ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1632185
This article is part of the Research TopicNavigating Environmental Hazards in the Workplace: Impacts and InterventionsView all 15 articles
Enterprise Characteristics and Occupational Health Literacy Among Essential Service Workers in Guangdong Province, China: A Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
- Guangdong Province Hospital for Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China, Guangzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Essential service workers are exposed to significant occupational health risks. Low occupational health literacy (OHL) has been linked to increased risks of occupational injuries and work-related illnesses. However, limited evidence exists regarding the OHL of essential service workers and the impact of enterprise characteristics on OHL. This study aimed to examine the associations between enterprise characteristics and OHL among essential service workers in Guangdong Province, China. Study design: Cross-Sectional Study Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2,640 essential service workers from the environmental sanitation (n=880), transportation (n=880), and express/food delivery industries (n=880), using multi-stage cluster random sampling. OHL was assessed using the National Occupational Health Literacy Monitoring Questionnaire, which measures four dimensions: knowledge of occupational health laws, knowledge of occupational health protection, skills of occupational health protection, and healthy work patterns and behaviors. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine associations between enterprise characteristics (scale, ownership type, industry type) and OHL, with stratified analyses by monthly income. Results: The overall OHL level among essential service workers was 52.8%. Working in small and micro enterprises (adjusted OR=1.42, 95% CI: 1.17–1.72) and private enterprises (adjusted OR=1.28, 95% CI: 1.05–1.55) was associated with higher OHL, while employment in the express and food delivery industry was associated with lower OHL (adjusted OR=0.64, 95% CI: 0.49–0.82). Monthly income significantly moderated these associations, with stronger effects observed in higher-income groups. Conclusions: Enterprise characteristics significantly influence OHL among essential service workers. Targeted OHL promotion strategies should be developed based on enterprise characteristics, with particular attention to large, state-owned enterprises and express/food delivery workers.
Keywords: Occupational health literacy, essential service workers, Enterprise characteristics, Cross-sectional study, Tertiary industry
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Chen, Wu, Xia, Yu, Huang and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Min Yang, Guangdong Province Hospital for Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China, Guangzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.