Temporary workers' perceptions of occupational risks in the port of Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative study in the port of Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, aimed at identifying occupational risk perceptions in a sample of 306 temporary dockworkers. Most temporary dockworkers (93.46%) acknowledged the existence of health risks on the job, independently of schooling (p = 0.44) and job activity (p = 0.47). Risks identified by temporary workers as a whole included falling of suspended objects (8.43 +/- 2.47), noise (8.06 +/- 2.32), and bad weather conditions (8.05 +/- 2.48). Risks that varied significantly between jobs were: noise (p = 0.00), lifting loads manually (p = 0.00), work tools (p = 0,00), insufficient number of work team members (p = 0.03), extra wages based on productivity (p = 0.00), work pace (p = 0.01), working on scaffolding and other high areas (p = 0.00), workers moving on top of cargo (p = 0.00), and ship's ladders and gangways (p = 0.00). The study corroborated that temporary dock work is unhealthy and hazardous, and that the risks affect workers according to the specific jobs they perform.