Chemical risk and safety awareness, perception, and practices among research laboratories workers in Italy

Table 1 Demographic, professional and health status characteristics of the responders

Characteristic	N	%	Mean ± SD
Gender (237)^a
Female	184	77.6
Male	53	22.4
Age, years (237)^a			35.9 ± 9.8
≤ 30	85	35.9
31–40	87	36.7
> 40	65	27.4
Marital status (213)^a
Single/separated/divorced	123	57.7
Married/cohabitant	90	42.3
Smoking status (237)^a
Never smoker	191	80.6
Current smoker	30	12.7
Past-smoker	16	6.7
Employment status (236)^a
Temporary workers	119	50.4
Permanent workers	117	49.6
Laboratory site (237)^a
University of Catanzaro	157	66.2
University of Cosenza	80	33.8
Number of months working in the attended lab (235)^a			74.4 ± 82
≤ 24	92	39.1
25–48	46	19.6
49–120	42	17.9
> 120	55	23.4
Number of hazardous chemicals used in the attended lab (237)^a
≤ 5	97	46.0	6.6 ± 3.3
6–10	109	46.0
> 10	31	13.1
Working experience in other labs (237)^a
Yes	127	53.6
No	110	46.4
Chronic health conditions (237)^ab
No	118	49.8
Yes	119	50.2
Allergies	71	59.7
Cephalalgia	52	43.7
Dysmetabolic diseases	15	12.6
Cardiovascular diseases	4	3.4
Respiratory diseases	4	3.4
Other	14	11.8
Visits to GP in the previous year (237)^a
Yes	161	67.9
No	76	32.1

ISSN: 1745-6673