Greek employee awareness of carcinogenic exposure.

Background: Occupational risk factors contribute significantly to the development of lung cancer; however, little is known about the extent to which employees are informed of occupational exposure to carcinogenic substances.

Methods: Through a case-control study, we estimated the level of awareness among Greek employees potentially exposed to known carcinogenic substances within various occupational settings.

Results: Only 6.6% of men (n = 482) employed in occupations with potential exposure to carcinogenic substances were aware of such occupational exposures. Age, education, and residence were significantly associated with awareness. Employees having at least a secondary level of education were 3.5 times more aware than those having at most 6 years of educational training.

Conclusions: Assessing awareness among workers potentially exposed to occupational risk factors and promoting occupational health education are important steps for increasing health and safety at the workplace.