Chinese Public Response to Occupational Safety and Health Problems—A Study Based on Psychological Distance

Background: The effective governance of occupational safety and health problems is inseparable from public participation and response. Methods: Based on the perspective of psychological distance, this paper adopted a quadratic response surface regression analysis method to investigate cognitive, emotional, expected and behavioral distances to occupational safety and health topics and their corresponding responses. Results: As demonstrated by the data statistics and response surface regression analysis results for 2386 valid samples, the relatively close psychological distance dimensions of the public with regard to occupational safety and health problems indicated the high endogenous tendency of the public to pay attention to occupational safety and health problems. The consistency between public cognitive and emotional distance with regard to occupational safety and health presented a “progressive decrease” in response towards behavioral distance, whereas the consistency between cognitive and expected distance reflected “convex” changes towards behavioral distance. Finally, the consistency between emotional and expected distance generally presented a “progressive increase” response towards behavioral distance. Conclusions: This research provides information regarding the public awareness of and response to occupational safety and health issues and how to promote occupational safety and health issues in order to improve them.