Abstract
BackgroundThe amount of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) at work is mainly determined by an individual's occupation and may differ from exposure at home. It is, however, unknown how different occupational groups perceive possible adverse health effects of EMF.MethodsThree occupational groups, the general Dutch working population (n = 567), airport security officers who work with metal detectors (n = 106), and MRI radiographers who work with MRI (n = 193), were compared on perceived risk of and positive and negative feelings towards EMF in general and of different EMF sources, and health concerns by using analyses of variances. Data were collected via an internet survey.ResultsOverall, MRI radiographers had a lower perceived risk, felt less negative, and more positive towards EMF and different sources of EMF than the general working population and the security officers. For security officers, feeling more positive about EMF was not significantly related to perceived risk of EMF in general or EMF of domestic sources. Feeling positive about a source did not generalize to a lower perceived risk, while negative feelings were stronger related to perceived risk. MRI radiographers had fewer health concerns regarding EMF than the other two groups, although they considered it more likely that EMF could cause physical complaints.ConclusionsThese data show that although differences in occupation appear to be reflected in different perceptions of EMF, the level of occupational exposure to EMF as such does not predict the perceived health risk of EMF.
Highlights
The amount of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) at work is mainly determined by an individual’s occupation and may differ from exposure at home
Participants Three groups were studied: Group 1 consisted of people of the general Dutch working population; group 2 consisted of airport security officers who regularly work with a source of EMF with field strengths far below EMF exposure limits; and group 3 consisted of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) radiographers who regularly work with a source of EMF with field strengths close to EMF exposure limits (MRI equipment)
Analyses of variance showed that MRI radiographers felt significantly more positive and less negative about EMF and had a lower perceived risk of EMF than the general working population and security officers
Summary
The amount of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) at work is mainly determined by an individual’s occupation and may differ from exposure at home. It is, unknown how different occupational groups perceive possible adverse health effects of EMF. Lay people are not aware of this technological difference, but do rate different EMF sources differently regarding the risk for health. Factors such as not being observable, uncontrollability, and involuntariness of exposure to the hazard influence people’s perception of adverse health risk from a hazard [12]. How different occupational groups perceive the possible risk of different EMF sources is unknown
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