Knowledge and Health Prevention Behaviors from Infected Waste Collection Staff in the Company and the Local Government Organization in Pathum Thani Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study knowledge and personal protective equipment wearing behaviors and to examine factors associated with personal protective equipment wearing behaviors among 52 infectious waste collecting staff from a private company and from a local government organization responsible for collecting infectious waste in Pathum Thani province. Instruments used in this study were a structured interview questionnaire and an observation form. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, and one-way ANOVA at p=0.05.

The results showed that knowledge regarding collection and transferring of infectious waste among the staff was at a moderate level ( =2.78, SD=1.56) while their personal protective wearing behavior score was also at a moderate level ( =3.26, SD=0.76). Staff who received the training on the prevention and protection of possible hazards from infectious waste had significantly higher behavior scores than those who did not receive the training. Behavior that all staff practiced correctly was wearing thick protective gloves. Collecting and transferring behaviors that were practiced by all staff included 1) collecting infectious waste correctly, 2) refraining from teasing, and 3) refraining from smoking at work. Factors associated with personal protective equipment wearing behaviors were age and years of work experiences. Staff aged between 19-30 years had significant lower behavior scores than those who aged between 31-40 and 41-15 years. Staff with less than 1 year of work experiences had significantly lower behavior scores than those who had between 1-5 or more than 5 years. Additionally, staff with different knowledge levels also had different behavior scores.