الفهرس 
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Abstract
The development of the industrialization in Egypt is growing very rapidly in both the formal and informal sectors, along with the increasing number of the working population, now reaching 29 million. Workers in agriculture, hunting, forestry, cutting of wood trees and Fishing represent 25 % of all employed persons.
International Labour Organization (ILO) emphasized that a good national occupational health and safety system is critical for the effective implementation of national policies and programs to strengthen the prevention of occupational diseases (ILO, 1997). It should include, for example, laws and regulations, as well as occupational health and safety information and training.
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (Yusida et al., 2016).
This definition is adapted to create a parallel concept related to occupational safety and health called occupational health literacy (OHL), which is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic occupational safety and health (OSH) information and services needed to make appropriate decisions with regard to health and safety at work.
This cross-sectional study was conducted among 500 literate agricultural workers who were the owners of the farms, dealing with the agricultural cooperative societies and working in agriculture in different rural sites in Ismailia Governorate who at least could write and read. Data collection tool was a researcher made questionnaire. Pilot study was done. Questionnaire’s validity was gained by content-validity and its reliability was validated by Cronbach’s alpha. Data was analyzed using SPSS 26.
In our study, a total of 500 participants with response rate 100%, aged from 20 to 75 years were included, and 58.8% of the participants aged from 50 to 65 years with the mean age of 49.67 ±11.37. Also, 90.8% of the participants were married, 45.8% were university or institute graduate and 59.6% of them were non- smokers. Among them 85.6% were not taking any addictive drugs.
Ninety percent of the participants were males and 10% were females. About 52.2% had musculoskeletal. About 35.8% had hypertension and 31.2% had diabetes. Ten participants had COVID-19.
Also, 94.2% of the participants knew that sun is a hazard for their occupation, while 80% knew that heat is a hazard. About 64.8% of participants said yes for cold, 67.2% for noise and 88.2% for humidity as physical hazards for their occupation.
About 92.4% of participants were oriented that snake bite, 78.6% for rodents and insects, 58.4% for viruses, 69% for bacteria, 64% for worms, 73.8% for infection from farm animals and 61.4% for infection from co-workers as biological hazards for their occupation. About 97.6% of participants knew that occupational stress and 90% for depression considered psychological hazards for their occupation.
About 70.4% had not occupational injuries or accidents. There were 97% of the participants reported that they knew the meaning of health, 58% of them did not know the meaning of occupational health. About 64.8% of them had no idea about the meaning of occupational diseases and 80% knew the meaning of PPE.
The average score of OHL was (58.64 ± 23.48). 57% of the participants had low occupational health literacy, 13.2% had enough occupational health literacy and 29.8% had good occupational health literacy. There was a statistically significant association between OHL levels and each of age, gender and educational level P=<0.001. Also, there was statistically positive weak correlation between OHL score, age, and experience P= <0.001.
In the present study, there were 59.8% of the participants did not get health education about occupational hazards. Also, 56.4% did not get any training on how to use PPE. About 55.6% said that there was educational equipment in the agricultural societies as posters and brochures. All the participants did not get periodic medical examination nor have healthcare services for the agricultural workers.
In conclusion the occupational health literacy level of most of the agricultural workers was low. The educational level and experience were associated with the occupational health literacy level. Occupational health and safety training that is culturally, linguistically, literacy, and educationally appropriate for workers and their employers needs to be developed.