Impact of a worker notification program: Assessment of attitudinal and behavioral outcomes

Background Hundreds of worker notification programs are conducted each year to communicate occupational risks to workers. However few attempts have be en made to evaluate their. effectiveness and few have described how communi cation theories are applied in developing notification messages. We develop ed and assessed the effectiveness of a worker notification program at a ber yllium machining plant. Methods Ne compared self-protective attitudinal and behavioral responses am ong workers in two plants: (1) an intervention plant that received berylliu m risk notification and (2) a matched control plant that did not receive no tification. Results Workers receiving notification reported significantly stronger perc eptions of threat and efficacy, more positive attitudes toward safety pract ices, and engaged in more protective behaviors than the workers at the cont rol plant. Conclusions This study demonstrates the utility of applying communication t heories in the development of notification messages and the results suggest that mass presentations may be just as effective, if not more so, than one -on-one notifications. Published 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.(dagger)