IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v9y2019i2p34-d204026.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Drivers of Personal Safety in Agriculture: A Case Study with Pesticide Operators

Author

Listed:
  • Christos A. Damalas

    (Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace, GR-68200 Orestiada, Greece)

  • Spyridon D. Koutroubas

    (Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace, GR-68200 Orestiada, Greece)

  • Gholamhossein Abdollahzadeh

    (Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan 4913815739, Iran)

Abstract

Agriculture is a hazardous occupational industry for farmers and farm workers; therefore, decisions to improve safety in the working place require understanding behavior of farmers and farm workers and factors affecting it. This study examined factors influencing perceived importance of personal safety and safe behavior of farmers in terms of personal protective equipment (PPE) use in pesticide spraying. Data were collected from a previous survey of farmers in rural areas of northern Greece. Over half of the farmers (55.4%) perceived low importance of personal safety in pesticide spraying. Perceived importance of personal safety increased in young farmers, with high education level, and large land area as well as with high perception of risk, knowledge of pesticide toxicity, seminar in pesticide use, access to internet, and perceived usefulness of PPE. Most farmers showed unsafe behavior in PPE use in terms of using long-sleeved shirt, long pants, chemical resistant gloves, socks, and shoes (58.9%). Farmers perceived low risk of pesticides (65.2%), despite the fact that two out of three farmers (66.1%) perceived high usefulness of PPE. Safe behavior in pesticide use increased in young farmers, with high education level, and small land area as well as with high perception of risk, knowledge of pesticide toxicity, seminar in pesticide use, access to internet, and perceived usefulness of PPE. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that knowledge of pesticide toxicity, education, age, and farm size were significant predictors of perceived importance of personal safety. In addition, self-confidence in spraying, following colleagues’ behaviors, risk perception, knowledge of pesticide toxicity, and farm size were significant predictors of safe behavior in terms of PPE use during pesticide spraying. Findings highlight differences in how farmers perceive personal safety and how they finally respond in daily action with respect to personal safety measures. Perception of risk, knowledge of pesticide toxicity, and farm size were common significant predictors for both variables. Lifelong education targeting promotion of knowledge about pesticide risks among farmers should be always a priority.

