Perception of radon risk in typical non-uranium mines in China

Abstract

Objective To investigate the perception of risk from occupational exposure to radon among the non-uranium miners in China, and to explore its major influence factors. Methods 2836 workers from 24 mines in 9 provinces/rcgions were interviewed. Logit regress analysis was used to identify the major influence factors. Results Among the interviewed mine workers, 13.3% of them had heard of radon, 29.0% of those miners who had heard of radon had some knowledge of the source of radon. Only 1.8% of the investigated mine workers had correct perception of health risk resulted from exposure to radon. The major factors to influence the radon risk perception included education degree and type of employment, perception was lower in those miners with low education or temporally employed. Perception level differed by province/regions and mines. Sex, age,and working length of the current job were not the main factors to influence the risk perception. Conclusions The perception of radon risk resulted from occupational exposure among the Chinese non-uranium mine workers is low. More works are needed to effectively implement notification of occupational health hazards, which is stipulated by Chinese law on prevention and control of occupational disease, and one of the important factors in radon mitigation in mines. Key words: Non-uranium mine; Miners; Radon; Risk perception