitalized. Cut and abrasion were the most common injury types; wrench was the most important injury vector; and fingers were the most common injury parts of the body. For unsafety behavior, the majority of the union members were not accustomed to wear hearing protection in noise environment, and they would use ladders to walk. Regarding to education of safety and health, 43% of the members did not attend either the government or the union provided educational courses. The majority of those who did not attend the courses reported that they did not receive any information about the educational courses. Most members chose occupational safety and health regulations as the most needed topic in the future education. Safety and health education was significantly related to unsafety behavior but not workplace injuries. There was no interaction between risk-taking propensity was safety and health education. In multivariate analysis, risk-taking behavior, unsafety behavior, education and work characteristics were found to be important risk factors to workplace injuries; while safety and health education, risk-taking behavior, hours of sleep and gender were found to be important risk factors to unsafety behavior. Occupational injuries were common among members of carpenter union, yet the attendance of the educational courses was not ideal. In the future, action needs to be taken in risk factor control to reduce workplace injuries as well as in enforcement of union-based safety and health education.