Suggested Citation

  • Christos A. Damalas & Spyridon D. Koutroubas & Gholamhossein Abdollahzadeh, 2019. "Drivers of Personal Safety in Agriculture: A Case Study with Pesticide Operators," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:9:y:2019:i:2:p:34-:d:204026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/2/34/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/2/34/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    2. R. Benabou & J. Tirole, 1999. "Self-Confidence: Intrapersonal Strategies," Princeton Economic Theory Papers 00s1, Economics Department, Princeton University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. M. Imran Ganaie & Manzoor A. Wani & Aisha Dev & Ishtiaq A. Mayer, 2022. "Pesticide exposure of farm community causing illness symptoms in upper Jhelum Basin of Kashmir Himalaya, India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 13771-13785, December.
    2. Birtukan Atinkut Asmare & Bernhard Freyer & Jim Bingen, 2022. "Pesticide Use Practices among Female Headed Households in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-26, November.
    3. Funmilayo Juliana Afolabi & Paul de Beer & Joke A. Haafkens, 2021. "Occupational Risk Perception and the Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): A Study Among Informal Automobile Artisans in Osun State, Nigeria," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440219, February.
    4. Wen Xiang & Jianzhong Gao, 2023. "Do Not Be Anticlimactic: Farmers’ Behavior in the Sustainable Application of Green Agricultural Technology—A Perceived Value and Government Support Perspective," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-24, January.
    5. Asghar Bagheri & Naier Emami & Christos A. Damalas, 2023. "Monitoring point source pollution by pesticide use: an analysis of farmers’ environmental behavior in waste disposal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6711-6726, July.
    6. Mario Fargnoli & Mara Lombardi & Daniele Puri, 2019. "Applying Hierarchical Task Analysis to Depict Human Safety Errors during Pesticide Use in Vineyard Cultivation," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-18, July.
    7. Mingyue Li & Yu Liu & Yuhe Huang & Lianbei Wu & Kai Chen, 2022. "Impacts of Risk Perception and Environmental Regulation on Farmers’ Sustainable Behaviors of Agricultural Green Production in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-20, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Andersson & Ola Eriksson & Chris Von Borgstede, 2012. "The Effects of Environmental Management Systems on Source Separation in the Work and Home Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(6), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Tran Huy Phuong & Thanh Trung Hieu, 2015. "Predictors of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Undergraduate Students in Vietnam: An Empirical Study," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 5(8), pages 46-55, August.
    3. Clara Cardone-Riportella & María José Casasola-Martinez & Isabel Feito-Ruiz, 2014. "Do Entrepreneurs Come From Venus Or Mars? Impact Of Postgraduate Studies: Gender And Family Business Background," Working Papers 14.04, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Financial Economics and Accounting (former Department of Business Administration), revised Sep 2014.
    4. Peng Cheng & Zhe Ouyang & Yang Liu, 0. "The effect of information overload on the intention of consumers to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    5. Ruijie Zhu & Guojing Zhao & Zehai Long & Yangjie Huang & Zhaoxin Huang, 2022. "Entrepreneurship or Employment? A Survey of College Students’ Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, May.
    6. Alsalem, Amani & Fry, Marie-Louise & Thaichon, Park, 2020. "To donate or to waste it: Understanding posthumous organ donation attitude," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 87-97.
    7. Pan, Jing Yu & Liu, Dahai, 2022. "Mask-wearing intentions on airplanes during COVID-19 – Application of theory of planned behavior model," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 32-44.
    8. Benoît Lécureux & Adrien Bonnet & Ouassim Manout & Jaâfar Berrada & Louafi Bouzouina, 2022. "Acceptance of Shared Autonomous Vehicles: A Literature Review of stated choice experiments," Working Papers hal-03814947, HAL.
    9. Jacqueline Ruth & Steffen Willwacher & Oliver Korn, 2022. "Acceptance of Digital Sports: A Study Showing the Rising Acceptance of Digital Health Activities Due to the SARS-CoV-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-16, January.
    10. Jariyasunant, Jerald & Carrel, Andre & Ekambaram, Venkatesan & Gaker, David & Sengupta, Raja & Walker, Joan L., 2012. "The Quantified Traveler: Changing transport behavior with personalized travel data feedback," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt3047k0dw, University of California Transportation Center.
    11. Brown, Philip & Roper, Simon, 2017. "Innovation and networks in New Zealand farming," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 61(3), July.
    12. Teodora Roman, 2009. "Study regarding entrepreneurial intentions among students," THE YEARBOOK OF THE "GH. ZANE" INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC RESEARCHES, Gheorghe Zane Institute for Economic and Social Research ( from THE ROMANIAN ACADEMY, JASSY BRANCH), vol. 18, pages 87-94.
    13. Messele Kumilachew Aga, 2023. "The mediating role of perceived behavioral control in the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions of university students in Ethiopia," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Kristin Thomas & Evalill Nilsson & Karin Festin & Pontus Henriksson & Mats Lowén & Marie Löf & Margareta Kristenson, 2020. "Associations of Psychosocial Factors with Multiple Health Behaviors: A Population-Based Study of Middle-Aged Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Andreas Falke & Nadine Schröder & Claudia Hofmann, 2022. "The influence of values in sustainable consumption among millennials," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(6), pages 899-928, August.
    16. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Baker, Douglas & Washington, Simon & Turrell, Gavin, 2013. "Residential dissonance and mode choice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 12-28.
    17. Ficko, Andrej & Boncina, Andrej, 2013. "Probabilistic typology of management decision making in private forest properties," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 34-43.
    18. Muhammad Shahid Qureshi & Saadat Saeed & Syed Waleed Mehmood Wasti, 2016. "The impact of various entrepreneurial interventions during the business plan competition on the entrepreneur identity aspirations of participants," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 6(1), pages 1-18, December.
    19. Radha Jagannathan & Michael J. Camasso & Bagavan Das & Jale Tosun & Sadagopan Iyengar, 2017. "Family, society and the individual: determinants of entrepreneurial attitudes among youth in Chennai, South India," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 7(1), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Grégoire Wallenborn & Catherine Rousseau & Karine Thollier, 2006. "Détermination de profils de ménages pour une utilisation plus rationnelle de l’energie," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/192217, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:9:y:2019:i:2:p:34-:d:204026. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.