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Occupational safety and health in China: junior college students’ knowledge from a large cross-sectional survey in Jiangsu Province

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Abstract

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is important for safeguarding workers during industrialization and pursuing economic benefits. We asked 123,943 junior college students from years 1–5 to complete an online questionnaire about their knowledge of occupational safety and health. A total of 101,577 students responded, with a response rate of 81.96%. The average score and pass rate for all valid respondents were 44.99 ± 12.53 and 75.2%, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in average scores and pass rates among students of different genders, levels, number of family members, and school locations. Government departments should increase investment in Occupational Safety and Health education for students in poverty-stricken areas, and should conduct regular assessments of students’ knowledge. Junior colleges should also strengthen learning in occupational health education.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully appreciate the support of each student who participated in this study. The article was supported by the Major Project of the National Social Science Funding of China (Grant Number 16ZDA056), the Jiangsu Philosophy and Social Sciences Excellent Innovation Cultivation Team (Grant Number 2017ZSTD031), and the Jiangsu Province’s Outstanding Medical Academic Leader program (CXTDA2017029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology, 1 Daxue Rd, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Shuqing Xu, Surong Xu & Hong Chen

  2. Nanjing Engineering Branch, Jiangsu Union Technical Institute, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Shuqing Xu, Lei Wang & Surong Xu

  3. Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, No. 172 Jiangsu Road, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu, China

    Boshen Wang, Haoran Guo, Lei Han & Baoli Zhu

  4. Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Boshen Wang & Haoran Guo

Authors
  1. Shuqing Xu
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  2. Lei Wang
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  3. Boshen Wang
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  4. Haoran Guo
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  5. Lei Han
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  6. Surong Xu
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  7. Hong Chen
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  8. Baoli Zhu
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Contributions

The first three authors, SX, LW, and BW contributed equally to this work. Data curation: SX, LW, and HC; Formal analysis: HG; Funding acquisition: LH, HC, and BZ; Investigation: SX, LW, and BW; Methodology: SX; Supervision: BW, LH, HC, and BZ; Writing—original draft: BW and HG.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hong Chen or Baoli Zhu.

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Xu, S., Wang, L., Wang, B. et al. Occupational safety and health in China: junior college students’ knowledge from a large cross-sectional survey in Jiangsu Province. J Public Health Pol 41, 375–385 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-020-00225-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-020-00225-2

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