الفهرس 
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Abstract
Construction is one of the most accident-prone industries because of its uniqueness. Light accidents can hamper production, and a serious accident can lead to a variety of problems that affect delivery, schedule, quality, cost, and even social responsibility. The combination of social responsibility and economic pressure has triggered the need to reduce work-related accidents and improve construction site safety (Chaudhari et al., 2020).
Occupational health hazards refer to the vulnerable risks to health and safety for those who work outside the home. Health is basically defined as a state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease. Health is being defined as it contrasts with the promotion of health and safety at work, which is concerned with preventing a harm from any incidental hazards, arising in the workplace end developing countries, regardless of industry (Subha et al., 2018).
The construction industry is known as a hazardous industry because of its complexity and strategic nature. Therefore, it is important to know the main causes of occupational accidents to prevent fatal occupational accidents in construction industry. At building construction sites, workers performing tasks are continuously exposed to risks, not only emerging from their own mistakes but also from the mistakes of their co-workers (Seker et al., 2017).
Aim of the study
This study aims to assess construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards through:
1- Assessing construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards.
2- Assessing construction workers’ knowledge regarding health needs, health problems and preventive measures of construction workers.
3- Assessing environmental protective measures and using personal protective equipment among construction workers.
Research Questions
This study is based on answering the following questions:
1- What are construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards?
2- What are construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health problems?
3- Is there a relation between construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and health problems?
4-Is there a relation between construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and using personal protective equipment?
5-Is there a relation between construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and environmental protective measures?
Research Setting
This study was conducted at workers rest at Company El-Soadaa Contracting-Samalout El-Minia government upper Egypt
Subjects & Sample:
Convenient sample, all construction workers available within six months at Company El-Soadaa Contracting (440 worker).
Tools of data collection:
Two tools were used in this study and classified as the following:
1. An interviewing Questionnaire Sheet:
It was written in an Arabic language by the investigator after reviewing the related literature, includes 5 parts:
Part I:
Socio-demographic data for construction workers, it includes (age, gender, social status, level of education, recruitment, type of project, supplier and number of working years) and it includes 8closed ended questions.
Part II:
Assess construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and adopted from Ahmed, (2010) and modified by investigator. It includes 11 items, divided on five parts to assess construction workers’ knowledge about physical hazards (definition and types of physical hazards), chemical hazards (definition, states and effect of chemical hazards on health and on the environment), mechanical hazards (definition and types of mechanical hazards), psychological and social hazards (definition and reasons of psychological and social hazards) and environmental hazards (definition of environmental hazards).
Part III:
Assess Construction workers’ knowledge regarding health needs adopted from Parkin, (2009) and modified by investigator. It includes (physical needs as (nutrition, comfort, living and nature of work), need for safety and security, social needs as (cooperation), psychological needs as (respect and stress), material needs as (wages and remunerations), need for health care as (periodic medical examination), need for occupational safety and health as (workplace have medical aid and emergency treatment facilities) and need for health insurance as (health insurance for employees).
Part IV:
Assess Construction workers’ knowledge regarding health problems. Adopted from (Alsamawi, 2017) and modified by investigator. It includes (problems related to physical hazards, problems related to chemical hazards, problems related to mechanical hazards, problems related to Psychological and social hazards and problems related to environmental hazards) It includes 5 closed ended questions.
Part V (a):
Assess Construction workers’ knowledge regarding environmental protective measures adopted from Jasani, (2016) and modified by investigator. It includes (corridors and exists, lighting, orders and cleanliness, electricity safety, ventilation, temperatures, humidity and storage of chemicals), It includes 8 closed ended questions.
Part V (b): Assess Construction workers’ knowledge regarding personal protective equipment adopted from Jasani, (2016) and modified by investigator. It includes 16 items, divided on eight parts to assess Construction workers knowledge about (eye protection (glasses) (importance and uses of glasses), face protectors(importance and uses of face shield), hearing protection (importance and uses of hearing protection), head protection (importance and uses of head protection), protecting of respiratory system (importance and uses of protective mask), hand protection (importance and uses of gloves), apron (importance and uses of apron) and protective shoes (importance and uses of protective shoes).
Second tool: Observational checklist to assess occupational environmental measures and using of personal protective measures
Part I: Observational checklist to determine occupational environmental measures adopted from Abbas, (2013) and modified by investigator. This tool was consisted of 35 items, divided on ten parts to evaluating the professional environment, it includes (corridors and exists, lighting, ventilation, temperatures, noise levels, cleanliness, safety, first aid, chemicals and hazardous materials and electricity).
Part II: Observational checklist to assess using of personal protective equipment adopted from Sah, (2016) and modified by investigator. This tool was consisted of 35 items, divided on seven parts; it includes (eye and face protection, respiratory protection, head protection, foot protection, hand protection, hearing protection and protective coats and pants).
Results:
The study shows that mean age of the studied construction workers was 32.62±16.96 years, 97.5 % of them were male and 58.8% were married. Moreover, this table showed that 37.5% of construction workers had basic education, 76.3% of them temporary job, 42.5% of them were worked in construction of buildings, 75% of them were Supplied by the sub-contractor and 42% of them had <5 years of experience.
57% of the studied construction workers had correct knowledge regarding occupational health hazards, meanwhile 43% of them had incorrect knowledge regarding occupational health hazards.
72% of the studied construction workers had correct knowledge regarding health problems.
50% of the studied construction workers had adequate knowledge regarding their health needs, meanwhile 50% of them inadequate knowledge about that.
60% of the studied construction workers were satisfactory level of knowledge regarding environmental protective measures, and 75% of the studied construction workers were satisfactory level of knowledge regarding importance and usage of personal protective equipment in workplace.
60% of the studied places adequate environmental safety.
68% of the studied construction workers did not use personal protective equipment during working in construction site.
There was a highly statistically significant difference between construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and health problems, using of personal protective equipment and environmental protective measures with p-value was <0.001**.
Conclusion:
After conduction of the present study; it concluded the following:
Total knowledge about health hazards, health needs and health problems. The current study also clarified that there was a highly statistically significant relation between construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and using of personal protective measures in work places. Finally, the present study concluded that there was highly statistically significant relation between construction workers’ knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and environmental protective measures at construction settings.
In the light of the findings of the study, the following recommendations are suggested that:
1-Implementing an educational and training programs for construction workers regarding health hazards, health problems and using of personal protective equipment in construction settings.
2-Health awareness campaign aimed to educate the construction workers about health hazards that they exposed to during work in construction settings.
3-Designed intervention programs to prevent health hazards among construction workers in work places.
Further research about
• Comparative study to assess occupational hazards among construction workers in rural and urban community.