Workers in painting companies may be unaware that the paints they handle have adverse health effects. The present study explored the factors associated with workers’ perception of paints as “dangerous and harmful”. A questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted with workers engaged in painting operations in small-sized painting companies (fewer than 50 employees) in northern Kyushu and Yamaguchi prefectures. Safety and health education methods making workers perceive paint as “dangerous and harmful” were clarified. Fisher’s exact test and logistic regression analysis were used for the survey and hierarchical cluster analysis for the interviews. The factor “Hazard prediction activity (KY Activity)”, gender, and job position were identified as factors that make workers perceive paint as “dangerous and harmful”. Based on the interview results, “KY Activity” was a keyword and a standardized safety and health activity. Before work, workers gather in a small group to discuss the dangers and hazards of paint, share information, establish action goals, and confirm safety measures. The questionnaire identified “KY Activity” as a factor influencing the workers’ perception of paint as “dangerous and harmful”. “KY Activity,” also extracted from the interviews, is an effective health and safety education method for teaching workers in small-sized painting companies that paint is “dangerous and harmful”.
